A year of resounding success for students at the Victorian School of Languages

At the VSL centres in Box Hill and Brunswick, two students achieved a perfect score of 50 in the end of year exam, making them the top Italian students in Victoria.

Italian teacher at Brunswick VSL, Giulia Tomat, explained that not all of the students who achieved a “top score” were of Italian origins.

“I also had exceptional Australian students, including a fourth generation Italo-Australian who scored 45, placing her among the top 5 per cent of students in the state,” she added.

VSL principal Frank Merlino noted that the school’s Italian students come from all sorts of backgrounds.

“This year we had students of Australian, Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese and French heritage,” he said.

“It gives me great pleasure to know that our language is still alive and well here in Victoria!”

VSL Distance Education teacher Enzo Calati had the important task of teaching Italian by correspondence to a young student who was in Italy playing soccer for the Sampdoria youth team.

“It was a great challenge, but we made it,” he said.

“The distance didn’t hinder Daniele’s success and he still managed to achieve a brilliant score of 43.”

The lessons by correspondence took place via Skype, Video Conferencing and other multimedia platforms.

“I even sent his assessments to Italy; but he had to return to Melbourne for the final exam,” Mr Calati explained.

At the VSL Distance Education centre in Thornbury, around 50 per cent of the students who sat the final exam achieved a “top score”, that is between 40 and 50.

Italian coordinator at VSL Distance Education, Rosa Vitelli, explained that while VSL always tops the schools which receive the best scores in the state for Italian, this year they’ve smashed all standing records.

“If we put together all of the VSL students who obtained a perfect score for Italian at all of our centres (Thornbury, Brunswick, Box Hill, Glen Waverley, Carwatha, Wodonga and Warrnambool), there are more than 30,” she said.

“I can only describe our success this year as unprecedented!”

Victorian students who aren’t offered Italian as a subject at their schools can turn to VSL, which offers Italian alongside around 50 other languages.

VSL is the largest language school in Australia, and going by this year’s VCE results, a successful promoter of the Italian language in Victoria.