www.sacs.nsw.edu.auSydney Square, Sydney

LanguagesSt Andrew’s major language choices in 2017

are French, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish

St Andrew’s Language choices from Year 7 in 2017: French, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish

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 language-

learning 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.

Languages at St Andrew’s

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.

French

Mandarin ChineseWith 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 info@sacs.nsw.edu.au

CRICOS Registration: The Council of St Andrew’s Cathedral School 02276M

www.sacs.nsw.edu.au