Feast of language

By Lia Bichel
MORE than 150 students, teachers, and parents celebrated the opening of new facilities at Lighthouse Christian College last week.
One new state-of-the-art building, called Language Express, caters for immigrants who have underdeveloped English speaking and reading skills, principal Tim Rogers said.
“The Language Express facility will mean that English classes for those speaking at a minimal level are advanced in a pedagogically rich environment,” he said.
“The latest teaching techniques and technology are to be on hand to serve students. For adult and young learners the resource centre provides opportunity to gain academic English too. This means that adults and youth can improve their employability status, and better engage in Australian culture.”
Mr Rogers said the Language Express centre would also provide students who speak English at home with a financially accessible opportunity to learn a second language for travel, VCE or self-development, and to help them expand their employment opportunities.
“Ten per cent of our students come from Spanish speaking homes so this language along with Hindi, Mandarin, Cantonese; others will feature among those languages offered,” he said.
Other facilities include the Sensory Garden for the Early Childhood Centre which allows young students to touch, listen and engage with a variety of subjects, the Creative Learning Centre where many talented students can enjoy challenging extension activities. The largest and most extroverted building is the Exploration Hub, Mr Rogers said.
“This facility in here is a place of worship, teaching and healing,” he said.
Mr Rogers said the buildings would not only cater for all students in the school, but the wider community as well.