Languages
In NSW high schools, languages is a key learning area. Language study allows students to develop communication skills, learn about languages as systems and explore the relationship between language and culture. Students engage with the linguistic and cultural diversity of societies and reflect on their understanding of social interactions.
The study of a language is compulsory for 100 hours in one continuous school year from Year 7 to Year 10, but preferably in Years 7 or 8.
In Years 11 and 12, NSW schools offer a wide variety of languages, catering for beginning students to background speakers..
Languages Other Than English
Schools have the responsibility to prepare students to participate fully in society. It is clear that an understanding of our global community is a key skill for citizens of the 21st century. Ideally, 21st century citizens should be comfortable with the challenge of working and interacting on an international scale. This is where knowing a second language is essential.
Learning a language is about communication and understanding; it is the key to the people and cultures of the world. When we learn a language, we can dig deeper into the cultures of peoples that would otherwise remain a mystery.
Learning a language is about literacy; by exploring the nature of language systems through making comparisons between the language and English; by looking at how a language fits together, students are better able to understand how English works.
Therefore, whether it is for business, sport, career, pleasure or simply because we want to travel, knowing another language will help us to appreciate the world from a different perspective.
At Moorebank High School we offer French, Italian and Modern Greek. We pride ourselves on taking the language in the classroom into the world beyond by raising student awareness of current events that connect our worlds. We provide opportunities for student participation in culturally-focussed activities.
Learning a language takes time, so your son/daughter will always have homework! If there isn't a written task to complete, revision of vocabulary and language structures learnt in class should be undertaken. Remembering words and how to put them together meaningfully is a really important skill in being able to communicate!
You don't need to know the language to be able to support your son/daughter in their learning. You can quiz your son/daughter on the vocabulary they are memorising, by reading out the English and having her/him write or speak the language. Talking to them about the language-speaking countries is also really useful because it's important that your son/daughter realises that for many people in the world, English isn't their first language.
In Stage 4 (Year 8), all students undertake the Mandatory 100 hour course, required for the award of the Record of School Achievement (ROSA). This will be achieved through the study of French, an introductory course where students will be introduced to the four language-learning skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students will also begin to develop an appreciation for how life is lived in French-speaking countries; the differences and similarities with our Australian life-style, and the importance of respect and tolerance.
Learning another language involves working individually, and with others in both pairs and small groups. Class activities are varied and address a range of learning needs. We focus on the four language-learning skills, and we try to incorporate opportunities to practise these skills into each lesson. Our aim is to introduce your son/daughter to the French-speaking world, using as much authentic material as possible, in ways that would be useful for the future.
We measure mastery and successful learning through class tasks, oral participation in activities, formal assessments, testing each of the four skills, and research assignments, incorporating ICT wherever appropriate.
French, Italian and Modern Greek
In Stage 5, learning a language is a choice. Our aim is to extend your son's/daughter's knowledge, skills and understandings of the French learned in Year 8. We do this through a range of language-focussed and cultural activities, similar to those experienced in Year 8, but increasingly more complex in nature. Students are supported as they ‘play' with the vocabulary and structures they have learnt to date, so that they can personalise their communication and apply the grammar rules in new and unfamiliar language situations.
We measure mastery and progress through class tasks, oral participation in activities, formal assessments of the four language-learning skills, incorporating ICT wherever appropriate. In Year 9, students also produce a research assignment.
French and Modern Greek
In Stage 6, there are two levels of courses; Continuers, for students who have studied the language in Stage 5, and Beginners, for students who wish to begin their study of a language. The Continuers courses build, once more, on a student's prior learning, expanding and consolidating this learning through exposure to more complex linguistic structures and vocabulary, authentic texts and tasks. The Beginners courses take students for the very basic building blocks of language to having language skills sufficient to maintain communication about topics relating to everyday living in that language-speaking country. Students prepare comprehensively for the formal examinations of the Higher School Certificate through multiple practice experiences.
We measure mastery and progress through formal assessments, incorporating ICT wherever appropriate, in order to thoroughly prepare students for the rigorous demands of the Higher School Certificate examination process.
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