Published on: 19 July 2013



Languages Week celebrations got underway last week with the annual Languages Week Quiz between Christ Church and MLC. A Year 8 French lunch, East-West Day, soccer competition and sushi fundraiser were other ways boys celebrated the diversity and benefits of learning a language.

On Monday, 87 boys and girls from Christ Church and MLC came together in Sandover Dining Hall for the languages quiz where they battled it out in five rounds of 10 questions. Questions were about the Chinese, French, German and Japanese languages and the target countries.

Assistant Head of Languages Henning Holzheuer thanked Markus from Alliance for the “outstanding” catering. “All the students enjoyed it with the three winning tables taking home language-related goodies such as lollies and stationery,” he said.

On Tuesday, about 80 boys attended the Year 8 French Lunch held in Sandover Dining Hall. The French students enjoyed a delicious three-course meal of tomato with vinaigrette for entree, a main course of boeuf bourguignon and gratin dauphinois, finished off with mousse au chocolat. On Wednesday, all Senior School staff were invited to enjoy platters of the four target countries’ foods for morning tea.

Thursday included a full program of events. The Year 9 ‘East-West Day’, co-ordinated by the Studies Office, Humanities and Languages departments, brought together a talented group of musicians, painters and martial artists to work with boys to provide insights into the eastern cultures of China and Japan and the western cultures of France and Germany. For the full news story, click here.

At recess and lunch, boys and staff could buy sushi prepared by Christ Church’s Japanese community. This is the second year the fundraiser has been held to raise money for the Ashinaga Foundation, which supports victims of the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami. The $1,500 raised goes directly to Ashinaga – an organisation that provides educational scholarships for children who lost their parents in the tragedy.

At lunchtime, boys also took part in a five-a-side soccer competition between the four target countries. Eight teams, two representing the each language, took part with China A the winners on the day.

Throughout Languages Week, boys from Years 7 to 12 studying a language have also been participating in the Language Perfect World Championships (LPWC). The LPWC is a global online competition in which participants battle it out against each other for 10 days by learning language vocabulary and earning points along the way. “This is the third year Christ Church has participated and we are hoping for a return to first place in WA, which the School achieved in 2011,” Mr Holzheuer said.