As part of our Alumni Series, we enjoy hearing from past Language students and how their Language studies at Mount Lawley SHS have influenced their lives. Thank you, anzi grazie mille Luana for sharing your story with our readers.
Hello, my name is Luana. I am a former student of Mount Lawley Senior High School and graduated in 1981 (a long time ago!)
As a child, my mother spoke to me in her first language, Croatian. She did this up until the time I started school. At that time, children were not encouraged to be bilingual, so my mother switched to English so that I would not be disadvantaged. As a result, I soon lost most of what I knew in Croatian.
I had a taste of Italian in year 7 and instantly decided I would continue the language in high school. It was my favourite subject by far.
At the end of year 11 I was fortunate enough to be chosen as an exchange student to Italy. That experience was one of the most memorable and exciting of my life. I was 16 and had never travelled anywhere outside WA let alone been on an aeroplane! I spent three months living with a family in a small town in the Lombardy Region (in the north of Italy). The memories of that time still linger with me today. Riding a bike to school in the freezing cold, trying to work out what the teachers were saying as they taught their subjects (in Italian), and doing my classmates English homework for them! Sometimes I got homesick, but everyday was an adventure and when I returned home I realised just how much my spoken language had improved. I was saying things in Italian without even thinking.
When I left school I studied to be a Primary School teacher. I later married and travelled with my husband to the UK where we lived for 10 years. I taught English to foreign students and absolutely loved the chance to interact with people from other cultures and walks of life.
I continue to attend conversation classes in Italian because I enjoy it and learning a language is not just about words- it’s about people and communicating and discovering.
I hope my three children discover the excitement of learning another language as I did.
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