English News

Debate Club

There is only one place a bunch of nerds can congregate, discuss a single topic for entire lunchtimes and then assemble outside of school for a battle of words, and still look cool. Hint: it’s the Debating Team.

All it took was a cringey, 60-second audition speech about the superiority of dogs over children, and now I’m here, in a team of six awesome nerds, about to head into the quarter-finals. It took a lot of time and dedication, but debating has turned into one of the most rewarding experiences ever.

I remember pre-debate pizza nights and post-debate brownies, waiting nervously in the cold for the competition to begin and countless lunch-time jokes. We started off with little experience, stressing about the smallest details, making last minute skype calls at midnight and begging Dr Schroor for contributions of her wisdom. In almost no time at all, we grew in confidence and teamwork. Despite learning how to speak better, being able to dissect and research topics and learning a lot about important issues, the highlight of debating has been the teamwork. It’s an incredible amount of fun, and a chance to work with students and teachers alike.

Debating is a lot more than just a bunch of nerds arguing with each other (surprisingly). Debating is a team sport. It’s about organising, unifying and presenting ideas, and delivering them with as much roast as possible. It’s a chance to develop structure and coherence to your speech, no matter your public speaking experience. And most of all, debating is fun.

Thanks to the help of Dr Schroor, Mr Clark, Cree and an amazing team, we’ve made it to the quarter finals. Wish us luck!

Stephanie Barito - Year 9

Brilliant Learning Opportunity for English Students

The Year 12 Mainstream English students received their final lecture on preparing for the examination on Wednesday September 7th. This lecture was the third this year, with each focussed on a different element.

This lecture was a fact-filled and highly useful presentation and was delivered by Assistant Chief Assessor, Ms Karen Graham. Karen is a formidable English teacher who was very clear about what makes an excellent response in the English exam and we are so very grateful to her for generously sharing her expertise with our students.

Comments from participants in the lecture indicate just how helpful the students found it:

“she gave clear, concise information…which supported what we’ve been taught here at Nossal”
“the lecture was absolutely riveting”
“Ms Graham provided many useful insights to maximise our English scores.”
“Ms Graham was enthusiastic about teaching English…..she helped me develop ideas on a variety of prompts”
“a really clear presentation which was tailored to our needs”
“I feel very reassured by Ms Graham’s presentation but also very scared to hear there are only 49 days until the exam”

The Year 12 English Team