Geography

Commonwealth Games Unit

In Term 1 the Year 8 French, Italian and Indonesian studied the commonwealth games. The Unit involved looking into the values of the games, some history of the games, and the nations that compete, especially those that spoke our target language, i.e. French, Italian or Indonesian. We also did a research project on the history of the games, with a section of it presented both orally and written Mon île in our target language. To finish the Unit we had être libre, the intercultural games. sur mon île This involved activities il y a la liberté between the different on peut nager ou language classes. The faire la ballade three activities were an à la plage individual waiter race, être libre a team game of an Indonesian sport that is rêver like volleyball played with du temps chaud your feet, and a culturdes palmiers al event, where teams des fruits tropicaux performed by acting and des poissons colorées singing in their target rêver language. The games were enjoyed by all, as souhaiter was the entire unit. l’eau bleue Egene Twomey les coquillages l’étoile de mer les crabes et les homards souhaiter Arnold Omanyo

Geography

Fieldwork! The joy of Geography. All geographers love to leave the classroom and head of into parts unknown in order to put into practice all the skills that have been developed in class. Apart from simply enjoying being out in the fresh air of a coastline, a river valley or a volcanic landscape, or the not so fresh air of downtown Melbourne, geographers get the opportunity to observe their environment in a new light. By considering the human and natural processes at work, students are able to understand better the factors which have led to the development of our immediate and our global environment. Thus it was, in March, that the VCE Unit 3 fieldwork took place at Cape Schanck. The eager anticipation of the day was tempered when, upon arriving at the Cape in bright sunshine, ominous clouds were noticed approaching at speed. Before long the students were geographically challenged as the gentle breeze changed to 80-100kmh gusts and heavy rain began to fall. After persevering in the inclement conditions for a while, most students sought the shelter of the bus from which they were distinctly loath to leave despite the cajoling, nay, pleading of their teacher. In spite of the hardships a productive day was enjoyed in the wide outdoors. For the VCE Unit 3 / 4 Geographers the year is the culmination of their geographical studies at secondary school. From Years 7 to 11 they have investigated topics such as map reading, weather and climate, natural disasters, nuclear energy, global warming, environmental pollution, population change, use of resources, contrasts in human environments, global hunger and poverty and landscape analysis. All these studies enable us to be better custodians of the world by using the many resources it offers is a more sustainable fashion. Shakespeare wrote, in Antony and Cleopatra, ‘In Nature’s book of secrecy, a little I can read.’ The study of Geography aims to increase greatly the amount we can read ‘in Nature’s book of secrecy’. Geography is a subject which is highly relevant in our day-to-day lives. Our newspapers and electronic media are full of geographical items on an almost daily basis. In 2006 we have faced severe drought, the continued threat of global warming, earth tremors in Melbourne, cyclones in North Queensland and many other phenomena of less severe impact. Studying Geography allows us to understand the causes of these phenomena and how people can respond most effectively to them.

Mr Doug Esler