In NSW high schools, languages is a key learning area.
Language study allows students to develop communication skills, learn about languages as systems and explore the relationship between language and culture. Students engage with the linguistic and cultural diversity of societies and reflect on their understanding of social interactions.
The study of a language is compulsory for 100 hours in one continuous school year from Year 7 to Year 10, but preferably in Years 7 or 8.
In Years 11 and 12, NSW schools offer a wide variety of languages, catering for beginning students to background speakers.
At Willoughby Girls High School all students are offered various languages to study in the following years;
- Year 8 study a language other than English, chosen from French or Japanese.
- Years 9 to 12 students may elect to study French and/or Japanese.
- Students in Years 8 and 10 Japanese will take part in a video conferencing program with high schools from Suginami and Nagoya, Japan.
French and Japanese are offered to students in senior years and can be studied at various levels, each of which has entry requirements. Extension courses are also available in Year 12.
