Due to construction a Melba College, classes unfortunately will be cancelled on Saturday 12 and 19 October for Grade Prep to Year 10 students. Please DO NOT bring your child to language classes on these days. VCE classes will run as normal. VCE students MUST ATTEND classes on these two Saturdays. VCE classes have been moved to Ainslie Parklands Primary school (next to Melba College). For further information, please contact Antonella Cicero antonellac@vsl.vic.edu.au or 94740562.

On Saturday 14th September, students studying Indonesian in Years 7-10 at VSL Glen Waverley had the opportunity to enjoy an authentic Indonesian lunch together. This was a great way to finish the term and the Year 9/10 Unit of Work on "Food and Places to Eat”. We had Indonesian Ayam Bakar (Chicken) and Rendang (Beef) on the menu served with rice, egg and vegetables. The food was supplied by Warung Nusantara Restaurant and Catering. There were also some other snacks available such as Klepon (a sweet snack made with coconut and palm sugar). Students and staff enjoyed the chance to share a meal together and use some of the language we have been studying to describe the taste of food. "Selamat makan” which in Indonesian means “Enjoy your meal”.

As part of the Moon Festival celebrations which were held at the VSL Footscray, Altona North and Sunshine centres, our Vietnamese students participated in a variety of activities on Saturday 14 September 2019.

The main highlight of the celebrations was lantern making, which is an integral part of Moon Festival activities. The anticipation and excitement on the children’s faces as they made and displayed their colourful lanterns captured the essence of the Moon Festival itself: it is truly a great time for relaxation and the enjoyment of family life.

Over the last few years Malay classes have grown across all our VSL campuses, now being offered at Roxburgh, Werribee and Dandenong. Every year students and staff choose a center to hold their Malay Language Day Camp. This year it was held at Dandenong in August with around 100 students (and twice as many parents) attending. Professionally organised by staff with great 'mcing' by Marinah Mydin.

They organised a great range of activities, competitive recitations, acting and also catered with their famous samples of Malay food and deserts! (see photos, including a tough jury) It was well received and the community was more than happy to reunite with their fellow Malay citizens from across Victoria, traveling quite a distance for this occasion. As a host, VSL Dandenong was proud to receive such an enthusiastic group and we would be more than happy to host again, but equally looking forward to promoting and celebrating this beautiful culture and its language in other areas of Victoria! Thank you to all staff and supporting members of the Malay community.

The Association of Croatian Language Teachers in Victoria (“the Association”) is a professional association for Croatian language teachers in Victoria first established in 1979. Since its inception, the Association has played an integral part in developing the curriculum and programs for students studying the Croatian language in Victoria. The Association is made up entirely of teachers who work for the promotion and improvement of Croatian language teaching in Victoria. It does this by developing accessible programs and incentives for students to enrol in the study of the Croatian language, and events that engage and reward students undertaking Croatian language studies.

The Association was recently honoured to welcome four very important guests from Croatia, Mr Milan Bošnjak - special advisor, Office for Croatians outside of the Republic of Croatia, Lidija Cvicic – Professor at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb Biljana Petljak Zekic – Senior advisor for education and childcare. Grozdana Lajic Horvat – Drama Educator at the Zagreb youth theatre.

On Saturday, we had the honour to bring our guests to Keilor Downs VSL Centre where we were welcomed by the friendly Croatian Language Teachers Zlatko Muhvic, Tatjan Malekovic, Ivana Puhalo, Nikolina Banovac, Sanja Skoro Kolakusic, Tomislav Komso, Ivanka Krajnovic with a wonderful spread of Croatian cuisine and a special cake featuring the Croatian and Australian flag showing unity in Australia. Mr Sadik Cagdas, the Area Manager of Keilor Downs VSL Centre welcomed us with a humble speech about the history of Croatian schools at VSL and in particular at Keilor Downs. Mr Joe Tosic , Assistant Principal of the Victorian School of Languages also welcomed the delegation and all guests, joining us in the many events that took part throughout the morning. From there our special guests were put to work as they planned workshops for our Croatian students to experience and they were amazing as the students enjoyed every single minute from singing, dancing, speaking, PowerPoint presentation, partaking in the lessons in a variety of ways.