LANGUAGES

LANGUAGE STUDY AND OUR 2022 DUXES

The languages KLA is proud that both the Duxes were language students; Ethan Sporton studied French and Yolanda Ye studied German and Chinese Second Language Advanced.

CONGRATULATIONS TO 2022 YEAR 12 FRENCH CLASS

Félicitations to the Year 12 class of 2022 for their exceptional French results, particularly to the five students in the class who achieved a raw Study Score above 40. These five students have demonstrated their willingness to commit to hard work and have frequently sought advice on how to improve their language skills. 

To them I say in French: 

Je suis très fier de vous ! Tous mes vœux de réussite dans vos futures carrières.

Monsieur Cédric Chamontin

French Teacher

ETHAN SPORTON ON SBS FRENCH RADIO

Ethan was interviewed in French by SBS - enjoy!

SBS interview - Ethan Sporton

LANGUAGES SOCIETY AND NEW LANGUAGE LEADERS

We are in the process of taking applications for the role of Language Leader at both campuses, and interviews will be taking place shortly, with the current Language Leaders working together with our candidates to select the new teams. We will announce our new student leadership teams once they are finalised.

LANGUAGE SHARING

Monsieur Chamontin has started a Friday languages sharing club at Main Campus, where students can come along and share languages they know and or are learning.

EDUCATION PERFECT

One of the most exciting periods on the languages calendar is coming up in week 6, which is when the Education Perfect championships begin. Can we beat Amaroo this year to return to number 1 in the world?

TRAVEL PLANNING UPDATES

We are looking into possible trips to France, New Caledonia, and Germany for next year and to Spain for 2025. However, there are still many obstacles to international travel for schools in the new world climate, so at the moment there is no certainty about any plans. We will keep you informed as we learn more.

YEAR 7 REFLECTIONS ON STARTING THEIR FRENCH LANGUAGE JOURNEY

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Sammy! I am currently in Year 7 and I came into high school nervous about how hard it was going to be to learn French. I couldn't have been more wrong. With the perfect balance of enjoyment and learning, French has allowed me and my fellow classmates an opportunity to develop a newfound confidence in this subject. So far, the lessons have proven insightful for many, with a promising curriculum sure to grant an enjoyable and intriguing learning journey. Now in week four, I know how to have a basic conversation in French, count to ten, differentiate masculine and feminine nouns and I am on track to being able to recall the entire alphabet. 

Sammy Hicks

This year I started learning the language French as a part of my school curriculum. Although I have had no past experience with speaking French I’ve found it quite a fun and interesting language. There were some parts of French that I found quite simple and others fairly challenging. I wasn't so confident walking into my first French lesson, I thought that I might struggle to understand something and therefore fall behind but I was almost immediately proven wrong. There are such amazing language teachers here at McKinnon and they have made it such an easy transition into learning French. I have had such a great French experience so far and have been able to understand everything that we have learnt. 

Greetings were the first thing we learnt in French. I really enjoyed this lesson and greetings are a key part to any language. We also learnt the numbers from 1-15 which came quite easy once you could memorise the numbers. After we learned all our numbers we were able to say how old we are in French. When we began to learn the alphabet it was quite difficult at first but the more we studied it the easier it became and we were then able to spell out our name using the French alphabet. We also studied some more basic sentences and learnt how to have a basic everyday conversation in French.

 Although these are only quite basic exercises, it was more an introduction to French and I am able to confidently understand and start a basic conversation in French. We are now working on learning our countries and working through our textbook. I’ve really enjoyed learning French so far this term and I cannot wait to continue learning throughout the year. 

Lucy Ellis 

My first few weeks of French have been amazing. I have learned so much already. Some things have been challenging but most stuff I understood well.

We have learnt many topics. We have listened to so many songs to remember our numbers in French. We have watched so many videos to remember the alphabet. We have also started Education Perfect. It is such a fun way to learn more French and become more confident.

The first few weeks have been so much fun! I am so excited to continue learning more French! 

Neve Gerbic

I started learning French this year and have enjoyed it so far. I have learned things like greetings, the French alphabet, numbers, and how to ask people about how they’re feeling. My teacher has made my introduction into French enjoyable and has found creative ways to help us learn a new language. The favourite thing I have learnt so far has been learning the alphabet. I am proud of how much I have learned so far and look forward to learning more French.

Siddhant Shirgaonkar

Jenny Lynd

Languages Learning Area Manager