• All VSL classes, from Foundation to VCE, will return to onsite teaching as from this Saturday 31 July.(and the following mid-week days).
• An additional teaching session for all Year levels will be held on Saturday 18 September.
• The only exception to Centre classes will be at the Brentwood Centre where building construction will take place in the next two weeks. The Area Manager will inform students, parents and teachers of the arrangements –some classes will remain online while VCE students will relocate to another Centre. Students will not miss a session.
• All teachers and students over the age of 12 will need to wear face masks and maintain social distancing.
• Parents and special visitors (if any) will need to use the VSL Centre QR Code if entering the school building.

Year 12 Karen students at the Werribee VSL Centre have been studying environmental issues in the Karen State, Burma.  They have also been learning about conservation in Salween Peace Park. On Saturday 24 of July, year 12 Karen students were privilleged to hear from a distinguised guest speaker via Zoom; Thara Saw Paul Sein Twa (2020 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner & Chairperson of Karen Environmental and Social Network).  The students were very excited by his presence. They listened attentively throughout the presentation and had an opportunity to ask questions. The presentation provided students with greater knowledge and understanding of environmental issues in the Karen State, as well as an opportunity to consolidate what they had learnt about Salween Peace Park.                                                                                           The students and class teacher were very thankful to Thara Saw Paul Sein Twa for his insightful presentation and for making time to join the online Karen class all the way from Thailand.

Thamaypaw Naysay

Yr 12 Karen Language Teacher – VSL Werribee Centre

The Taste of Portugal Festival took place on the 27^th June this year at the Queen Victoria Market. Traditionally it is a day which marks the national Day of Portugal, with food, cultural activities and entertainment. It is also a day to celebrate historical ties between all the Portuguese speaking countries. The VSL participates annually in this event with promotion of our Portuguese language classes, participation of our students in the Portuguese Artworks Competition and also in the singing of both the Australian and Portuguese Anthems at the Official National Day Ceremony. Certificates were also awarded to our VSL students who undertook Camoes Instituto official exams- Simao Sanguinho, Madalena Fernandes, Luisa David and Amanda Molinari-Ortiz. Camoes was a famous Portuguese poet who wrote the epic Lusiadas verses and the National day bears his name, being the Day of Portugal, Camoes and the Portuguese communities. The Official Ceremony was attended by Councillor Jamal Hakim of the City of Melbourne, as well as the Honorary Portuguese Consul, Mr Nuno Godinho, the Honorary Brazilian Vice-Consul, Mr Osanan Barros, and from the Consulate of Timor-Leste, Ms Ana Noronha, the Advisor to the Portuguese Council for Communities Abroad, Mrs Silvia Renda, the president of the Portuguese Speaking Communities of Victoria, Mrs Alda Retre, as well as our Principal of the VSL, Mr Frank Merlino and Area Manager Vanda Matruglio. The winners of the Portuguese Artworks competition were our VSL students: Rodrigo Catarino, Martim  Catarino,             Isabella Sharan and Sofia Benavente. Congratulations to all!

Recently, students from the senior Tamil class at the VSL Point Cook centre gave oral presentations on their hand-made, self-introductory posters. Throughout term 2, these students had been learning how to introduce themselves, their family, school, likes and dislikes as well as hobbies and future aspirations in Tamil, both orally and in a written format. To assess their understanding of these topics, students were required to create a poster containing a minimum of 10 sentences about themselves and their families in Tamil. They were also encouraged to add relevant pictures or drawings and were given full freedom for designing their posters. They then presented their posters in front to the class.

By crafting these posters, students were able to not only demonstrate their ability to self-introduce, but they also had an opportunity to showcase their creativity and individuality. They also developed their public speaking skills via the show and tell presentation. Students also had a lot of fun making the posters and wanted more similar activities in the upcoming terms.

Through its Distance Education Section, the VSL has developed new online courses for VCE Hindi, Punjabi and Vietnamese (Second Language), aimed at students who cannot otherwise study the language in a classroom setting.

These courses will be delivered through the VSL’s specially designed learning platform, which allows students to access a rich variety of digital resources to practise reading, writing, listening and speaking.

 For 2021 students can enrol to study online:

• Hindi VCE Units 1-4 
• Punjabi VCE Units 1&2 (with VCE Units 1-4 available in 2022) 
• Vietnamese (SL) VCE Units 1&2 (with VCE Units 1-4 available in 2022

For more information see Courses/Overview/Distance Education on our website or call 9474 0500.