Published on: 23 May 2014





The Year 9 East-West Day was once again a highlight of Language Week at Christ Church. The program, developed collaboratively by the Humanities and Languages Departments, offers boys a day of diverse experiences from the eastern cultures of China and Japan to the western culture of France.

Head of Languages Nicola Griffin-Appadoo said this year the boys were treated to some exciting new additions as well as favourites from previous years, including Chinese weapons, lion dancing, kung fu, calligraphy and Japanese martial arts, in both active and cultural practices.

For the first time well-known local patissier and best-selling author Emmanuel Mollois gave students a cooking demonstration in making brioche. Emmanuel, whose demonstration took place in the Headmaster’s kitchen, spoke in both English and his native tongue, giving French students a chance to test their language skills.

Other new guests included Laurel de Vietri, who put the boys through their paces with some stick dancing from the Basque region and Genevieve Labbé, a story teller and musician from Canada, who ran workshops in French and English while recording tracks with her studio equipment.

“Our new Swiss teacher Madame Korfanty and our French RENTA Alexis also showed the boys how to play the popular French game pétanque or boules,” Mrs Griffin-Appadoo said.

All Senior School students experienced a taste of East-West Day with a lion dance performance during Thursday’s assembly. Other activities during Language Week included a daily Languages Quiz in the Bulletin, Japanese lunch options prepared by the School’s Japanese community on Thursday and the commencement of international languages competition Language Perfect.