Faculty News

It’s truly a wonderful time in Languages, as teachers and students alike work hard towards facilitating and thoroughly participating in authentic language and cultural learning. 

Ms Ariyoshi

We have already gotten to know our Meiji Gaguen University intern, Ms Yuzu Ariyoshi, as a sincerely kind language helper. She makes herself available for conversation classes and lunchtime tutoring as well as some fun and games in class. During Reconciliation Week the staff celebrated Indigenous culture by having an Indigenous ingredient breakfast and Yuzu was persuaded to have a Kangaroo Slider. She was excited to try a meat she had never eaten before. 

Yuzu’s expertise in Japanese Calligraphy allowed for an authentic experience for the Year 8 classes in preparing their own calligraphy art while learning the characters for the days of the week. The following students were voted by Yuzu Senpai as the most creative calligraphers. Congratulations to those students for showing the patience and perseverance needed for this traditional art. Jayden Vuong, Reikken Lydra, Dhiva Vivehanathan, Philo Matta, Alistair Edward, Jonathan Dirckze, Angus King, Rahul Samarasighe, John Gubatayga, Kevin Nguyen, Kanishk Sarawa, Alex Papalexiou, Joshua Martinez, Hugo Tea, Jayden Tran, Oswin Kovatt, Robert Boyle, Ryan Sahni, Declan Le, Jasper Wong. 

Year 9 Martial Arts

On May 11, the Year 9 Chinese students were introduced to Chinese martial arts and brush art. Students were urged to communicate in the target language and gain an understanding of the relationship between language, culture and develop an awareness of and appreciation of different art forms. The students found that Chinese martial arts required quite a bit of strength and endurance, not only of the body but of the mind. 

Una Serata Italiana

Our Year 10 Italian students visited Sacred Heart Girls College in Oakleigh to participate in “Una Serata Italiana”. This immersion evening develops confidence and fluency in a simulated Italian environment. Prof. Noone and Prof. Passalent dedicated their evening with the Sacred Heart Italian teachers to ensuring Italian was the language used for the social gathering. Below are some comments from the students. 

E’ stata una serata molto divertente e mi sono divertito un mondo – Joshua

Abbiamo insegnato alle ragazze come si gioca a Scopa – Adriano

Siamo stati contenti perchè abbiamo fatto nuove amiche – Dante e Joshua

Abbiamo vinto il Kahoot – Sine Chuka

During Term 1, our 2023 Year 12 Italian class had the privilege to complete a Language Exchange with a class of Italian peers from Liceo Vivona, a school in Rome. After two videoconference meetings and two letter exchanges on Google Docs, our project was formally concluded with the preparation of a creative text in pairs. Prof Passalent worked very hard on creating a booklet of the students’ text and we would like now to share this work with you! The booklet contains all the imaginative stories, diary entries, blogs, letters, articles and informal conversations that they created in pairs. The Italian students wrote their text in English and the Mazenod students wrote in Italian. 

This work is a fantastic achievement and is something the students and our faculty will always treasure. Two students, Dante Caputo and Orlando Perri,  submitted an article for the Italian newspaper, Il Globo, which you can view on MazCom here. 

Japanese Study Tour

The biannual Japanese study tour organisation is in process. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to offer travel and immersion to our language students once again. We have 18 students from Year 10 and 11 Japanese classes getting passports and host family profiles ready to depart on the 9th of September.

In 2024 we will be able to offer our Year 9, 10, 11 and 12 Japanese studying students the chance to host our sister school students in the reciprocal exchange program. Also, next year we hope to begin a new exchange program which will open up new opportunities to host international students. 

Annual Language Week

Our annual Language Week is coming up and students will be participating in Chinese and Japanese martial arts, Italian theatre, Onigiri making, Dante Alighieri Poetry Competition, Pizza making, International Film Festival and many daily language competitions. This is a week of language and culture and we hope the students participate with enthusiasm. 

We acknowledge the enthusiastic attitude of our language students when they participate in classes and cultural activities and we also acknowledge the extra work from the teachers who organise these events. 

Yolanda Bonica

Languages Coordinator