Languages Week Competition
As part of Penola’s celebration of Languages, the Language Week Competition showcased the creativity of our students and their love of Languages!
For the competition, students could create a wide range of pieces, their only boundary being their own imagination. This was reflected in the entries we received, ranging from impressionist artworks and vocal performances to dishes reflecting the deep heritage of the student. We were blown away by the sheer level of effort put into each and every creative piece and the talents of our students. In addition to the entry, students wrote insightful written explanations of their piece, outlining the background of their entry and their experience in its creation.
The following entries portrayed an astonishing level of detail and showcase our students’ enthusiasm for languages.
French: The Impressionist painting by Maryam Zuhair (based on a Monet painting) expressed an astounding level of detail. The highlights, contrasts and shadows in the painting were incredible! Aathra Dawoud’s recital, L’Éternité, presented an immaculate level of pronunciation. The rhythm of the recital coupled with the poem’s brevity was powerful. Abigail Martlew’s ingenuity in the replication of the Eiffel tower was extraordinary, and Maddison Rosa’s macarons looked very authentic and too good to eat!
Italian: The vocal performance by Remonda Kakoz was breath taking! The musicality of the performance and her vocal skills were extremely captivating. Isla Rousakis, The Creation of Adam, is truly a work of art! The level of detail expressed in the contrast and embellishments was remarkable. Bennedetta Varrasso’s culinary creation reflected her own heritage, this dish was unforgettable, truly representing the Penola Catholic College community. Mona Lisa, by Sienna Gioupas was outstanding. The shadows and the detail present in depicting the flow of the hair was amazing, and Saneet Kumar’s model of the Colosseum with its link to the present day was spectacular.
Japanese: Jenica Ghayyoori’s surreal digital drawing beautifully presented a collage of Japanese culture. The manipulation of tones and shade created a visually pleasing work of art. Ella Fakhri’s imaginative piece was eye catching. The levels of varying brightness purposefully placed throughout the digital artwork was marvellous.
Congratulations to the winners the Language Week competition and to all participants!
I would like to add my congratulations to the winners of the competition for their portrayal of an aspect of one of our Languages at Penola.
In addition, my heartfelt thanks go out to Jayan Duwal Shrestha for taking the initiative to create and run this competition. In his meetings with me, Jayan showed leadership, a true love of languages and a desire to encourage others by their participation in this competition. Well done Jayan!
Lastly, a huge thank you to the staff (Ms Treloar, Ms Shkembi) and the PSC students at both campuses who assisted Jayan and I in the judging of the competition. As Jayan said, we were positively amazed by the quality of the entries and the talents of the Penola students.
Below are some of the entries for the whole community to enjoy.
Mrs Favrin (Head of Languages, Broadmeadows)
FRENCH - BROADMEADOWS
1st Prize – French Impressionist Painting (Monet) – Maryam Zuhair, Year 9
I recreated an artwork by the impressionist artist, Claude Monet, which is entitled “Sunrise” painted in 1872. The French impressionism movement happened in the 1800s. This is a painting that shows the sunrise scene over the harbour of Le Havre, in northern France’s Normandy region, and it depicts a hazy background and a mix of cool colours, that give a feeling of an early morning near the port. I chose to recreate this artwork because I wanted to represent the language that I am learning at school and because it is a famous and remarkable painting. It was also a chance for me to show my talent and skills in painting. I took my time reflecting on how the artist approached his technique, and I tried to get the shades of colours that he used by mixing different colours of acrylic paints that I have at home. Maryam
2nd Prize – French – Recitation of poem L’Éternité (Arthur Rimbaud)
Athraa Dawoud, Year 12
ITALIAN - BROADMEADOWS
1st prize – Italian – Tiziano Ferro song performed by
Remonda Kakoz – Year 12
This entry stems from the very first movie I watched in Italian, where I discovered Sere Nere by Tiziano Ferro. The song’s tune and climatic nature instantly drew me in and so I could not help but propose the song for this competition. With some dedication, I quickly learnt the lyrics and managed to mirror the original to produce a cover. This would not have been possible without my dad’s assistance as he specialises in sound production and therefore, he was able to, despite the difficulties, put together the track. A major takeaway from this experience – singing in English is difficult, but singing in an entirely different language is a whole other story! Remonda
2nd prize – Italian – The Creation of Adam (Michelangelo)– IslaRousakis, Year 9
In my entry, I have painted The Creation of Adam. I found great interest in Michelangelo’s work and I wanted a great challenge when it came to entering this competition. I also wanted to test my art ability. To paint this, it took me from 30 to 90 minutes per day for about 10 days. I used a canvas and was able to make many colours only using the three primary colors, and I had to be very careful as I was using a very small brush. This painting included a lot of detail and before I could paint, I needed to trace what I was going to do with a pencil.
