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YEAR 7 ENGLISH REFLECTIONS IN ENGLISH THIS YEAR...

I have been challenged by staying focused for the whole lesson and giving my best for every piece I do. – Matthew Issell I have learned how to plan and present a persuasive piece and how to make a good debate. – Liam Bindokas I have learned about horror, grammar, how to do an essay and many more things. I enjoyed writing an essay and I learned a lot of stuff and how to do it. I also liked making our ‘Thai-riffic!’ comics as I loved drawing and writing it. – Ethan Kiebert I have improved on my story writing. – Billy Cattanach I have developed my vocab and my spelling. I have also developed my comprehension in ‘Pankration’ and ‘Thai-riffic!’.

– Oliver Wiltshire

I have been challenged by writing my first essay. It was very challenging learning how to use TEEL for each paragraph. This was new for me because I had never been taught it before. Picking a topic for each paragraph was also challenging.

– Will Gray

I have enjoyed reviewing books. This was really fun and I learned a lot from it. – Julien Gaite I have developed confidence in my reading. I have also created my first essay on ‘Pankration’, our English novel. One of the fun times in English was doing our writing folio where we got to do all different kinds of creative writing. – Lachlan Beattie I have appreciated having such a good teacher and having the chance to learn how to write an essay and a writing folio.

– Brodie Hynam

I have developed my skills in correcting my work. I can still improve, but now I make less mistakes which is better than what I did in Grade 6. This is a bit improvement considering how many grammar mistakes I used to make. – Charles Darcy I have enjoyed the reading of the books ‘Pankration’ and ‘Thairiffic!’. I have also enjoyed the essays. – Jesse Sorgiovanni I have created many different writing pieces, such as essays, stories, persuasive writing, and many more. – George Plumridge I have enjoyed writing about horror and other stories. I also enjoyed reading the books ‘Pankration’ and ‘Thai-riffic!’, and learning about the genres of the books. – Mathew Hartney I have improved on my spelling and punctuation, and my narrative writing. – Joel Martyn I have learned how to spell bigger words that I can use more often. – Matthew Boardman I have improved on my persuasive writing with more persuasive words. I’ve also improved on my spelling and story writing. – Charlie Cannon I have learned how to write a persuasive text and have been a part of a debating team. I have also improving my writing skills. – Tom Hockley Samon I have improved on reading and also writing. I think I am getting better every lesson. – Jacob Devlin I have developed the skills to write an essay and produce long and sufficient pieces of work. – Grady Martin I have developed better writing skills and better reading skills.

– Henry Stephensen

I have enjoyed debating. Horror has also been good. I also enjoyed making the documentary about our favourite literature. – Zachary Muir I have improved on my hand writing. I also read ‘Pankration’ and ‘Thai-riffic!’ – Mitchell Stosic I have enjoyed all the stories I have written and the novel ‘Pankration’ that I read; it was really fun. – Max Dementiev I have appreciated reading two works and taking an in depth look at both novels. – Oliver Koerntjes

YEAR 8 PURSUASIVE PIECES

Big Bad Banned Games!

To the editor, The Community of St Joseph’s College has been divided for a long time now on the issue of students downloading games to their laptops. It is my personal belief along with many others that students should not be allowed to have downloaded games to their laptops. If games were allowed on the school laptop then I strongly believe that students (including myself) would find the temptation of games on our laptops too hard to resist. I know from personal experience, that students tend to play games on the internet during class time. The St Joseph’s I.T department does it’s best to block games from the internet but they have no control over games downloaded at home from the internet or off the games store. To elaborate, I would also like to say that games can have a negative effect on our learning. There is scientific evidence that games make us tire easily and can cause us to disengage from the real world. If students are allowed to play games downloaded and filled with viruses, it will have a negative effect on our education. For this reason I would encourage schools to continue, or start a NO GAMES POLICY. Secondly some games chosen could possibly be violent or inappropriate. This is not on! The school computer should be used for school purposes and school purposes only. Studies have shown that violent games encourage violence. Why would a Catholic school run the risk of producing violent adults? To extend my point some parents will have banned these games at home not knowing their children are playing these games on their school computer. Parents need to know what their son/daughter is playing on their school computer. All of this could happen if games are allowed on schools computer. Whilst some people may argue that games are a useful learning tool all the time. I do not believe that they fully understand what we are discussing. The games that do advance our learning like Hot maths, Language Perfect etc. are unblocked and ready for use. But the downloaded games do harm our learning. They distract us and stop us from achieving our full potential. The people that argue we should allow games on our laptop don’t really know what they are talking about. I would like to conclude by saying that students should accept St Joseph’s policy on banning games and all schools should continue to ban downloading games. Games are banned for a reason, they harm our learning. When your parents are paying for your schooling we must take this opportunity for learning.

William Ryan, Newtown, Victoria

UN Youth Evatt Competition for public speaking

SAFER CYCLISTS ON OUR STREETS

Currently there is much debate concerning the issue of whether or not bike paths should be built in and around Geelong.

