Languages
St Andrew’s major language choices in 2017
are French, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish
www.sacs.nsw.edu.au
Sydney Square, Sydney
St Andrew’s Language choices from Year 7 in 2017:
French, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish
Languages at St Andrew’s
All Junior School students at St Andrew’s Cathedral School learn Mandarin Chinese,
enjoying two 30-minute lessons a week in Years 3-6 and three 30-minute lessons in
Kindergarten to Year 2. Students entering Year 7 join the Middle Years Programme (MYP)
curriculum that stipulates that all students must study a foreign language through until Year
10. Students have a choice of three languages from Year 7. Upon entering the final two years
of schooling, several more languages are offered as part of the IB Diploma or the Higher
School Certificate.
Students starting at St Andrew’s in Year 7
can choose between French, Mandarin
Chinese and Spanish. However, students
must choose carefully and wisely, as
typically students will be committing to four
years of study of the one language and will
therefore be building on their knowledge
over four years – from Year 7 to Year 10.
Looking ahead, for Year 11 and 12, students
can choose to continue their study of the
IB programme or they can choose the
Higher School Certificate (HSC). All three
languages can be studied for the HSC or
for the IB Diploma Programme. For the IB
Diploma Programme, the study of a foreign
language in Years 11 and 12 is compulsory.
Students are encouraged to continue
studying the language they have been
learning in Year 7 to 10, therefore attaining
a high level of proficiency in all forms of
communication that is spoken and written.
Students can also learn a new language
in Year 11 for the IB which is called an
“ab initio” course, in effect a beginners’
course. For the HSC all foreign languages
(including beginners’ courses) are elective
subjects, and therefore are not compulsory.
HSC Languages offered in 2017 in
Years 11-12 include French, German
and Japanese for continuing students
and Spanish and Mandarin Chinese
(Year 12) for beginners.
Learning a foreign language develops a
whole set of mental, social, and cultural
skills and this newfound awareness carries
over to other languages when learned.
The new languages studied, especially
of European origin, tend to have a lot of
recognisable, common elements that are
more easily assimilated and expanded
upon by tapping into previous languagelearning experiences. In fact, once you
know one language, other languages will
be easier to learn.
Which language should I choose?
There are various things to consider when
making this choice, including possible prior
knowledge, connections with family and
friends, and interest in the people, history
and culture associated with a language and
learning a particular language.
The MYP seeks to make young people
more aware of an individual’s place in
society and the global community. It is
important that students can relate to other
people from other cultures and express
thoughts in another language. Throughout
the course for each language, students
will learn how to communicate in a range
of situations which they would encounter
as young people in the world, including
such things as:
•introducing themselves and
describing themselves
•describing other people including
their family, friends, pets
•talking about sports, hobbies and
other interests
•talking about their lives including their
home, their pets, school life, travel
•talking about their local area, city,
places of interest, their country
•talking about customs and traditions,
highlighting similarities and/or
differences in cultures.
French
More than 200 million people speak French on the five continents. The Le Francophonie, the
international organisation of French-speaking countries, comprises 84 states and governments.
French is the second most widely learned
foreign language after English, and the
ninth most widely spoken language in the
world. French is also the only language,
alongside English, that is taught in every
country in the world. French is both a
working language and an official language
of the United Nations, the European Union,
UNESCO, NATO, the International Olympic
Committee, the International Red Cross and
international courts. French is the language
of the three cities where the EU institutions
are headquartered: Strasbourg, Brussels
and Luxembourg.
French is an easy language to learn. It does
not take long to reach a level where you
can communicate in French. French is a
good base for learning other languages,
especially Romance languages (Spanish,
Italian, Portuguese and Romanian) as well
as English, since 50 per cent of current
English vocabulary is derived from
French. First and foremost, learning
French is the pleasure of learning a
beautiful, rich, melodious language,
often called the language of love. French
is also an analytical language that structures
thought and develops critical thinking,
which is a valuable skill for discussions
and negotiations.
An ability to speak French and English
is an advantage on the international job
market. A knowledge of French opens the
doors of French companies in France and
other French-speaking parts of the world
(Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, and North
and sub-Saharan Africa). As the world’s
fifth biggest economy and number-three
destination for foreign investment, France
is a key economic partner.
French is the international language of
cooking, fashion, theatre, the visual arts,
dance and architecture. A knowledge
of French offers access to great works
of literature, as well as films and songs,
in the original French. France is the world’s
number-one tourist destination and attracts
more than 70 million visitors a year. A little
French makes it so much more enjoyable
to visit Paris and all the regions of France
and offers insights into the French culture,
mentality and way of life. French also
comes in handy when travelling to other
destinations around the world such as
Africa, Switzerland, Canada, Monaco,
the Seychelles and other places in the
Pacific region.
Mandarin Chinese
With more than a billion speakers around the world, the official Chinese language,
known as Mandarin is the most spoken by the most people on earth.
