The College has been fortunate to offer our students a real-life experience of using the language they are studying in that home country. For many years, the students at MLMC have been able to experience living in Japan, Italy, France and New Caledonia. Not only do they experience the country and its culture, but also their people and going to school. It is a wonderful opportunity for the students to immerse themselves in using the languages. We look forward to international borders re-opening and this invaluable life experience being made available to our students again.
2002 – Japanese and Italian Sister Schools
In 1995, MLMC Principal Mr John Goodfellow employed Ms Jan Russell as the first Japanese language teacher at the College. Ms Russell later wrote: “He gave me license to create a program in which learning a second language was a deeply meaningful experience for our students and developing a Sister School program was the core of that ideal.”
Through a mediation organisation, the College was put in touch with Katagiri Senior High School in Nara, Japan. It later became Horyuji Kokusai High School and designated a UNESCO school. Reciprocal visits to each school by the Principals paved the way for them to become Sister Schools and for their students to travel overseas to visit each other’s institutions.
The success of the program led to a second Sister School being established with Instituti Superiore Giovanni Lanza in Casale Monferrato in northern Italy and a similar exchange opportunity for students evolved. As LOTE Coordinator Mrs Diane Scukovic wrote in Coolock in 2000: “Links with Sister Schools overseas give language students the opportunity to experience another language and culture.”
Visits between the two schools have continued, while LOTE French students have also visited France and New Caledonia.
Above: students with Ms Jan Russell and Sr Madeleine Fox in Japan.
Below: students in Italy and Japan.
