The Wodonga Punjabi class excelled at the Griffith Shaheedi Tournament, held in Griffith on June 8-9, 2024. Participating in the Punjabi language quiz competition named "Gurmukhi Vehra," they proudly secured the 2nd prize. The competition consisted of five challenging rounds, where the students showcased outstanding performance, surpassing teams from Victoria and NSW.

During the tournament, which occurs every June long weekend, the Sikh community gathers for a two-day celebration in Griffith. Alongside the quiz competition, participants enjoyed traditional Indian cuisine throughout the day and engaged in various activities such as soccer, tug-of-war, kabbadi, and athletic events for children. This cultural extravaganza is widely popular, drawing thousands to Griffith to partake in and witness the games, as well as to revel in the festivities.

Congratulations to the VSL Wodonga Punjabi students for their achievement!

Amandeep Samrao

On Saturday 25th May, a beautiful sunny autumn day, the VSL Geelong Centre held its inaugural “Carnivale”.

The students rotated around 7 different activities celebrating cultural events in their language groups.

Each teacher explained the significance of the festival or activity being taught as the students rotated through the activities.

Many beautiful dija were created to symbolize prosperity during the Diwali festival in the Punjabi activity. In French, students learnt to ask for their crepe toppings before sampling some crepes. The Origami was a huge hit with students making chatterboxes and some challenged themselves making cranes. In the Italian session, it was delightful to hear the students learning and singing a fun song. The significance of the German Spitzbuben biscuit was discussed and students iced mock biscuits whilst a traditional recipe was included in their passport. In Spanish, the students learnt about the flamenco and practiced twirling the beautiful scarves. Our Chinese teachers displayed their hidden talents during the demonstration of the Chinese lion dance and students young and old loved taking turns being the head.

Morning tea was a huge array of yummy food from the various language groups and students loved explaining to each other what the food they had made and brought was. Needless to say, not a morsel was left!

With a huge thanks for all their hard work to the staff, Simanpreet, Solene, Lisa (and volunteer Rina),Nadia, Dorota, Carmen, Katie, Da and Helen in taking the activities and to our AO extraordinaire, Katica for all her hard work behind the scenes in putting the day together.