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The aim of this would be to lower the risk of cyclists getting hit by cars. We as citizens of Geelong should band together to make our roads safer. Firstly, cyclists are not safe on our roads with over 1000 people getting hit every year in Australia and that’s only what has been reported to the police. Do you really want your family on the roads? If the Council made a decision to build more bike paths in Geelong, the number of deaths and injuries would be reduced dramatically. I remember when I was young, a driver accidently bumped the back of a cyclist’s bike and the cyclist came off his bike and managed to land, luckily off the road out of the way of more danger. He was lucky to only come away with minor cuts and bruises. All it takes is for people to stand up and come together as a community to make a change.

Secondly, if we took cyclists off our foot paths it would make pedestrians much safer, although very few people are killed a large number of people are injured sometimes even to the extent of hospitalisation. For example, in the Sydney Morning Herald a women named Emily Greenwood was hit and seriously injured by a cyclist. All we need is for cyclists to have separate paths for themselves and that will make everything safer for everyone. The footpaths should be only for pedestrians. What would happen if a cyclist hit an elderly person or someone with a pram? The risk of death is much higher and without cyclists on our foot paths there is no chance of that happening.

Finally I can understand why the Council is reluctant to build bike paths in Geelong because that would be rather expensive, but if you think about it this way it is cheaper in the long run.

Without cyclists on our roads and foot paths there is a much lower chance of someone getting injured and that means less hospital bills. Hospital bills are never cheap for example a simple fracture in the wrist or forearm can cost at the least $2500. In conclusion the Geelong Council must consider building bike paths for cyclists. Not only will it they be safer, but so will drivers, pedestrians and other road users. Do we as citizens of Geelong really want to risk our lives on our roads?

Frustrated, Geelong, VIC - Thomas Chapple YEAR 10 ENGLISH REFLECTIONS

When studying the film text ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ I developed my skills to incorporate camera angles into my writing as a source of evidence.

– Andrew McCorkell

Throughout the ‘Maus’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ comparative study,

Author Oliver Phommavanh speaking about his writing adventures and about his writing adventures and experiences experiences I learned that themes such as power, prejudice and courage can be explored in vastly different situations and characters. – Jacob Talbot Tips I have for students studying Year 10 English next year are, to read both of the texts in Semester 2 and to remember quotes. – Harrison Ling When studying the film text ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ I developed an awareness of all the film techniques used by directors to influence a scene and emotions of the viewers. Also, how much thought goes into the camera angle, lighting, prop and settings of the films we view. – Aedan Green Throughout the ‘Maus’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ comparative study, I developed an understanding of prejudice and how it is presented in society. I also gained an insight into the life of a Jewish man during the Holocaust and the horrors that many Jews were subjected to by Nazi Germany. – Daniel Huynh I have focused on my writing skills in Year 10 English by making sure I read both novels so I had a complete knowledge of the texts so that I was able to have accurate evidence and information. – Connor Bennett Throughout the ‘Maus’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ comparative study, I learned that we take kindness and care for granted, and that prejudice is such a major thing in history and still exists today. – Matthew Romano Tips I have for students studying in Year 10 English next year are, to study hard because you will be rewarded.

– Matthew Bolger

When studying the film text ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ I developed a good understanding of film techniques and essay adaptations. – Maxwell Cook Throughout the ‘Maus’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ comparative study, I was taught that courage, injustice and power are all a part of everyday life. I also learned how to structure comparative pieces. – Lucas Pante Tips I have for students studying Year 10 English next year are, to plan ahead and read the texts early when you have spare time. By doing this you will have a head start into the semester and a head start over others in the year level. – Mitch Lay

OLIVER PHOMMAVANH AUTHOR VISIT

In April, Oliver Phommavanh the author of the popular novel ‘Thai-riffic!’ visited the Year 7 students. Oliver shared stories of his family and childhood, and explained how these people inspired him and his writing. The boys learned about Oliver’s experiences as a published author, and gained insight into the processes involved in writing a novel. His energy and humour made for an interesting and educational day for the Year 7 boys.

Year 7 reflections on meeting Oliver:

I really enjoyed the Oliver Phommavanh visit because he was entertaining and exciting. He was not just like a normal speaker because he got the audience involved by being funny and unpredictable. My favourite bit of the presentation was when he said that he wanted to be a dinosaur when he grew up. I really liked learning about Oliver’s culture in the book and in this presentation. – Matt Issell Having Oliver Phommavanh was a really good experience because we could meet the author of the book we just read in class. Oliver was very funny and had lots of good jokes and he uses lots of humour in the book. I learnt that good readers are good writers and that the first page in a book is the most important because that makes the reader want to keep reading.

– Liam Bindokas

Oliver was great because he told us about his really fun and wacky childhood. I learned that when you’re writing a book you have to do a lot of drafts, changes, reading over before you can fully publish a book. I now know that you have to take your time to get a good idea to start off any piece of writing and that you have to use as many strong, persuasive and descriptive words as you can. Thank you Oliver for coming to speak to the Year 7s!

– Ethan Kiebert