The VSL community has once again done a fantastic job in fundraising for education in East Timor.
We raised a record $10, 000 this year.
Below is a response form the organisers:

“I write once again on behalf of the Teachers 4 Timor Inc organisation to express our thanks to all at the VSL for the magnificent fundraising in ongoing support of our programs in Ainaro, East Timor.

The support, by so many VSL students and staff who have helped in the fundraising once again this year, is extremely gratifying.
This year I was able to work in the T4T English Support program for 9 weeks during June and July. It certainly is inspirational to work with the young people who are so keen to improve their lot in life by engaging in our program. The $10,000 + funds raised this year will go a long way to supporting and engaging the young people of Ainaro in activities that will further their prospects in life.”

Autumn Full Moon Festival Celebration at the Point Cook Centre On Saturday 14th September, Korean students, parents and teachers from the VSL Point Cook Centre gathered to celebrate the Autumn Full Moon Festival. The students and parents were divided into four groups to make Moon rice cakes (Songpyeon) and competed against each other for the prize of the most creative and delicious 'Songpyeon'. The Korean students were immersed in a Korean Full Moon Festival atmosphere and experienced authentic Korean culture. Both students and parents had a lot of fun and wished to have more events like this in the future.

Hyung-Soon Yim (Korean Teacher)

Romanian Excursion As a part of the F-6 Romanian program, 20 students attended an excursion to a Romanian Café called Café Transylvania, which is located at 4 Spring Square in Hallam. The excursion was an essential component of the Romanian primary program and took place on Saturday 16th November 2019. Students had a great opportunity to enhance their understanding of the Romanian culture through:

• enjoying a Romanian meal of their choice, consisting of a sample of Romanian food and a dessert
• discovering a range of Romanian foods available in Melbourne
• ordering food and drinks in Romanian
• completing relevant activities related to the “Food and Drinks“ topic studied in term 4

The visuals provide evidence of great fun for all involved and we are looking forward to enjoy the Café and its hospitality again!

All the Melton Centre Punjabi students on these photos won first prizes at the yearly Sikh Naujwan Sabha Blackburn event last Saturday. The two girls with the Cup, Avneet Kaur Gr4 & Inderpreet Kaur Gr7, were the winners of the main poetry competition.

On Saturday 9 November, we celebrated the Loi Krathong Festival in our Thai class at the VSL Altona North Centre. We made so many pretty krathongs and we floated them on a pretend river. We also made a wish. Loi Krathong is a Thai ceremony celebrated throughout Thailand on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the Thai traditional calendar. It is a festival where people gather and pay respects to the goddess of water by floating lotus-shaped lanterns decorated with flowers, incense and candles onto rivers. We also make a wish and pray that bad things will be floated away with the krathongs.