Middle School - English

Year 8 English Mainstream Students contribute to the Poetry Week at the International French School of Sydney The students of the year 8 English Mainstream class recently studied and performed the poem "The Man from Snowy River" by A. B. Banjo Paterson. Read more... The Biennale of Sydney 2010 The Beauty of Distance is the theme chosen for this year's Biennale. Students are given a free guide and student's newspaper and encouraged to visit some of the seven venues where 440 works from 166 artists are exhibited. They can read more about this extraordinary festival of contemporary art in the articles below. Read more... The 2009 Dorothea Mckellar Poetry Awards This Australian poetry competition is in its 26th year. Out of 6,660 entries this year, 12 were from our Yr 8/9 ESL. They not only had to write their poem but also had to submit it online. See below: - their participation certificates - some of the winner's poems, including Raaisa Islam's poem (lower secondary winner) which was studied in class - the president's letter and the two judges' comments Read more... A diamante poem about your favourite wild animal For their first experience in creative writing of 2009/2010, Yr6/7 ESL and Yr 8/9 ESL will try their hand at writing a diamante style poem for the Bowen Library Children' s Book Week competition. They will read many poems, some of which written by students who were in the same ESL groups before. They will also learn about figures of speech. Read more... Australian Theatre of the Deaf Both Secondary and Primary students enjoyed shows by The Australian Theatre of the Deaf on in April. Here are some Year 8 ESL reactions to the show. Read more... A story about the Goldrush: "Broomsticks and Old Lace" Yr 6/7 ESL first heard about the Goldrush in Australia when they read about a gold digger in "The Bamboo Flute" over the Easter holidays. They learnt more about it in a booklet they shared with the Yr 5 Advanced.They are ready now to follow the adventures of Nellie and Elsie on-line. Read more... Asphalt and Feathers Many children in CE ,CM and Year 6 entered stories and poems into the Sydney Youth Writes competition. Verity and Mimi in Year 6 were published in the book "Asphalt and Ashes", which resulted from this competition. They were also lucky enough to meet the famous writer David Malouf. He congratulated all the children who entered and remarked on how enjoyable the entries were, as these children had learned to use words to enchant us. Read more... Class Project on Afghanistan Read more... The Week of Tastes Yr6/7 ESL and Intermediate and Yr 8/9 ESL celebrated the Week of Tastes. Many students are new. They all shopped and cooked for their classmates. It allowed them to get to know each other better by sharing their favourite foods and then talking and writing about them in English. Students were required to complete assignments about their experience which were explained in the attached sequence instructions. Click to see the sequence instructions, photographs of the students, their menus exhibited at Bowen Library until the end of November and some of their comments. I would like to thank Vickie Seagoe, Nicky Giraud, Isabelle Johannon, Bernd Fichtner, Kate, Dana, the parents and Jane Moffat from Bowen Library for their help and support. Read more... Gourmet on the go Yr 7 Advertisement video Read more...