English, Humanities & Japanese
We are half way through the term and there is so much happening in the English faculty!
On Thursday 4th August 2022, our Senior Readers Cup team competed in the Brisbane West Regional Competition. With COVID threatening the competition for the second year in a row, the competition was run remotely. Our senior team were the only State High school in the region to compete and finished in the top 10. Congratulations girls! We are super proud of you!! Thank you to Ms Marks for her organisation and support!!
On Wednesday, 33 Year 8 students participated in the inaugural Ripley 'Spelling Bee'! It was an intense competition with the finalists continuing to battle on into overtime after the home-time bell!
It was such a close competition, with Aaron finally securing the win, with the correct spelling of 'Rudimentary'. Second and third place were equally competitive, with Christina and Hunta neck and neck over multiple rounds, before Christina correctly spelled the word 'unanimous' to win second place.
All students are congratulated on their effort- we have some amazing spellers in Year 8! Well done, Aaron, Christina and Hunta- our top three Year 8 spellers in 2022! I HUGE thank you to Mrs Martins for organising this event - we are looking forward to next year!
In addition to the Spelling Bee, there are many more opportunities in the English faculty for our creative writer and speakers.
Entry is NOW OPEN for the 2022 Schools Poetry & Short Story 'Unleashed' Writing Competition! Students all over Australia are invited to enter their 16 line poems OR 500 word short stories, and battle it out for the great cash & prizes on offer. There is no theme!! Entrants are encouraged to let their imaginations run wild and write on ANY TOPIC and in ANY STYLE. Students from ALL GRADES are welcome to enter - Kindergarten to Grade 12. Entry is FREE and all entries must be in by the closing date of 28 August 2022! For entry details and information, please see your English teacher, Ms Diesing or Ms Wilkinson in the library. Alternatively, email your entry to Ms Diesing jbunt18@eq.edu.au
Australian students enrolled in Years 10 to 12 are invited to enter the 'My First Speech' competition. You can enter as a team or as an individual. Imagine yourself as a newly elected Member of the House of Representatives. Your task is to write a 90 second speech about issues you are passionate about then record yourself presenting the speech on video. The video should be in MPG, MPEG, M4V, MPEG 4, AVI, WMV or MOV format with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels or above and no longer than 90 seconds in length. A winner from each Year 10, 11 and 12, will be invited to Canberra to deliver their speeches live and undertake a program of meetings at Parliament House. To enter the competition, please see Ms Diesing or email jbunt18@eq.edu.au
And lastly, good luck to the 30 students who are participating in the Cancer Council's Write a Book in a Day competition. Teams will spend up to 12 hours on Friday, planning, writing, editing, illustrating, and publishing a book for the Children's Hospital Online Library.
Not only do our students have access to these amazing opportunities, they have been working super hard in class too.
Our Year 7's have been deep diving into poetry this term, and Ms Marks' 7C has completed an in-depth analysis of the poem Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. After unpacking the meaning as a class, students took what they learned from the poem and created a poster where they put the highlights onto a single piece of paper. They conveyed the messages and purpose of the poem, and selected images that capture the emotions and impact. It was such a great way to demonstrate their learning and Ms Marks is very proud of their effort and maturity.
