In NSW high schools, languages is a key learning area.
Language study allows students to develop communication skills, learn about languages as systems and explore the relationship between language and culture. Students engage with the linguistic and cultural diversity of societies and reflect on their understanding of social interactions.
The study of a language is compulsory for 100 hours in one continuous school year from Year 7 to Year 10, but preferably in Years 7 or 8.
In Years 11 and 12, NSW schools offer a wide variety of languages, catering for beginning students to background speakers.
Learning a second language helps students to improve communication skills, understand the structure of their own language and become a tolerant citizen of the globe.
At Kincumber High School the L.O.T.E. Department offers Japanese from Year 8 to Year 12 and French from Year 9 until Year 12.
Students who wish to study other languages may do so through the Open High School.
The L.O.T.E. faculty aims to provide students with the opportunity to experience the academic, practical and cultural aspects of another language and to foster tolerance of other cultures within a supportive environment.