Regional German Poetry Competition
The 2024 Regional German Poetry Competition took place on Friday 2nd August. Mount Waverley Secondary College hosted this event for the first time, and it was a great success. 40 selected German students from Box Hill High School, Brentwood Secondary College and MWSC were invited to participate in this event.
Students worked very hard in the previous weeks to learn and memorise their individual poems to recite them with excellent pronunciation, intonation and gesture.
Congratulations to the following MWSC Gold, Silver and Bronze medallists:
Year 7
First place: Aliyah S
Second place: Samual F
Year 8
German as a Foreign Language
Second place: Anika S
Third place: Advika G
German Native Speakers
First place: Chloe B
Third place: Viktoria K
Year 9
First place: Joel E
Second place: Holly F
German Language Assistant – Justine Schindler
We are very lucky to host a language assistant from Germany. Her name is Justine Schindler, and she will be staying with us until October. Justine comes from Bremen, a town in the north of Germany. Before coming to Melbourne, she finished her bachelor’s degree in Languages (German/English). Justine studies to become a teacher, at the University of Oldenburg.
Justine has lived in America for 2 years studying at Oakland University in Michigan. She likes to dance and having coffee with friends. Her favourite thing in Australia are Koalas.
Particularly at VCE level, Justine is providing assistance in conversation practice to our Year 12 students. Continuous conversation practice on a one to one basis or in small groups with a native speaker is a great opportunity to improve students’ communication skills in German. Students are benefitting from this valuable experience not only in improving their fluency, but also in improving their cultural knowledge. Getting used to speaking in a foreign language on a regular basis will enable students to step out of their comfort zone, become risk takers and strengthen their passion for language learning.
Ms Katja Chitters
Head of German