LANGUAGES

Blackfriars Priory School offers secondary students the opportunity to study a language, and students have a choice of Japanese or Italian. It is compulsory for students to study a language at Year 7, 8 and 9 level; however, language becomes an elective subject from Year 10 and this language can be studied through to Year 12.

At Blackfriars, Japanese is a well-established subject, having been implemented into the school curriculum from 1988. Italian was introduced to the Year 8 secondary curriculum in 2004, Year 7 curriculum in 2006 and has now progressed to the Year 11 level.

The assessment focus for all languages is on communication in the forms of writing, reading, speaking and comprehension. Understanding language systems and understanding culture are also an important aspect of language learning.

JAPANESE - lOWER SECONDARY

Students in Year 7 study Italian and Japanese for one semester.  In Year 7 Japanese students study language and script from a text called Hai 2. Students in Years 8 and 9 study Japanese from a text entitled Obentoo 1 and Obentoo 2. Topics include numbers, greetings, family, pets, food, sports and hobbies. Activities in Year 8 include exchange pen pal writing, Japanese food tasting, and some performances. As part of developing students’ cultural awareness, Year 9 students visit authentic Japanese restaurants, to experience Japanese cuisine. Year 9 students also have the opportunity to sit the Australian Languages Certificate which allows students to view their own language performance against a national scale.

JAPANESE - upper SECONDARY

Year 10 students continue their studies from lower secondary and complete Obentoo 2 text and begin Obentoo 3. At Year 11 and 12, students study according to the SACE stage 1 and Stage 2 requirements.
 

Students in senior year levels also have the opportunity to travel to Japan on the biennial School trip which occurred this year. The next Japan Tour will be in 2008 and is already in the planning! On the 19 day tour we stay with host families from our ‘brother’ school, Nagoya Otani High School for one week. In the second week the tour group travel to Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kyoto, Osaka, Himeji, Nara and Tokyo. It is a wonderful experience for the students to put their language skills into practice as well as have a lot of fun. The memories last a life time!

Italian - Lower Secondary

In Year 7 students study Italian from the text Grandi Amici.  Italian is currently being taught up to Year 11 level, and is being taught for the first time at Year 12 level in 2008. The text used is Volare 1 and Volare 2  which focuses on incorporating ICT skills in language learning and oral communication skills. Resources are constantly being added to the library collection and students are encouraged to make use of the Internet companion web site to consolidate their learning.

Some of the activities include Italian cooking, viewing Italian movies, a restaurant excursion, and visiting an Italian Social club to get a true feel of the rich culture of the Italian communities in Adelaide.

As the classes expand, we hope to introduce a Tour of Italy in future years.

Italian - UPPER Secondary

Italian is taught in Years 10-12 using the text Volare 3 & 4.  The focus is on grammar and building vocabulary in order to prepare students for SACE Stage 1 - Italian. Year 11 students are concentrating on grammar and investigative studies in preparation for SACE Stage 2 Italian. In Year 12, students will complete an in-depth study and refine their linguistic skills in preparation for their final examinations.

CHINESE - UPPER Secondary

For the first time in 2007, Chinese Stage 1 and 2 have been introduced after school hours for background speakers to cater for our International students.  The subject focuses on oral and written language and text studies.

THE DEPARTMENT

The teaching staff are:

• Joanne Farinola – Japanese and Italian

• Grazia Ciola - Italian

• Tracey Holt - Japanese

• Liana Bosco - Italian

• Yi Xie - Chinese

J. FARINOLA
Head of Languages
(Email:  jfarinola@bps.sa.edu.au)