LANGUAGES

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Some of our Languages Leaders did a great job of representing us at the General Assembly on Friday 27 May. Luka Magee (Year 11) presented our Education Perfect Elite Certificate winners with their awards, and Maleesha Dharmadasa (Year 8) and Christina Tan (Year 9) presented the winners of the Languages Society poster competitions - Effy Huang (Year 9 - poster), Katherine Nguyen (Year 10 - logo).

Here is Luka’s speech:

Salut tout le monde, I’m Luka, a KLA language leader and Education Perfect ambassador here at McKinnon.

Back in March, McKinnon competed in the 2022 Language Perfect championships, hosted on the Education Perfect website. Students spent a week competing in numerous languages, scoring points by answering questions. Classrooms were opened at recess and lunchtime and it was amazing seeing the school’s communal values put on display as students helped each other to succeed.

This year, McKinnon placed second globally in the school’s leaderboard -- a monumental achievement!

Although we were beaten by our rival school, Canberra’s Amaroo School, McKinnon saw astonishing accomplishments, with us scoring a total of over half a million total points and answering 1.25 million total questions in just seven days! This is a phenomenal accomplishment and I’d like to congratulate every student who gave it a go, as well as the amazing language teachers who made this all possible! In particular, I’d like to congratulate a handful of students who received the Elite award, which marks 10 thousand points or approximately 30 or more hours of effort. I will also award our 2022 School Champion.

I ask if the lovely Mrs Binnion could please give me a hand handing out these awards.

Please save your applause until all students receive their awards.

Congratulations to:

Nathan Nguyen (Year 11)
Patrick Pacak (Year 8)
Sally Hu (Year 9)
Jack Campbell (Year 10)
Christina Tan (Year 9)
Sofia Lazo Rodriguez (Year 8)
Alex Do (Year 8) - who achieved 23rd place globally with over 19,000 points

And our 2022 School Champion, who placed 2nd globally with over 40,000 points,

Anya Aquende (Year 9)

Congratulations again to these insanely-dedicated and talented students and I look forward to another exciting competition next year!

LANGUAGES STUDENT OF THE FORTNIGHT

My name is Jerry Liu (Year 8). I am part of the KLA Languages society. I joined because I think learning languages is very interesting and helpful. Knowing more languages allows you to read books written in the writer's native tongue, and books that aren't translated into a language you can understand better convey meanings, which makes books much more interesting, and I am a fan of books.

MONACO

(In French/English)

Pendant l'année neuf français ce trimestre, nous travaillons en petits groupes de deux à cinq personnes et nous recherchons un pays francophone. Notre groupe a décidé de faire des recherches au sujet de Monaco, mais plus précisément de nous concentrer sur la géographie du pays. Avant la tâche, nous ne savions rien à propos de Monaco, particulièrement à propos de la géographie. Après la tâche, nous savons beaucoup à ce sujet et quelques trop intéressantes réalités.

Quelques choses intéressantes sont: Monaco a un taux de pauvreté de 0%, et 32% de la population est millionnaires. Le pays aussi a un officier de police pour tous les cent citoyennes, en faisant l’un des endroits avec le plus haute sécurité des endroits dans le globe. Monaco possède aussi la plus haute espérance de vie dans le monde avec une moyenne espérance de vie de 85.8 années. Aussi bien que ces réalités, Monaco est célèbre pour ses casinos, mais c’est illégal pour les résidents de jouer les machines. Moyens, seuls les touristes sont autorisés à jouer les machines. Elles sont aussi célèbres pour le Grand Prix.

Monaco est le deuxième plus petit pays dans le monde avec un région de 2.02km au carré. Située dans l'ouest de L’Europe, Monaco est sous La France. Puisque la région est si petite, elles ont une population de 40,000 personnes et la langue nationale est le français.

Ce pays possède aussi des attractions touristiques , de délicieux aliments et de la super musique pop et musique classique.Des attractions célèbres sont L’Opera de Monte-Carlo, Côte d’Azur et Le Musée Océanographique de Monaco. Trois des aliments de Monaco sont Barbagiuan (frit beignet rempli avec du fromage et des légumes), Stocafi (la morue séchée cuite dans sauce tomate et herbes) et Fougasse (un pain sucré à l’orange avec des noisettes). Finalement, Monaco est connue pour leur musique pop et classique avec leur en compétition dans Eurovision 24 fois et gagnante dans 1971.

Globalement, notre groupe a vraiment apprécié cette tâche et apprendre à propos de Monaco! Nous nous sommes beaucoup amusés à préparer pour notre expo et rechercher toute l' information. Monaco est définitivement le lieu idéal!

During Year 9 French this term, we gathered in small groups of two to five people and each researched, then presented information about a French speaking country. Our group decided to research Monaco, but specifically focus on the geography of the country. Before the task, none of us knew anything about Monaco, especially about the geography. After the task, we learnt a lot about Monaco and some very interesting facts.

Some interesting facts include; Monaco having a poverty rate of 0%, and 32% of the population being millionaires. The country also has 1 police officer for every 100 citizens, making it one of the most high-security places in the world. Monaco also has the highest life expectancy in the world with an average life expectancy of 85.8 years. As well as those facts, Monaco is famous for its casinos, but it is illegal for residents to gamble. Meaning, only tourists are allowed to gamble. They are also famous for hosting the Grand Prix.

Monaco is the second smallest country in the world with an area of 2.02km squared. Situated on the western coast of Europe, Monaco is just under France. Since the area is so small, they only have a population of 40,000 people with the national language being French.

This European country also has major tourist attractions, delicious national foods and great Pop plus classical music. Some of the famous tourist attractions are the Monte-Carlo Opera (Opera de Monte-Carlo), French Riviera (Côte d’Azur) and the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco (Musée Océanographique de Monaco).

Three of the national foods of Monaco are Barbagiuan (fried fritter filled with cheese and vegetables), Stocafi (dried cod cooked in tomato sauce and herbs) and Fougasse (an orange sweet bread with nuts). Lastly, Monaco is known for their pop and classical music with them competing in Eurovision 24 times and winning in 1971.

Overall, our group really enjoyed this task and learning about Monaco! We had a lot of fun preparing for our expo and researching all of the information. Monaco is definitely the place to be!

Ariela Sack, Eloise Phan & Mia Milner

Year 9 Students

RECONCILIATION WEEK - LEARN ABOUT LOCAL LANGUAGES

The following links will help you to learn more about Victorian Aboriginal Languages:

Explore and learn more about what languages were spoken here before European settlement and are being resurrected.

Jennifer Lynd

Languages Learning Area Manager