EAL – ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

A recent highlight for Mooroolbark College’s EAL and Burmese community is undoubtedly the Performing Arts Camp early this term – 25 incredibly talented Chin students all together on a camp, enjoying every minute of the 3-day intensive rehearsal and taking every opportunity to spread their genuine passion for music and dance! The Wakakkiri squad has devoted hundreds of hours to dance practice over the last few months and will take part in the National Wakakkirri Story Dance Festival. We are keen to watch their live performance and be touched by our wonderful dancers at Frankston Arts Centre on 25th August.

The EAL team is also excited to announce the change in our Hakha-Chin and Burmese-speaking MEA (Multicultural Educational Aide) Sarah Awi’s role. She will now sit at the front office on Monday mornings to facilitate the Admin team’s communication with Chin families. It also means that EAL parents can now walk in and receive immediate assistance with their paperwork and payments without having to make an appointment.

Term 3 has always been the busiest time of the year, with Year 12s embracing the last full term in their secondary life, to all Year 8 to 11s making important decisions on their subjects and pathways for next year. This year Jessie & Tial Cung, the two Year 12 Chin students, have done a fantastic job in their roles of Biik (Red) and Darrang (Green) House captains. They have been assisting coordinators to organise events, giving speeches at school assemblies, and modelling positive behaviours for their younger peers. It has inspirationally influenced many of our junior and middle school EAL students, as we see an increasing number of applications from them for the leadership programs in 2023. We wish them the best in their applications and hope to see more students taking pride in their leadership skills.