English
DAV Public Speaking Competition
During Semester 1, the Debaters Association of Victoria (DAV) invited students to participate in online and face-to-face public speaking competitions. Though some of the competitions have been held over due to lockdowns and various COVID-related restrictions, Hayley Meure of Year 10 and Bridgette Veneris of Year 9 were able to represent the College in the Online Intermediate Public Speaking Competition. Both students presented speeches on topics of their choice and received positive feedback from the judges. We congratulate both students on their involvement and wish Hayley the best of luck as she moves forwards to the finals!
Kim Elliott
Learning Leader:
English
Year 7 English Australian Poetry Performance
Student Reviews
On Thursday 24 June, Year 7 students gathered to watch a performance from a company called Complete Works Theatre Company. The performers who presented the 14 different poems were Annabelle, Lachlan and Wolfgang. It was very entertaining to see, and great how they showed us the different literary techniques for poems and helped us create imagery in our minds. Some of us even had the chance to volunteer and help the performers out.
The first poem that they all performed together, which was a ballad (a poem narrating a story in short stanzas), ‘Mulga Bill’s Bicycle’, written by A. B. ‘Banjo’ Paterson. This poem was one of our favourites as it was super funny and pleasurable to watch. It was about a man who only knew how to ride horses and eventually found out about the bicycle. So, he decided to begin to ride a bike, and then he could not figure out how to use it, so he crashed it and just stuck with horses.
Another poem that we both enjoyed listening to and watching was called ‘Egg’ by Ashley McGregor. Ashley McGregor was one of the ‘Australian Poetry Slam’ finalists in 2015. It was about an egg who fell in love with a piece of bacon and they knew that they would never be able to be together as he was an egg and she was a piece of bacon. Until one day they were both put into a frying pan and cooked right next to each other. The performance was amusing, and everyone had a laugh.
Kassedy Mazur and
Saskia Balestra
Year 7
On 24 June, Year 7 students had an incursion held in the Auditorium for the topic of poetry. The performance was by the Complete Works Theatre Company. The talented performers of Annabelle, Lachlan and Wolfgang educated and engaged us in the art of Australian poetry in 14 different acts, separated into three different sections.
One of the poems was ‘We Are Going’, by Oodgeroo Noonuccal. This poem is about the white man taking over the land of the tribe who live there, and the message was that the Aboriginal people are not only physically part of the land, they also are mentally and spiritually part of the land. It really moved us by differentiating people by the words ‘we’ and ‘they’, leaving quite a conflicting feeling.
We were introduced to all sorts of poems including ‘Past Carin’, that reflected on the inequality and a woman’s perspective on society at that time. There were also poems a bit more humorous like the poem ‘Egg’, which is about a love story between an egg and bacon. The storyline, along with the funny methods of showing how badly the egg wanted the bacon, were enjoyable.
This was a great experience to be a part of and we absolutely recommend that the Complete Works Theatre Company come back to the College.
Abbey Tomlinson, Charlotte Forbes and Rhiannan Marie-Jeanne
Year 7
Year 12 English – Rosalie Ham presentation
On Monday 19 July the Year 12 English students had the fantastic opportunity to hear directly from Rosalie Ham the author of ‘The Dressmaker’, a novel that we are currently studying.
During this presentation Rosalie gave us many invaluable insights into her novel, which have greatly enhanced our understanding of this engaging text. Getting to hear directly from the author about why she decided to put certain events in, and how each aspect of the novel comes together to form such an intricate story was incredibly insightful. Rosalie revealed to us what exactly inspired each of these characters and the deeper meaning behind their actions.
We also got to learn about the origins of this book and what inspired her to write it. I was shocked to hear that this was her first novel, written while she was at university, as part of a course she never intended to take!
At the end of this presentation we were able to ask her questions. The questions from the Year 12 students ranged from ‘How did you get into writing?’, ‘Why did you end the book that way?’ and ‘How could we get our own novel published one day?’
We were very lucky to hear directly from the author herself, and I have no doubt that our new knowledge of this text will put us in great standing for the English exam.
Grace Myles and Charlotte Pulbrook
English Student Leaders