VCE results are out! Some schools shine spectacularly in one or two VCE subjects compared to all their other VCE subjects. For Mentone Girls’, it’s Psychology. For Eltham, it’s VisComm and Literature. For Fintona, it’s Accounting and Economics. Is your school on the list?
The percentages show the proportion of reported VCE study scores ≥40 (2022 data) that were from each particular subject. Consider giving those teachers a pay rise… 🙂
Decorate your Chemistry classroom with these 40 free bilingual Chemistry posters.
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Also… Get the famous ‘all-natural banana’ poster prints here.
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Get your My First Physics Alphabet poster set here, in both Pink and Blue editions
For more posters and free infographics, visit the Posters section of the site here.
RTQ! This is one of the most common sources of errors in Chemistry examinations. When I sat 2014’s VCE Chemistry examination, I lost 5 marks in the paper for not reading the question! Your teachers will have told you to ‘read the question’ or ‘RTQ’ as well.
Task word errors can be avoided in two ways. First, learn the exact meanings of each task word. This is particularly important for EAL Chemistry students. Second, highlight the task words in a question (just as you would highlight the important information in a complicated titration question).
For example: “Explain how the different intermolecular forces in butane and butan-1-ol give these two compounds different boiling points. 3 marks”
In your answer, you will need to explain the effect of intermolecular forces. This means you’ll need to write why the butan-1-ol forms hydrogen bonds (due to the polar nature of the hydroxyl group) whereas butane forms only dispersion forces with its surrounding molecules (due to the non-polar nature of the molecule). You’ll also need to make some kind of comparison (which is hinted at by the word, ‘different’) in order to get all 3 marks.
Example 3-mark answer: “Butan-1-ol forms intermolecular hydrogen bonds with the surrounding molecules due to the polar nature of the hydroxyl group (O-H bond). Butane forms only dispersion forces with its surrounding molecules due to the non-polar nature of the molecule. Hydrogen bonds are stronger than dispersion forces and thus require more energy to break. This results in a higher boiling point for butan-1-ol than for butane”.
One mark would be awarded for each of:
In a 2-mark answer, the student might omit the comparison step:
Example 2-mark answer: “Butan-1-ol forms intermolecular hydrogen bonds with the surrounding molecules due to the polar nature of the hydroxyl group (O-H bond). Butane forms only dispersion forces with its surrounding molecules due to the non-polar nature of the molecule.”
In a 1-mark answer, the student might only mention one of the two molecules, or might only make a comparison without explaining why these two compounds display different types of intermolecular forces.
Example 1-mark answer: “Hydrogen bonds formed by butan-1-ol are stronger than dispersion forces formed by butane and thus require more energy to break. This results in a higher boiling point for butan-1-ol than for butane”.
In that latter example, the student didn’t explain the reasons for the differences in intermolecular bonding – they merely stated them.
| Task word | Chinese | Description |
| Calculate | 计算 | Write the value of a number (include equations) |
| Compare | 比较 | Write the similarities and differences between |
| Evaluate | 评价 | Write arguments for and against |
| Define | 确定 | Write the exact meaning of |
| Describe | 描述 | Write details about (a thing or a process) |
| Discuss | 讨论 | Write reasons for and against |
| Distinguish | 区分 | Write the differences between two or more things |
| Explain | 讲解 | Write details to give the reader an understanding of |
| Find/State | 写 | Write (sometimes by doing calculations) |
| Identify | 鉴定 | Write which one |
| Illustrate | 说明 | Write something and draw a labelled diagram as well |
| Indicate | 表明 | Write which one (usually on a given diagram) |
| List | 列出 | Write a list |
| Outline | 轮廓 | Write a summary |
| Suggest | 建议 | Write a reason for a phenomenon |
| To what extent | 到什么程度 | Write whether a reaction is complete (→) or incomplete (↔). |
Watch task words in the examination… and make sure you answer the question!
In 2011, 17% of Australians, 21% of Americans and 53% of Europeans spoke two languages fluently. Being bilingual not only opened them up to new cultures, and earned them more money, but also, according to several recent studies, protected them from the effects of Alzheimer’s disease later in life. Here are 9 great reasons why you should learn a new language.
As Maria Konnikova writes in the New York Times: “[A bilingual child]… develops enhanced executive control, or the ability to effectively manage what are called higher cognitive processes such as problem-solving, memory, and thought. [A bilingual child] becomes better able to inhibit some responses, promote others, and generally emerges with a more flexible and agile mind. It’s a phenomenon that researchers call the bilingual advantage.”
