Hale has been a hive of activity during Languages Week, celebrating the cultural diversity of the School. With around 240 languages and dialects are spoken in Western Australia, our State is one of the most culturally diverse in Australia and Languages Week provides the opportunity to celebrate this.
During art lessons in the Junior School, Year 4 classes made three dragons, one for each learning centre, to decorate the school. Students in all other junior year levels each decorated a scale for the dragons on the topic they are learning as part of their Chinese curriculum – numbers and family (Year 1), colours (Year 2), farm animals (Year 3), daily routines (Year 5) and house (Year 6).
Year 1 and Year 4 students were treated to Guzheng (a Chinese plucked string instrument) lessons, whilst Year 8 boys made Chinese shuttlecocks and practiced their ‘jianzi’ skills (a type of hacky sack).
Year 11 and 12 language students competed in indoor soccer and played pétanque (a popular sport in France similar to “bocce” or “lawn bowls”). French students got to participate in various quizzes about the French language, landmarks and culture. Students also received a degustation of dumplings in the Chinese classes, crêpes in the French classes and ‘okonomiyaki’ in the Japanese classes.
Food provided by our dining hall also reflected diversity and our language offerings at Hale with food from Japan, China and France.
Staff also celebrated the week with bringing some of their preferred food, either from their own backgrounds or favourite cuisine, to share for morning tea. They even enjoyed a private lesson in the art of cooking crêpes at lunchtime.
A great week for all involved!