3rd
prize – Italian – La prova del Cuoco (Masterchef) – Benedetta Varrasso, Year 9
My project is a PowerPoint of one of my favourite recpes that my nonna has made many times in Italy. I have recorded the ingredients and utensils needed and I have also recorded the steps needed to make this recipe. My own pictures are included. Benedetta
JAPANESE – BROADMEADOWS
1st prize – Japanese – Digital Drawing – Jenica Ghayyoori, Year 10
I made a Japanese surreal digital drawing. In most of my drawings, I usually draw the first things that I think of, which inspired me to do a surreal drawing of the first thing I thought about for Japanese culture and traditions. My drawing was done on my tablet using an app called IbisPaint X.Jenica
FRENCH – GLENROY
1st Prize – French - Eiffel Tower Model – Abigail Martlew, Year 7
I have made the Eiffel Tower. I made it mainly out of cardboard, wood and glue. It was much harder than I thought but I still managed to do it with a little help. The Eiffel Tower is a very special landmark in Paris. Its build started on 28 January 1887, and it was completed on 31st March 1889. The Eiffel Tower was built to be one of the main attractions of Paris. It was designed by 4 people, amongst them the main architect, Gustave Eiffel, after whom it was named. Abigail
2nd Prize – Video making macarons – Maddison Rosa, Year 7
I made white chocolate and raspberry macarons. I made them because macarons are a popular French biscuit and are iconic to their culture. They are also very nice and have a wide range of possible flavours and colours to choose from. I made these by firstly going to a French bakery and trying some different flavours, from this I decided to make my favourite which was raspberry and white chocolate. I found a recipe and then I spent a day filming and carefully making each one. Once they were all made, I decorated a box to show what I had made and what culture they had come from. It was a great experience making them. Maddy
ITALIAN - GLENROY
1st Prize – Italian – Mona Lisa sketch – Sienna Gioupas, year 7
I drew a replica of the Mona Lisa, because I am passionate about my art. I am enjoying my current study which is Italian, so I wanted to expand my knowledge about famous art in Italy. I created my project on an A3 piece of paper, I then proceeded to use images from the internet to help me draw the Mona Lisa. Sienna
2nd Prize – Italian – model of Colosseum – Saneet Kumar, Year 7
I made a model of the Roman Colosseum from modelling clay, because I think the Colosseum is cool and it has a very interesting history. It was used to watch events such as gladiator fights or animal hunts or even mock battles. To make it I got some modelling clay and shaped it into arches to form the wall, and then I painted it beige with brown paths leading to the insides of the arena and green paint for the grassy areas. In the middle of the colosseum, I added 2 plastic dinosaurs fighting to represent the brave gladiators that fought in the arena. I also added some cars to represent how it is a popular tourist destination, but now it is not doing so well due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so I added traffic signs to signify that! Saneet
JAPANESE – GLENROY
1st Prize – Japanese – Digital Drawing – Ella Fakhri, year
I drew this project because I really enjoy art and drawing because it is my only hobby and talent. I made my drawing by first drawing it on paper, then taking a photo from my iPad. I imported the image on a program called IbisPaintX. I traced the artwork with the pencil brush with different colours. I then fine lined it with the ink brush. I started colouring using the colour wheel, used a space image for the background and added glow and sparkles to complete it.
The character is Ganyu, from Genshin Impact, a game created by Mihoyo. Ella