1982 BGGS Magazine

JAJPANlE§lE DlEJPAR'fMlEN1f . This year, the school's J apanese department has been given new life, thanks mainly to the efforts of the Japanese Cultural Group, now in its second year. Early in the year it was decided to renovate L23 and to construct a Japanese- style garden and teahouse in the small grassed area outside the language bloclcRenovations include the provision of a low Japanese-style table and cushions for use by Japanese classes, and these are already in use. The garden, designed by Ray Rooney, Amanda's father, will hopefully be started soon and will rio doubt make our orals a little more bearable in the future . Once again we were visited in July by the Tsushima Girls' High School from Nagoya and all the girls in the school who had the pleasure of hosting a Japanese girl or boy (yes, we even had boys this year!) will agree that this trip was by fiu the most successful ever conducted. Several girls in the school also hosted university students from the Kobe AssoCiation, whose visit coincided with that of our sister school. This is the first time Grammar has been involved in this exchange programme but hopefully it will not be the last. Friendships between Girls' Grammar and these groups will no doubt be strengthened by the visits of two girls, Amanda Rooney who has won a Rotary Scholarship to Japan, and Gillian Moses, who will be staying with several Japanese families over a two-month period. Amanda was also very successful in this year's Japanese Speaking competition, winning both the state and national finals. This is the first time a student from our school has won this title. Mild Akanishi, an AFS student from Japan, has been with us this year and has proved a useful cultural consultant and interpreter when the students from Nagoya and Kobe were here: The Japanese Cultural Group has run a number of functions this year, including a Japanese dinner early in the year, a demonstration of "Go" (a board game) by the president of the Brisbane Go Club, and the exhibition of a classic Japanese film, "The Harp of Burma". Everybody who saw this extraordinary film agreed that it was a beautiful, touching work of film art, and it is a pity that more people did not come along. A few persistent parents are still coming along to the evening Japanese classes and should be congratulated on their perseverance. They are not yet competing for our end- of-year prizes but my mother assures me it is only a matter of time! In the wake of the success achieved by the French and German folklore groups, the J apanese students decided to form a Japanese dancing troupe which has performed 66

several times already. This is just one example of how Japanese at Girls' Grammar is coming to be more than just another language. Gillian Moses.

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