Japan-Australia Online Exchange Program (CLIL Japanese class)
On May 27, 8I and 8J Japanese CLIL students had a Teams call with Japanese students. These Japanese students were learning English. We got to talk to 2 different groups of students. Our groups had only 2-3 people, but the Japanese students had 6-7. I had prepared a piece of paper with a map of Australia, facts about Australia in Japanese and a question. Talking to the Japanese students was a unique and fun experience. It was good to see what level the students were at with their English. They had learnt quite a bit and could say full sentences. All of them also prepared a presentation with all their favourite things in English. Overall, everyone in both calls enjoyed talking to each other.
Bridget M (8I)

Languages Week
Languages Week is indeed an essential experience for all students undertaking French, Italian and Japanese, as it is a celebration of not only languages but also cultures and traditions around the world.

Emilio from EPR production performed his Ciao Italia play to our Year 7 Italian students. Students were actively engaged in the play and learned about Italian culture and learned about the first Italian migration to Melbourne.

The Year 8 Italian students enjoyed a Commedia dell’ Arte, ‘Il Capitano’, performance by Adam from Cultural Infusion. Students were introduced to the traditional masks and characters of this historical Italian theatre form in this clever comedy and participated in the performance by acting out different roles throughout the play.

Our Year 7 & 8 students also enjoyed a French performance Vive la France by Adam. With audience participation, students were taken on an hilarious journey of French drama and music, using accordion, fife, drum, bombarde, singing and mime. Students were taken on a vibrant and colourful journey through the music of regional France with folk dance and folk song.

Our Year 7 & 8 Japanese students participated in a variety of competitions such as Anime character drawing competition, Japanese cooking competition, Hiragana neat writing competition and the Origami competition.

Thanks for all our wonderful language teachers who made this week possible and for everyone who helped in their own way.
Ms Shkembi

On Wednesday 18 May, the Year 7s had an Italian incursion which was hosted by Mr Fagiolo! He gave us an insight about how his dad travelled from Italy to Australia. When World War II was occurring, Mr Fagiolo’s dad was experiencing the war. When he returned home, he found that his home was destroyed. His donkey, however, survived. He travelled to Australia by ship and had to sleep on a bathtub. There were 13 other Italians with him. Mr Fagiolo wanted to open his own theatre. His parents didn’t understand him, but Mr Fagiolo didn’t let that get in the way of his dreams. He opened his own theatre in Fairfield. He then started to go around and do his own shows. When he was first starting to try and open his own theatre, he went to a warehouse agent. The agent didn’t agree to give Mr Fagiolo his warehouse and told him to get out of the warehouse. A couple minutes later, the agent called Mr Fagiolo and told him to come back. It turned out that Mr Fagiolo’s dad helped the family of the agent during World War II. We also had a gelati van come during lunch and lots of people bought some delicious gelati.
Georgios E.M. 7A

On Thursday 19 May, Year 7 students studying Japanese, had a Japanese Incursion where Mr Kenny, who is a Manga Artist, came and taught us how to draw, Anime style. He taught us step by step how to draw various facial expressions and different hairstyles, as well as clothing and body parts. It was a lot of fun learning new ways to draw. My favourite part was when he taught us how to memorise Kanji characters a lot easier by using our imaginations. We’re very grateful and lucky to have an incursion like this, and I’m so looking forward to the future ones.
Jaede R. 7H

The Year 8 Italian incursion was a humorous and entertaining event based on Commedia dell’ Arte. It gave us a good understanding on the ways the masks were used in Italian theatre. The incursion ran by an amusing host gave us an interactive insight on who the masks were played by and how the masks were used. Overall, this was an experience worth seeing and I would recommend to all!
Tahlia R. 8J

On Monday 16 May during languages week, we were able to attend the French incursion. We had the opportunity to learn about the French language and culture. We were privileged to learn more about France and about how their culture works. What I enjoyed about the show was how the actors used mime and French literature by using famous French Icons like The Three Musketeers and Cyrano De Bergerac.
Aydin Y. 8I