LANGUAGES

YEAR 10 FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL VISIT

What better way is there to end the term than to immerse oneself in a foreign film? In celebration of the annual French Film Festival organised by Alliance Française, the Years 10, 11 and 12 French classes embarked on an exciting excursion to the Palace Bay Brighton Cinema on Tuesday 4 April, hoping to experience the rich wonders embedded in French cinema. 

The 2022 film we watched, Ténor, delves into the challenging life of a young man named Antoine Zerkaoui as he works to deliver sushi by day and engages in rap battles by night. However, an encounter with voice teacher Madame Loyseau may present him an opportunity to pursue his newfound passion for opera, at the risk of compromising the bonds he has with his family and friends. This emotional, inspiring film navigates the themes of identity, initiative, and one’s connection to the people around them, making it remarkable and memorable for everyone present. 

Personally, I found this excursion to be very helpful to my French studies. Listening comprehension is a major component of language learning, so watching the film allowed me to consolidate my understanding outside of the classroom and reflect on where I can improve. Without a doubt, it was an exciting challenge to see how much I could comprehend without constantly relying on the subtitles! 

In addition, simply viewing a film set in another country can give a student more insight into its culture and surroundings. In this case, Ténor allowed us to catch a glimpse of the Neo-Baroque architectural masterpiece known as the Palais Garnier, which is also notable for its history, musical performances, and for being the setting of The Phantom of the Opera! 

Therefore, on behalf of all the students that participated in this excursion, I would like to thank Monsieur Chamontin and Madame Reid for organising this magnificent event and giving us the opportunity to further explore and learn about French culture. C’est vraiment une expérience inoubliable! 

Anya Aquende

Year 10 Student

HOST FAMILIES FOR NEW CALEDONIAN VISITORS

We will shortly be asking for families to volunteer to host one of our 45 visiting students from our new sister school in New Caledonia. They arrive in Melbourne on Thursday 7 September and leave on Friday 15 September (last day of term 3). This means that they will stay with their host families for 8 nights, including a weekend.

These students are the equivalent of Years 8 and 9 students, so we will be hosting them at East Campus, where they will be involved in activities and some classes. They will also go on excursions with their own teachers on some days. 

Our initial request will be for our Years 8 and 9 French students to host as many as possible, but it will also be extended to students from Main campus, as long as they can assure that their host student will be able to go to East campus on days when they are involved in activities.

YEAR 7 FRENCH: REFLECTIONS ON THEIR FIRST LEARNING TASK

Bonjour!

Our first Learning Task was so fun and such a good opportunity to learn a different language other than English.

Last term we did a learning task where a pair of students did a roleplay of meeting each other for the first time. One student was an exchange student from France and one was a student from McKinnon. The task was to ask each other questions and have a basic conversation in French. We started off by asking for our names and then moved to more complex questions. 

We used the term “Comment tu t’appelles?” which means “what's your name?”, and to reply we used “Je m'appelle” which means “My name is...”. The students prepared by gathering all the French they’d learnt and creating it into a conversation. This task was exciting as well as nerve racking knowing we’d have to get up in front of the class. Some students used props while others used accents to play the part perfectly. Not only was it a team task but it was also so fun and helped people make new friends and go outside their comfort zone.

Alicia Loie & Niki Pantelios

I formed a group with my classmate, Oliver, for our French task in the class. The task was quite straightforward. It required us to create a simple conversation roleplay in French between a French kid who just newly joined our school and a local classmate. We started some discussion about who would be the French kid and what kinds of questions and answers we would cover in the conversation. Finally, we decided that I would perform as the French kid and Oliver would be the one to come and talk to me. It is an interesting experience that we had to use our limited French knowledge to cover the most questions and answers we could think of in such a conversation scenario. 

Our conversation has covered the content from introducing our names, favourite colours, to our birthdays. After this learning task, I realized that learning a new language can actually be way more fun than I thought before. I enjoy learning French, and I hope I will be able to communicate in French naturally in daily life one day.

Jayden Ma 

During the last week of term 1, we completed our first French learning task of the year, in which we had to demonstrate our speaking skills by writing and performing a two person roleplay on the content we covered previously this year. Our script had to feel authentic to our given scenario, which was the interaction between an Australian student and a French exchange student. 

While talking we answered and asked each other a series of questions including: what our names were, how we were feeling, our age, our birthdays and where we were from. We also had to include an appropriate opening and ending to the conversation as well as key phrases like enchanté and et toi. And as possible extensions for extra marks we could incorporate descriptions of our favourite objects, descriptions of our appearance, how to spell our names and a comparison of our ages. 

To prepare for this task we wrote out our lines in our books, and when we were unsure of certain phrases and words we asked our teacher for help and occasionally used websites like WordReference.com. 

Speaking in front of the class in another language was quite nerve racking, but in the end we overcame our fears and were able to converse in French without stumbling on our words or completely messing up. Overall, we really enjoyed this learning task and our first term at McKinnon SC learning French. Being able to communicate in a language we were both unfamiliar with at the beginning of the year was really cool and we are very much looking forward to learning more.

Alexa Rhode & Hili Segev

UPCOMING EVENTS

BASTILLE DAY

https://www.bastilledaymelbourne.com/ 

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL

https://germanfilmfestival.com.au/ 

The German Film Festival presented by Palace, in association with German Films is opening on Thursday 4 May and will run until Thursday 25 May. It offers a great opportunity to see a German film (subtitled) with your family and friends. 

For further information please visit https://germanfilmfestival.com.au/

CO-CURRICULAR COMPETITIONS FOR GERMAN STUDENTS

A great variety of competitions for all year levels is offered annually by our very supportive German Teachers Association. We encourage students to participate in these competitions and support them with their submissions. A great opportunity to further extend your language skills and to win prizes.

Jenny Lynd

Languages Learning Area Manager