The faculty offers courses in two languages: Indonesian and French.
In Year 7, all students study Indonesian for one semester and French for one semester. In Year 8 students must complete the mandatory 100 hours of LOTE required for the award of a ROSA (Record of School Achievement) and they may choose to do either French or Indonesian.
In Years 9 and 10, they may opt to study either language as an elective through to the end of Year 10. In Years 11 and 12 students have the opportunity to study either French or Indonesian Continuers, if they have studied French or Indonesian in Years 9 and 10. There is also the opportunity to study a Beginners Course in either French or Indonesian for the HSC. This course is open to those who have not studied the language in Years 9 and 10 and carries the same weight for the award of an ATAR as the Continuers course.
Woolooware High School offers an annual overseas excursion for LOTE students. Often students travel to Noumea to enhance their French speaking skills, and Indonesia or Malaysia to broaden their cultural and language experiences in the subject.
Why study a foreign language?
English is spoken by about 840 million people worldwide, about 12% of the world’s population and most speakers speak it as a second language. Most people in the world speak two or more languages. Learning another language has lifelong benefits and the cognitive, intellectual and psychological benefits are well documented and too numerous to list here. It is also one of the few skills we can guarantee will not become obsolete during your lifetime.
French is spoken by about 220 million people worldwide and is an important language of international diplomacy. The International Organization of French Speaking nations, La Francophonie, has more member nations than the British Commonwealth. New Caledonia, about 1600km due east of Rockhampton, is the nearest Francophone nation to Australia. Australia’s political, economic, historical and cultural ties to the French speaking world are numerous and strong, from the many French place names in Australia like La Perouse, to the close bonds forged with France during World War One.
Bahasa Indonesia is spoken by some 198 million people and is the language of the world’s fourth most populous nation and one of our closest neighbours. The distance from Darwin to Jakarta is almost half that of Darwin to Sydney. Along with the 77 million speakers of its cognate language, Bahasa Malay, some 270 million people speak the language. Australia’s ties to both Malaysia and Indonesia go back to the 17th century and Indonesia is Australia’s second most popular tourist destination after New Zealand. Political, economic and cultural ties between Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia are strong and both Indonesia and Malaysia have large Australian expat communities.