Additions to our Language Program (Pre-Prep to Year 12)
At The Illawarra Grammar School, the teaching of foreign languages is highly valued. Not only does this study provide valuable cognitive stimulation, the teaching of languages is a notable feature of a traditional “grammar” education. The ability to travel easily around the world with language proficiency is a wonderful skill for our graduates, many of whom will live and work overseas.
Some changes are being made to our languages program to enable our students to:
- study the most widely-spoken global languages of Mandarin and Spanish (and English, of course)
- select the language that is currently proving to be a popular language of choice in NSW schools (Japanese)
- transition sequentially, and beneficially, at Illawarra Grammar from Year 6 to Year 7 in the study of languages.
As many parents will already know, the Junior School at Illawarra Grammar offers Japanese to our students from Kindergarten to Year 6 with French being offered to our students in The Piper Centre. From 2025, Japanese will be offered from Pre-Prep until Year 6.
From 2025, students in Year 5 will have the opportunity to switch their language study from Japanese to Chinese (Mandarin) if they wish.
In the Senior School, students in Year 7 choose one of the following three languages: French, Chinese (Mandarin) and Japanese. From Year 8, students can continue the study of their chosen language until Year 12 if they so wish.
From 2025, the language classes in Year 7 will be streamed. This means that students who have already acquired enough proficiency in one of the three languages prior to Year 7 will not be in the “Beginners class” but will be in a more Advanced class for that language in Year 7. The teacher of the Advanced class will tailor the teaching programs to build upon the fluency of the Year 7 students in that class.
The Languages Department at Illawarra Grammar School is keen to provide opportunities for the further development of interested students in their chosen language. Proficiency testing will be available for students in Years 8 to Year 10 to undertake the appropriate level for the DELF (French), HSK (Chinese) and JLPT (Japanese). These certifications will support and extend students’ language learning, as well as providing a powerful credential for students to take with them to study language at universities in Australia and overseas where the target language is spoken.
And, excitedly, in 2026 we will be introducing Spanish Beginners as one of the subjects for Year 11 and Year 12. This course is ideally suited to students who enjoy European languages and South American culture.