Languages at De La Salle
Language students in Years 5 to 12 are exposed to the world through learning about and engaging in the following topics through their Italian and French studies:
- Cultural practices including cuisine, sport, traditions, poetry, songs and music, political movements, Bastille, Carnevale, youth culture
- History
- Art practice including the Renaissance, Impressionism
- Societal structures, living standards, patriarchal/nuclear families
- Economy
- Environment
- Technology
- and much more
At VCE level teachers are mandated to teach the language through:
France and Italy Study Tours
- The Individual
- The Italian / French Speaking Communities
- The world around us
In 2018, our French students were given the opportunity to travel to France and be part of an exchange program, staying with host French families in Bordeaux, located in Western France. This year, the French students who hosted our students have spent time at De La Salle College, living with our French students who participated in the exchange last year.
The exchange not only fosters links with the language and culture of the country but also fosters life-long friendships. It develops in our students an appreciation of our global community and our place in it.
This year in September, a group of 13 students and three staff are heading to Italy to experience their chosen subject in real-time. They will be touring Venice, Florence and Rome with an extended stay in the tiny medieval town of Orvieto, where they will live in a Monastery and attend Italian classes with locals.
The Culture and Study Tours are conducted every year and while students are almost ready to depart for Italy soon, applications for the France trip for 2020 are soon to be made available. For enquiries, please email Ms Grace Giudice ggiudice@delasalle.vic.edu.au.
Poetry Competitions
Students of Italian and French are also exposed to the rich culture of poetry and, every year, enter the Berthe Mouchette Competition (French) and the Dante Alighieri Poetry Competition (Italian). Schools around the State compete in these prestigious competitions and De La Salle has had a very good track record of achieving excellent results.
This year we had two finalists in the Dante Alighieri and three finalists for the Berthe Mouchette. The Berthe Mouchette competition is run by the Alliance Française Association of Victoria and the Dante Alighieri Society competition attracts more than 6,000 competitors. In fact, Melbourne is the only city in the world outside of Italy that runs this cultural competition.
Associations
At De La Salle College, our Language staff are committed to keeping abreast of the new curriculum and members of the following associations:
- MLTAV — Modern Language Teachers Association Victoria
- AFMLTAV — Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Association Victoria
- COASIT — Italian Assistance Association
- VATI — Victorian Association of Teachers of Italian
Each of these associations offers Professional Learning every year in both new curriculum links and progressive ways to teach language in a global context.
We encourage our students to keep up their language studies and immerse themselves in other cultures. Please get in touch if you would like more information about our wonderful Languages programs.
Ms Grace Giudice
LATL — Languages