Senior Course Description

This course in Spanish is specifically designed for students who have studied the language previously from Years 7 to 10. It is NOT a background speakers’ course and does not cater for students in this category. It should be attempted by boys who have studied Spanish as an elective in Years’ 9 and 10 and who score a “C” or better in their School Certificate for Spanish. It is an interesting, stimulating and worthwhile subject that merits serious consideration.

The Preliminary and HSC courses have as their organisational focuses themes and associated topics. The student’s skills in and knowledge of Spanish will be developed through tasks associated with a range of texts and text types, which reflect the themes and topics. The student will also gain a deeper insight into the culture and language of Spanish-speaking communities through the study of a range of texts and resources.

For those boys who undertake the study of this Continuers course there is the very real possibility of going on a “Spain trip” or “Uruguay trip” at the end of Year 11 during the summer holidays so as to further refine their language skills.

Themes of the Continuers course are The Individual, The Spanish-speaking communities and The Changing World. Students’ language skills are developed through tasks such as conversation, responding to aural stimulus, responding to a variety of different written material, writing for a variety of purposes and studying Spanish culture through texts. It should be noted that the term texts includes a range of mediums such as film, songs, conversation, novels, newspapers, E-mails, videos, magazines, textbooks etc.

The external examination will be composed of the following: a ten minute oral exam worth 20%, which will involve having a conversation about the student’s personal world with an examiner, and a three hour written exam which will made up of a listening and responding section worth 25%, a reading and responding section worth 40% and a writing in Spanish section worth 15%.

It should be noted that students will be able to use monolingual and/or bilingual print dictionaries in the written exam. Furthermore all questions in the written paper will be phrased in English. In the listening and responding section answers may be written in either English or Spanish. In the reading and responding section Part A worth 25% is to be answered in English and Part B worth 15% is to be answered in Spanish. In the writing in Spanish worth 15% is to be answered in Spanish also.

The other thing in mind as well is that student performance in the new HSC will not be compared to that of other candidates but to a set standard benchmark. This means that boys taking this subject will be awarded the marks they deserve based on their effort, and they will score necessarily better marks than under the old 2 Unit course.

In conclusion, given the changes to the HSC and in particular to the 2 Unit Spanish course, the Spanish Department urges boys in Year 10 elective Spanish class to seriously consider taking on this subject in Year’s 11 & 12. This course will prove to be a very interesting, meaningful and beneficial component of any HSC subject mix both in regard to HSC exam performance and cultural enrichment.

Senior Course Description

A Year of Latin

And so, the bell tolls once again for the close of another thrilling year of Latin studies. Tempus fugit!

This year, unlike any other year, the Redfield Classical Languages Department welcomed a remarkably large Latin class, full of eager Year 9 discipuli who set out on the age old goal of reaching the dizzy heights of Latin excellence. Neither the four Year 10 Latin scholars nor their brilliant teacher, doctor Fitzgerald, were fazed by the arrival of the Year 9s – large though the class may have been.

The magister guided the Year 10 scholars in their Latin studies whilst nurturing the incipient steps of the Year 9s.

The new kids on the block stepped up to the mark. Christopher del Rosario took out 2^nd place in the Solo Verse at the Year 9 Latin Reading Competition held this year at PLC.

The Year 10 scholars were also successful in the prestigious annual Year 10 Latin Reading Competition. In this competition, a student is judged on his/her expression, clarity and fluency in reading classical passages in Latin. Accompanied by their paedogogus, the four scholars travelled to Sydney University where they all faced a harrowing panel of judges in a bid to be selected to proceed through to the finals. For the first time in Redfield Latin history, two students, Joseph Murphy and Dennis Cheung were selected for the Solo Reading section while all four Year 10 Latin scholars were chosen for the Choral Reading section. On the finals night, Redfield, despite the competition from various much-acclaimed schools, managed to claim third place in the Choral Reading.

Alas, however, all things must pass; and that time has come for the Year 10 Latin scholars who depart and go their separate ways in the world of Years 11 and 12. Two of the four, however, Sebastian Burfitt and Joseph Murphy, have had the light ignited and will continue Latin to the HSC. Nonetheless, the Year 9 Latin students still have one year of the thrill of Latin under the watchful eye of the magister.

 “Hic annus optimus Latini erat!”

J. Murphy