‘If you can talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.’  Nelson Mandela

WA Languages Week is an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of language learning. In PMACS we celebrated this on Friday 21st of August by having a Middle School Languages Afternoon. Students wore red and white on the day to support the theme.

The afternoon started with a Middle School Assembly for Year 8’s and Year 9’s that was attended by The Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia in Perth in conjunction with the celebration of the 75th Commemoration of Independence Day of the Indonesian Republic. The assembly started with the singing of the Australian National Anthem and the Indonesian National Anthem. This was followed by an informative session by Robbie Gaspar (A professional football player who has played in several soccer teams in Indonesia and currently a Player Development Manager for the Perth Glory Football Club) about his experiences in Indonesia. Robbie also gave encouragement to students to continue with their Indonesian studies which would prove beneficial in the future.

The Year 7 Assembly showcased several amazing performances from Year 7 students, including  the "Giring-Giring" Dance performance from Kalimantan, a musical instrument Gamelan performance presenting  "Tropong Bang" from Central Jawa , and also the  ‘Poco-Poco’ Dance (Indonesian line dancing). Ibu Konjen, (Dewi Gustina Tobing- Consul General for Indonesia in Perth) expressed in her speech her happiness for the organisation of the event that symbolises the strong relationship between Indonesia and Australia in the area of art and culture as well as ‘people to people’ links. Ibu Konjen also explained in general to students the importance of the Indonesian-Australian relationship especially in terms of the latest signed trade agreement IA-CEPA.

Following this, all Middle School students participated in a number of Indonesian activities for the rest of the afternoon. Year 7 students continued with their cultural journey with various music, dance and cooking workshops. Some of them also played traditional Indonesian games such as ‘Krupuk eating’. Students from Year 8 participated in a house-based competition of creating class door decorations in predominantly red and white colours. Year 9 students had the opportunity to learn some vital soccer skills from Robbie Gaspar. In addition, the Year 9’s showed their creativity by making ‘Wayang’ shadow puppets and designing their own Calico Bags with the theme of ‘Saving an endangered animal in Indonesia’.

The Languages Department was thrilled with the support and enthusiasm received from teachers and students for the afternoon. We take this opportunity to thank everyone involved for an overwhelmingly successful ‘Languages Afternoon 2020’ and look forward to more success in the future. 

Terima kasih,

Maya Swailes

Head of Languages