​Languages Other Than English (LOTE)

​​Languages other than English are a means of communicating across cultures and promoting socio-cultural understanding and competence. Languages prepare learners for meaningful, productive lives in a culturally and linguistically diverse society and world and help learners relate positively to the richness of human diversity. Languages are important as a medium of interpersonal relationships, of thought and of learning about the world. People and communities meet many of their personal, social and cultural needs through language.

At St Mark’s a high quality Spanish Language and Culture Program is conducted in Years Prep to 6. Students learn the Spanish language as well as a respect and appreciation for all cultures.

Spanish is an international as well as an Australian community language. Learners of Spanish are in the fortunate position of not having to go abroad to hear Spanish spoken since the language is maintained and fostered in many communities throughout Australia. As well, there are Spanish newspapers, and Spanish can be heard on television and radio.

Spanish shares a strong lexical similarity with its sister Romance languages of Italian and Portuguese, and may be mutually intelligible on a small scale with those languages within Italy and Portugal.

As well as being the national language of Spain, Spanish is spoken by 400 million people in more than 40 countries around the globe, which includes many people in North, Central and Southern America, southern Europe and northern Africa.

Spain and Latin America are popular destinations for Australian travellers. The ability to communicate in Spanish enriches the travel experience and provides practical benefits. A good knowledge of Spanish can be advantageous in the public service, social welfare organisations, education, business, industry and tourism.​