Languages

The 2020 staff members of the Language Faculty, all diversified their lessons to remote learning strategies and the Mazenod language learning community fought to thrive in 2020.

Students participated together in activities in Google Meets and developed some independence and self-direction in their language study this year. Students and staff alike learnt quickly many different online strategies and we are proud to say both are better at incorporating technology into their teaching and learning repertoires.

Below are the thoughts of the Language students of 2020 This year we have sung Chinese songs. I like singing Xue Hua Piao Piao. Besides singing we also did Chinese painting. I love studying Chinese and invite you to study Chinese as well. ” Gabriel Chen 9 Cagney (Chinese) Although we are using a computer to go to class, Chinese has still been lively and interesting. One day, our class ate lunch together whilst comparing Chinese and Australian culture. Besides this, we also played a chopstick game. It was all very fun and everyone felt very happy. ” Nathanial Louey 10 Mannix (Chinese) This year in Chinese class we made a short video in a group, utilising the Chinese skills we had acquired throughout the year. I thought it was challenging but super fun. It taught me how I could use the skills I’ve learned in practical scenarios. Martin Kleins 7 Coghlan (Chinese) ‘I really love studying Japanese as it is not really hard if you put all your effort into it and you learn another language besides from English which is pretty cool. You do not just study about Japanese language, you study about Japan too. For example we did an activity which I had to make paper cranes as paper cranes are a symbol of peace in Japan and I learnt the story of Sadako and the thousand paper cranes.’

Thomas Nguyen Coghlan (Japanese) My name is Justin Tran, I am a Year 9 from 9 Lombard, studying Japanese from Bonica sensei’s class. Throughout the year in her class, we studied a variety of topics that drastically made an improvement in our language capabilities. Topics that were studied this year included: understanding how to tell time, household items, school, weather and seasons, shopping and others topics as well. In the lessons, various projects were required, some consisted of making a paper crane, making a weather report or making scripts for our videos. Personally the project that I enjoyed the most and had a symbolic impact was the paper crane. Overall, the year in Japanese class was very enjoyable and beneficial and I believe Japanese is a very elegant language along with its sublime culture. Justin Tran 9 Lombard (Japanese)

Buongiorno, mi chiamo Joshua. Ho studiato molte cose in Italiano quest’anno. Ho studiato la grammatica, le conversazioni, i giochi di ruole, la moda, i abitazioni e la cultura. Anche il film è stato bello perché ho sento la cultura italiana.

Good morning, my name is Joshua. I studied a lot in Italian this year. I studied grammar, conversation, role plays, fashion, housing and culture. Also the film was good as I appreciated the Italian culture. Joshua Wilton 9 James

This year students took classes from home. During online learning, we spoke to teachers and completed work like usual. However, interacting with the rest of the class through a computer was a strange experience to me. At first, I felt detached from my peers as a result of online learning so I contacted many of them through social media. During Japanese class, we watched a film titled “Ramen Shop”. The movie follows Masato, who searches for his Uncle to learn to cook. After watching the movie, I was starving. Sometime in the future, I would definitely watch it again. Other than watching “Ramen Shop”, in Japanese class we also learnt many new grammar patterns and vocabulary. With online learning, studying this new information was difficult. However with perseverance, I am able to keep up with new content. Ultimately, this year was a new experience for me however it was not as bad as I thought it would be. Kevin Tran10 Simonds (Japanese)

Durante la didattica a distanza, abbiamo studiato la vicenda di Raffaello Sanzio, in occasione dei 500 anni dalla sua morte. È stato un artista italiano esemplare del Rinascimento, specialmente a Roma, alla corte del papa. In classe abbiamo fatto un tour delle Quattro Stanze di Raffaello, nei Musei Vaticani. In particolare abbiamo studiato l’affresco della Scuola di Atene. Nel 2018, in occasione della gita di Mazenod College, abbiamo anche visto con i nostri occhi queste stanze rinascimentali. Che spettacolo! Dal vivo, erano ancora più belle.

During remote learning, we explored the story of Raffaello Sanzio, on the occasion of the 500 years from his death. He is an example of an Italian Renaissance artist, especially in Rome while working for the pope. In class, we did a tour of the Quattro Stanze by Raffaello, in the Vatican Museums. In particular, we studied the fresco named “The School of Athens”. In 2018, on the Mazenod Study Tour, we also saw these Renaissance rooms with our own eyes. What spectacular art! In person, it was even more beautiful! Ben Marsicano 12 Foynes, Marc Pascuzzi 12 Gavin, and Jarrod Franchi 12 Cagney (Italian)