In Week 4 this term we celebrated Concordia鈥檚 inaugural Languages Week. The week commenced with a special languages Chapel service, demonstrating the linguistic and cultural diversity within our community, and involving a number of students and staff speaking in German, Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Vietnamese, French and Spanish. Throughout the week students in German and Chinese language classes had the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities such as food tasting in Year 8 as well as quizzes, games and competitions in other year levels. The Year 3 German class at St John's Campus was excited to have stories read to them by Year 12 German students.聽It was terrific to see and hear examples of other languages during the week too, as teachers聽were invited to greet students in different languages and share their own background, knowledge and experiences of other languages and cultures. Home classes across the whole school really enjoyed testing their collective knowledge in a languages 鈥楰ahoot鈥�. The 鈥楪uess the Number of Gummib盲rchen in the Jar鈥� competition drew many students to the library, where German and Chinese cultural items and language texts were displayed, and where students also had the opportunity to try traditional language board games such as 鈥楳ensch 盲rgere dich nicht鈥� and Chinese chess. The culmination of Languages Week was a special staff quiz!
During Languages Week we were reminded that 鈥榣anguages matter鈥�. Learning another language has many benefits, not the least of which is gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of other cultures, and of our diversity! We are looking forward to celebrating Languages Week again in 2027!
Trish Prenzler
Faculty Leader - Languages
