Premier’s Awards 2019 Last Monday VSL students, teachers, parents and Area Managers attended the annual Premier’s VCE Awards Day at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre. The Victorian School of Languages did exceptionally well in the individual study awards and a number of principals and teachers from other schools congratulated us on receiving lots of awards. This year the number was 16 (compared to 15 last year), a fantastic effort. It was particularly pleasing to see that awards also went to students from the new languages of Karen and Chin Hakha.

The International Children’s Festival has been taking place in Melbourne since 2002 is an extension of the 23rd of April National Sovereignty and Children’s Day celebrated in Turkey which draws children’s dance groups from over 120 countries around the world. The festival in Melbourne brings together the children from Turkish schools as well as children's groups from other backgrounds. The annual festival in Melbourne tries to diminish the existing misunderstanding and intolerance among different communities of diverse racial, religious and cultural backgrounds by providing an occasion for the children to get together and help promote and foster collective consciousness towards a uniting Australian cause. This year there were four VSL Language Groups (Macedonian, Punjabi, Kannada and Bosnian). I would like to thank everyone who assisted in the preparation for the festival: the centre supervisors and parents, particularly the VSL Dance group students and staff (Vesna Damcevska, Mirjana Stojcevska, Harmeet Singh and Baljinder Randhawa) for their weeks of preparation, dedication and their entertaining dance. All 4 groups’ displayed excellent performances which were enjoyed by the audience of over 500. Please see attached photos from the Festival.

The annual ‘A Taste of Portugal’ Festival was recently held at the Queen Victoria market. Thousands of visitors to the festival were exposed to a smorgasbord of music, dancing, food, wines and crafts. A special thank you to VSL Portuguese staff who had a stall promoting the VSL Portuguese classes.

On Saturday 25th May, the German Year 5-12 class at Matthew Flinders Centre Geelong, ventured out on a heritage trail to explore the stories of the first German settlers in Australia. For our VCE students this covers the theme and topic ‘German-speaking communities’/’Historical perspectives’. Ziebell’s Farmhouse is Victoria’s oldest remaining building constructed by German settlers. Christian and Sophia Ziebell were over 50 (this was very old by the standards back then!) when they migrated to Australia in 1850 with their 8 children. They must have been extremely self-sufficient, practical and hardworking, building a solid house themselves, establishing a successful dairy and purchasing the land they had leased initially after only a short time. Our guide John from the ‘Friends of Westgarthtown’ had a huge bag full of fascinating anecdotes of what life was like for the German settlers in the middle of the century. The excursion not only gave us new perspectives on different lifestyles, but also enhanced our understanding of Australia’s multicultural society. Astrid Paape – German Instructor

On Saturday May 11, our students at the VSL Box Hill centre prepared their Chinese Mother’s Day card. Students not only learnt how to say Happy Mother’s Day but also phrases that they can use to send their best wishes to their mother.