Around one-fifth of the entire world’s
population speaks Chinese as a native
language. The sheer numbers of people
that speak Chinese make it an economically
important language, but combine that with
the prowess of Chinese speaking countries,
such as Singapore, Taiwan and China
itself, and you can see how economically
important a language it is. Many companies
trade with Taiwan and China nowadays,
so speaking Chinese can be a distinct
advantage when doing business in Asia.
China is a huge export market for any
country that takes export seriously.
One-fifth of the world’s population lives
in China. China dominates the economies
of many countries in Asia, and speaking
Mandarin is seen as a major asset in
doing business with companies based in
China. The world is becoming a global
economy, so learning Chinese gives
students the opportunity to take
advantage of this change.
Chinese has a shallow learning curve,
meaning that it’s very easy to get started
speaking basic Chinese after just a few
weeks of learning. Chinese is a tonal
language, meaning that the word definitions
can change based on intonation. Much like
music, Chinese language requires speakers
to engage the right and left sides of their
brains, and studies have shown that
Mandarin speakers do use both sides of
their brains. Chinese is written using
iconographic characters rather than letters.
These characters developed out of cave
paintings and pictures and require an
incredible amount of artistic skill to
be written.
If you learn to read Chinese, you will be
able to delve into one of the world’s most
ancient cultures through its strong literary
and cultural traditions. Chinese culture is
over 5000 years old. By learning the
Chinese language, you will learn another
culture. There is a lot of Chinese poetry
that loses sometimes deep or subtle
meaning when translated. The Chinese
have different concepts of time, space and
history that can only be understood through
the intricate details of Mandarin language.
The grammatical structure, word order and
even the choices of phrases and questions
all help inform the Chinese outlook on life.
China is a beautiful country to visit with its
ancient monuments and buildings. Chinese
cuisine is one of the most beloved and richest
food traditions on earth. Studying Chinese
can truly enrich the lives of students.
St Andrew’s Junior School students learn
Mandarin Chinese exclusively and have the
opportunity to become proficient speakers
as they move from Kindergarten through
to Year 6.
Spanish
Spanish is spoken by more than 350 million people around the world and is currently the
fourth most commonly spoken language worldwide.
Geographically, a large number of
countries have Spanish as a dominant
language: Spain, the United States,
Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Equatorial
Guinea, the Philippines, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador,
Peru, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican
Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia,
Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Knowing
Spanish opens the door for you to
communicate with one-third of a billion
speakers worldwide. Internationally,
people who speak Spanish often have
opportunities to work in trade or business
fields. Other options include diplomacy,
interpretation, and security applications,
which all require sensitivity and proficiency
of another language.
Spanish is from the Romance family of
languages, its roots coming primarily from
Latin, the language spoken by the Romans.
As you might know, English, too, has many
words of Latin origin. Because of this,
knowing Spanish helps speakers of English
(as well as some other European languages)
broaden their vocabulary in their native
language. Often these same Latin roots are
at the base of many sophisticated words
in English, so Spanish learners can also
become more proficient in English.
In addition, a recognition and
understanding of these words of Latin
origin is especially helpful in certain
professions in science, medicine, law, and
many others with specialised vocabulary,
as the many centuries of Roman rule left
their mark linguistically in these and other
modern scientific and professional fields.
Spanish grammar is remarkably similar to
English, so it’s not difficult to learn. Putting
together a sentence in Spanish works in
almost the same way as in English, although
adjectives follow their nouns and there
are more verb conjugations in Spanish.
Unlike most other languages, in Spanish
there are very few exceptions to grammar
rules. There are few irregular verbs as
most conjugate normally. Spanish is 100
per cent phonetic. Words are pronounced
exactly as they are written, and they are
written exactly as they are pronounced.
When learning a foreign language, this is
invaluable.
Learning the Spanish language and culture
go hand-in-hand. Apart from opening up
access to areas of “high” culture such as
art, literature, and history, a knowledge
of Spanish can help learners understand
and appreciate day-to-day culture in the
Spanish-speaking world. The ability to
read and understand authentic Spanish
- whether that be in the newspaper, on
television, in magazines, in letters from
friends or on the street - truly gives an
“insider” view into the language and all
of its different shades of meaning.
For the traveller, knowing the language and
culture of the land you visit will give you
insights into the people and culture that
a non-Spanish speaker would never have
access to. Knowing even a little Spanish
ahead of time helps travellers communicate
more successfully, especially considering
that a great number of Spanish speakers
have little knowledge of English.
Learning a
foreign language
develops a whole
set of mental,
social, and
cultural skills
St Andrew’s:
St Andrew’s Cathedral School is a coeducational K-12
Anglican school, located in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.
St Andrew’s Cathedral School
Sydney Square, Sydney NSW 2000
ABN 34 429 367 893
phone +61 2 9286 9500
fax +61 2 9286 9550
email [email protected]
CRICOS Registration: The Council of
St Andrew’s Cathedral School 02276M
www.sacs.nsw.edu.au