LOTE Centre of Excellence Website Link

German Day

Indonesian Day

Malaysian Trip

Indonesian at Berwick Secondary College

Our Program:

At Berwick Secondary College we teach Indonesian to students in Year 7 through to Year 12. 

In Year 7, students study Indonesian for one semester and German for the other semester, before selecting one of the two languages to study in Year 8.

At Year 9, Indonesian becomes an elective, so students are able to engage with the language at a higher level while surrounded by students with similar interests and motivation to achieve.  In Year 9, students are involved in extra activities, such as fruit tasting, Indonesian trail at the Melbourne Zoo and an exploration excursion in the Melbourne CBD.

At Year 10, students begin to explore the language in more depth as they study Indonesian for 5 periods a week in class.  In Year 10, students have been involved in visiting an Indonesian restaurant to sample authentic cuisine, have filmed Getaway presentations around Melbourne and can attend forums to discover the benefits of learning Indonesian.

In VCE the focus is on developing communicative competence in all forms of language communication, with students exploring a variety of media and authentic language materials.  Opportunities are taken for students to gain genuine language communication exchanges.

In the past, our students have received very good results in VCE compared with the rest of the state and several have gone on to study Indonesian at university and in universities in Indonesia.

In 2007, Berwick Secondary College held a study tour to Malaysia (Indonesia’s Malay speaking neighbour – a language that is mutually comprehensible with Indonesia).  This was an extremely successful and beneficial trip that allowed students to explore a Malaysian school, the local environment, bargaining at a market and other language and cultural activities.  Year 12 students who attended this trip in 2007 returned to achieve extremely high results on their exams (including students with an A+ result on their oral exams, a very difficult feat).

Planning is currently underway for a similar tour in September 2010.

As a former LOTE Centre of Excellence (one of three Centres selected by the Victorian Government for a 2005-2008 project), Berwick Secondary College’s LOTE department is well equipped with up to date technology that allows students to develop language skills and important ICT skills in classes.  Students explore activities such as podcasting, movie making, email communication, electronic SmartBoards etc as they learn.

Upcoming events:

Year 10 excursion to an Indonesian restaurant in Richmond.

Year 9 excursion to Melbourne Zoo.

Year 11 excursion to Indonesian Consulate in Melbourne for Gamelan workshop.

‘Why Study LOTE’ information session – early term 3.

German Day

On Friday 29th February Berwick Secondary College ran its annual German Day. Normally, we would hold the day in Term 4, closer to Germany’s national day of Reunification, when the activities take a Christmas based theme, as many of our Christmas traditions originate in Germany.

This year, we chose to focus on Easter and “Fasching”, the second most important celebration in the German calendar. Fasching is the term used in parts of Germany to mean the Spring festival which is often called Karneval in other parts of Europe.

Students studying German in Years 7 to 9 were given the opportunity to participate in this very full day, and took part in a range of activities and competitions, including cooking, egg-dying, Faschings-Mask decorating, Easter card making, paper egg-basket making, traditional German egg-rolling games and a round-robin TippKick competition.

TippKick is a very popular German soccer board game, which has its own league in Gemany. For lunch, students were offered a taste of typical German food – “Weisswurst und Brötchen” (sausage and breadroll) and “Kartoffelsalat” (potato salad).

To finish off the day, students took part in an Easter Egg hunt and a “Schatzsuche” (Treasure Hunt), following
directions in German to locations around the school, before watching a performance of traditional German dancing, organised and performed by Bronwyn McKenzie of Year 11.

Students and teachers involved were thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day, but all agreed that it was a very enjoyable and worthwhile event. Thanks go to all of the students who participated with such enthusiasm, and to all of the staff members who worked so hard, giving up their own time to make the day such a great success.

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Indonesian Day

Every year on August 17, Indonesia celebrates its Independence Day. In Indonesian schools, students are involved in all kinds of cultural and significant activities to celebrate these days. To celebrate this day, the Indonesian faculty organised a day of Cultural celebration for students of Indonesian at Berwick Secondary College.

Students from Years 7 to 9 participated in a range of activities, while Year 10 and 11 Indonesian students were very helpful assistants. Bagus Kan members Aaron, Nita and Lisa came to run Batik, traditional dance, and drumming with students. Throughout the day, Indonesian teachers also ran cooking, Indonesian games, becak rides, mask making and dancing.

The day was a huge success, with students involved learning a lot about Indonesian culture and enjoying the Indonesian food they ordered for lunch.

Thank you to everyone who supported this cultural day and to all the teachers involved in the planning and delivery.

Malaysian Trip

On Tuesday, September 18, after months of planning, the Year 10, 11 and 12 Indonesian students and their teachers assembled at Melbourne Airport for their flight to Malaysia.

The 24 students and 4 teachers spent four nights overall in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, two nights at Taman Negara National Park (home of the oldest rainforest in the world), two nights at Kuantan beach resort on Malaysia's east coast, one night in a home stay and two nights on a plane.

There were many highlights of the tour, including a canopy walk in the rainforest, elephant rides, using Indonesian to shop in markets, visiting a Malaysian school, making batik and a pewter bowl, relaxing by the pool and beach in Kuantan and meeting many amazing people. The students exhibited fantastic attitudes towards their travel and came away from this trip with many strong friendships.

Terima kasih to everyone involved in planning and running this trip; it was a fantastic cultural journey that made learning a language an exciting experience!