Cognitive neuroscientist Ellen Bialystok has spent her career studying how bilingualism sharpens the mind. She said in an interview with the New York Times in 2011: “We asked all the children if a certain illogical sentence was grammatically correct: “Apples grow on noses.” The monolingual children couldn’t answer. They’d say, “That’s silly” and they’d stall. But the bilingual children would say, in their own words, “It’s silly, but it’s grammatically correct.” The bilinguals, we found, manifested a cognitive system with the ability to attend to important information and ignore the less important.”
Bilingual people are not only accustomed to switching rapidly between two languages, but they’re also thought to process the semantics of each language simultaneously at a subconscious level when they’re communicating using just one language. Sustained practice at processing two tasks simultaneously when they speak primes bilingual people to be slightly better at multi-tasking simply because they practice it on a daily basis.
A 2006 paper by Bialystok et al. showed that bilingual dementia patients showed an onset of symptoms 4.3 years later than their monolingual counterparts. The disparity is thought to be explained by the increased cognitive load demanded by comprehending and speaking in two languages. The brains of bilingual patients with Alzheimer’s disease function cognitively at the same level of monolingual patients who have suffered less brain degeneration.
A 2013 article by Luo et al. tested the spatial working memory of monolingual and bilingual adults of different ages. The researchers found that bilingual people outperformed their monolingual counterparts in spatial working memory tasks at all age levels. (Having a strong spatial working memory helps with navigation, direction, location, and visually processing spatial orientation of objects in our environment.)
Language is inextricably linked with culture, and learning a language involves a developing a heightened awareness of the culture that speaks that language. Bilingual speakers can understand jokes and sayings in two languages as well as any mistranslations between the two that might not make sense to a speaker of either language. Being bilingual often leads to being bicultural.
Generally, employers see being bilingual as a valuable skill. Bilingual people more than their monolingual counterparts in many parts of the world. In Florida, bilingual workers earn $7000 per year more than their monolingual counterparts. In many American states, bilingual teachers receive a $5000 annual bonus. It’s also no coincidence that Luxembourg, with 99% of its population bilingual, has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.
I know from experience that if you only speak English in China, life can be confusing and expensive (unless, of course, you’re lucky enough to have bilingual people on hand to help you out). Travellers who don’t speak Chinese can only visit high-end hotels and restaurants, and they need an expensive bilingual travel agent to book tours. When I was in Beijing in 2011, Great Wall tours were five times more expensive if you booked via an English-speaking agent instead of directly with the Chinese tour operator. Long-distance bus tickets were double the price for those who couldn’t haggle in Chinese, and China’s leading plane-ticket website is about 20% cheaper if you purchase via the Chinese-language version of the site instead of using the translated English version. Finally, of course, being fluent in Chinese earns you much more respect from the locals when you visit China.
We can’t choose our first language. However, we can choose our second, third and fourth languages. I studied English, French, German and Welsh in school but still chose to learn Mandarin Chinese after graduation from high school. Chinese attracted me because it trains parts of the brain that English doesn’t: it’s visual, logical and of increasing importance culturally and economically worldwide. For me, Chinese was the key to a fascinating culture very different from my own.
The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the US Department of State has compiled approximate learning expectations for a number of languages based on the length of time it takes to achieve “proficiency” in each language. The good news is that some (French, Italian, German and more) can be learned in only 600 hours of dedicated study.
How many languages do you speak? What’s your next language?
For free language-learning materials, click here.
Which language will you choose to learn next? Can you think of any downsides to being bilingual? Put your ideas in the comments section below.
People who don’t speak Chinese find it very difficult to pronounce Chinese names correctly. Chinese names are written using the pinyin transliteration system, in which some letters of the alphabet have very different sounds to English.
Here’s a handy table of the 25 most common Chinese surnames and how to pronounce them in English.
Click to download PDF version.
Guo should pronounced “Gore”, for example, and Sun should be pronounced “Soon”. Zhou should be pronounced similar to “Joe” and Xie should be pronounced similar to the English word “Shear”.
Australia is the third most popular, and fastest-growing emigration destination for international students from China. There are around 20,000 Chinese students currently studying high-school examinations in Australia, and another 50,000 studying at universities and TAFEs.
James Kennedy 