The importance of the drafting process and of proofreading cannot be underestimated.
“It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.” — P.D. James
To begin I would like to express what an honour it has been to act as the Head of the English and Languages Department for the past 6 weeks. We are blessed in the Department with talented teachers and Ms Ashleigh Kerin has left very organised shoes to fill. The Department looks forward to welcoming her back to her role as Head of Department in Week 9 after a stint in Heads of House.
How much of our daily communication takes place in writing now? From the text message, to the email, to the Instagram post, and the tweet so much of what we say is actually written. In order for our boys to have a voice in the modern age it seems increasingly more important that they are able to articulate their thoughts, feelings, ideas, dreams, and passions in the written medium. And with the appropriate grammar. Because of all this instant messaging and typing there is very often a lack of proofreading. The rise of instant messaging and predictive text have made all of us, as writers, forget that there is a craft to putting pen to paper to sculpt a message in words.
It is often the experience of the English teacher that written assignments handed in by the boys are often their first attempt at the writing. It goes straight from their brain to their fingertips to the page and to the submission box often bypassing the all-important drafting and proofreading process.
The old adage is indeed it is practice that makes perfect. It is only by writing can we produce better writing. Just as the athlete is not expected to run on to the field of play and get the sport right the first time or indeed every time; neither is the student writer expected to produce perfection on a first attempt. Once the first draft is written what is put down can then be carefully crafted and sculpted. Unnecessary thoughts and words can be removed, better word choices can be made, synonyms and antonyms, vocabulary that was lost in the moment of initial composition can be found in a second or even third pass at a draft. A vital part of the drafting process is to proofread the writing.
The brain is the greatest autocorrect in the universe; it wrote it so it can’t see the mistakes. However, our ears will never lie to us and I always encourage my students to proofread their writing aloud because the ears will always pick up a mistake that the brain glanced over because it did it right the first time after all.
This year, as in previous years, the English department is focusing on encouraging all students from Year 7 to Year 12 to submit a draft for all of their assignment writing. Valuable feedback that a student can receive on a draft can be invaluable in helping to shape future writing, can boost confidence, and improve marks for the final submission.
It may also be beneficial for some of our boys to employ the wonders of modern technology and use voice to text tools that are built into Word and Google Docs for their assignments. These tools allow students who are not the most confident writers to verbalise their responses and see the words appearing on the page. This offers a strong starting point for the reluctant writer and can then allow them to edit their work and craft it so that it accurately represents what they wanted to say.
So much of the modern world is printed in the age of the internet and social media. In an age when we want to be heard above the noise, a well-crafted sentence well-placed can have the power to shape our understanding of the world and our places in it. Writing is the key to the future and our record of the past.
The English Department this year also welcomes two new teachers to our staff. Miss Phoebe Sewell and Ms Sten Taminaya. Both teachers have already shown innovation in the classroom and a passion for English which the boys have responded to well.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Joshua Pako who has been teaching Mr Jeff Vayo’s English classes while he has been on leave. Mr Pako has brought an energy and passion for the subject that has enriched our boys experience of the subject. We wish Mr Pako well on his next teaching adventure.
Greetings from Languages!
Salve, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself for those students and parents who do not yet know me: my name is Olinto Fabbri and I will be teaching Italian this year. I was born in Italy where I completed my studies before I came to Australia. I’m originally from Viterbo, a nice city close to Rome.
I’m a lover of my culture and I enjoy my traditional food passionately by expressing such dedication in every dish I cook for dinner (but without singing the opera masterpieces), in a hopeful attempt to revive my homeland flavours, sometime without success… and before you ask… yes, I drive a Vespa and I drink only traditional Italian coffee in a proper cup (no takeaways), it cannot be more Italian than this.
As all the Italians, I’m very loud and I move my hands a lot, I could not even imagine to be any different, I also like to have a joke and to have a laugh in the classroom when the occasion presents itself, as Benigni teaches in his fantastic movie: “La vita è bella” said… let’s make it beautiful.
This year promises to be an exciting year. In my Italian Course I will introduce the students to new level of language structures (and vocabulary), new learning approach and electronic resources, which will unfold many possibilities for rich and diverse opportunities to converse and communicate in the language more proficiently and fluently. We will explore more complex and diverse topics that will challenge your child intellectually and will create a very positive and rewarding experience. Thinking, processing and elaborating information will be the new step this year in order to start mastering the language to express personal opinions and to communicate to other people in the target language. The whole process will aim to form more competent and self-conscious students prepared for the challenge of the Year 11 and 12 Italian Courses.
The year started very well and I feel like it will continue to be even better.
Olinto Fabbri
Caroline Devlin
Acting Head of English and Languages