Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2005

E, INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS ka akoiwanami

yearl I exchangestudent

I am sixteen years old and in Year 11 now. I am from Nagoya in lapan. I am an eXchange student from Seirinkan High school. I came here in April this year and I will stay here for one Year.

second Sa urday. I am usually very tired, so I cannot 'oin any sports clubs. I love playing sport, so it 's a ad thing for me when I came into roll call on my first day I was so nervous and excited at the same time. I was worried about what would happen if I could not make any friends. At first I could not understand English very well but I just tried. I spoke to everyone and said "hi" as much as possible, and everyone was so nice to me. Now I have such good friends and they are crazy and funny all the time. What I want to is to be an Australian, a Grammar girl just like everyone else. My English is still not good enough, but I have almost got over the loneliness and I really enjoy the time with my friends.

not much self-study. it can be hard for he students because they have to think and decide what to do by themselves. BU I I'ke h's way ette because we can work more I eely and it is more interesting. Third y, we can choose sub'ec s here. In lapan we cannot choose our subjects, so I have to do poli ics even though I don't like it. I have found this School 's very international because we can learn a lot of languages here. in most apanese schools we can only Iea n English. Also I love the Australian jine table. There is a longer lunch time and morning tea, and I was very surprised at the time we go home. At my schoo we have essons till7 pm on Wednesdays and ridays, 5:30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4 pm on Mondays, and also we have school e ery hour days of rehearsals. This was vital preparation for our concert on the Saturday evening, and the early rehearsals and sectionals allowed us to interact with and appreciate the skills of the other musicians we played or sang alongside. The talent displayed by many of the participants was inspiration enough for us to apply ourselves to the challenging repertoire. we all learned, fairly quickly, that it would not do to disappoint the professional international musical directors who travelled to Melbourne to conduct this event! These were Mr 10hn Apeitos (Europe), Dr Anton Armstrong (USA) and Professor Paula Crider (USA). Under their tutelage we all noticed a marked improvement in our

Now that I have many friends,

I can make my way as a

Grammar girl.

I find that AUS re ian schools are very different from lapanese schools. First of all, in Ia an we do not have morning tea so I am alwa s hungry at school. I love morning tea but it gives me a big problem. .. I have put on 3 kilograms already! Secondly, the s uden s ere are more in dependen than lapanese studen s. In lapan we do 00 have assignments a d

Kanako Iwanami

international musical direction

abilities and confidence, but they a s provided us with many memories from an unforgettable five days This was an incredible experience for all those involved who braved the unseasonal cold weather to participate in an event with students from other schools and an exhilarating performance at the Melbourne Town Hall

Term in is a hectic period in the school calendar, but despite this, 25 girls travelled to Scotch College in Melbourne to attend the biennial Combined Schools

Music Festival. Elizabeth Cowley, Music Captain (Strings), reports.

An early highlight was the introduction to our billet families who would host us for the next five days. All the girls were appreciative of the efforts of these families who interrupted their regular schedules to give us a real taste of their home city in our limited free time Although many of our Grammar peers would be shocked, all the girls thoroughly enjoyed the two nine

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