2003 School Magazine

FACULTIES

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LANGUAGE AND LITERACIES

As well as competitions for those prestigious literary awards to be presented at the End-of-Year Assembly and Prize- Giving, all Year levels were invited to participate in a Very, Very Short Story Competition, that is, a story in 50 words or less. Year 8 Section Winner was Julia Wills and Karri Hartley won the Junior Section. Winner of the Mystery or Fantasy Writing Competition was Rachel Ferris who had previously received a Highly Coinmended in Section C Poetry Years 8 and 9 of the OATIS- Courier-Mail Literary Competition Earlier in the Year, Year 9 students enjoyed their participation in writing workshops conducted by Ms Catherine Bateson, a poet and author of young adult fiction visiting from Melbourne. Staff and students enjoyed the activities and creativity that she inspired. The success of Writers' Week rested on the opportunity it afforded students to meet with such distinguished visitors, to see

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experts in action, and to think about language and ideas from other perspectives it proved to be an invaluable addition to classroom learning experiences SISTER S CH O OL PR O G RAM ME : cR O S s - CULTU RAL ExpERiEN CE s IJapa nese harp), and significantly published elsewhere in this magazine. Successful visits to and from our Sister improved her knowledge of the language. Schools in Germany, France and Japan have Travelling to Japan in June-July. Rebecca Rebecca's host family were very generous helped to cement the value of cross- Smith was welcomed into Mie High School in taking her to numerous sightseeing cultural experiences for our students and and hosted by a family she had come to destinations such as Kyoto City with the to widen their horizons. know through her own hosting experience Golden Pavilion, Himeiji Castle and ise in April, we were pleased to welcome Kana with a visiting Japanese Student to shrine. She also enjoyed meeting other Aoki from Seirinkan High School in Nagoya. Brisbane Girls Grammar School. Rebecca students who had previously been involved Japan. Kana will be with us until March experienced life in a traditional Japanese in the Brisbane Girls Grammar School 2004. She is proving to be an excellent home and school where she participated eXchange programme. Rebecca's trip was eXchange student, mixing well with other extremely enjoyable and beneficial as she in a diverse range of cultural activities. students and her host families, and was able to gain a better understanding of She attended many school-based applying herself studiously to her academic activities such as a tea ceremony and koto club Japanese life work. Kana's view of cultural differences 15 Visiting author, Ms Catherine Bateson, with four of her creative writing workshop attendees: IL to R): Gloria Wong, LU Richards, A1ara Bracey and Kaitlin Rutledge

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Rebecca Smith wears the ju-ni hitoe, a 12-layer summer kimono, with her host sister, Risa Abe

Rebecca Smith, centre, learning to play the koto.

Our eXchange student. Kana Aoki