Music, Media and Languages? Is it really a match made in Heaven or a recipe for disaster? Two groups of Year 10 students from Cottingham High School put the idea to the test on the 12th of July 2012. The cross-curricular day was led by Daniela Schwark and Dominique Esnault from the Department of Modern Languages, and funded by Routes into Languages Yorkshire and The Humber. It introduced and explored the idea that music, media and languages go hand in hand and have very strong links, more so than you might initially think.
The French groups’ day kicked off with a session focusing on Film, TV and Adverts and then it went on to explore French contemporary music. The German group did the reverse diving into the world of music to begin with by exploring current bands and then it looked at German films and TV channels before the students had to create their own advert in the target language.
After a sunny lunch on the grass and a campus tour, both groups finished the day with a light-hearted session which included a quiz and a summary of the themes and topics touched upon during the morning. The German group did a final performance of their acapela musical ensemble which was mightily impressive and included some excellent beat-boxing. It was caught on camera! All groups worked really well together and the end results were really very impressive.
The event was an excellent opportunity for the pupils to develop their language skills in a different arena and to bring out other related skills through the medium of media and music. Evaluations were completed at the end of each day and pupils had these comments to make about the days as a whole:
“It was a different experience and I learnt a lot.”
“I really enjoyed it, it was brilliant!”
“I enjoyed the singing in another language and taking part.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed it!”
“The performances of the songs were fantastic!!”
So there’s the proof – music, media and languages really are a great combination! If you are interested in attending a similar event at the University of Hull and discovering something new, please contact Routes by emailing: routes@hull.ac.uk
