North East

As more and more schools across the UK begin to teach their pupils Mandarin, the British Council’s Mandarin speaking competition has developed over the last five years from a fledgling project to a high profile event.

On Tuesday 6th December pupils and their teachers from schools across Scotland and northern England arrived at Newcastle University to compete in the northern heats of this prestigious competition. Victory will see them through to the national final and the chance of a week long trip to China, courtesy of competition sponsors HSBC Global Education Programme. This is the third year running that Routes into Languages North East has assisted the British Council in organising the northern heats and hosting the event at Newcastle University.

The competition is for UK secondary school students and was designed primarily for non-native speaking learners of Mandarin Chinese. This was one of two regional heats (the other held in London on 16th December) leading to a national final in London in the spring. Pupils competed in both group and individual categories at various levels of ability.

The group performance section took place in the morning and saw schools from all over northern Britain compete in front of their peers and a panel of judges for a place in the final. Performances came in the form of short plays and songs featuring a variety of costumes and themes. The individual competition followed and featured pupils competing at three stages of competency. They were required to speak for 2 minutes, translate three random sentences and answer three general knowledge questions. Meanwhile, pupils not competing were given the chance to participate in three alternative activities organised by Routes into Languages North East. undergraduate Chinese students held a talk on studying Chinese at Newcastle University. Student ambassadors Clare Everett and Zhuang Qiu provided a tai chi workshop based on the skills they learned whilst in China themselves.

Finally, student ambassadors either native to or studying Chinese conducted tours of the university including visits to the university library, the Great North Museum and the Language Resource Centre where pupils were given a demonstration of the online learning resources for Chinese which have been developed there.

The day was a great success and saw skilled and enthusiastic performances from pupils of all age groups whilst also providing them with an idea of university life and Chinese culture. Competitors all left with a good chance of making the finals and the judges now have a difficult task ahead of them to choose the winners. By Nick Johnston

The School of Modern Languages at Newcastle University is offering the opportunity to take part in a paid internship with Routes into Languages North East.

This is part of the Newcastle Work Experience (NWE) scheme which is a 100 hour flexible work experience programme providing undergraduate and postgraduate students with the opportunity to undertake challenging projects within North East businesses. There is a £600 bursary available for this placement.

This particular post would involve working with Routes into Languages NE to undertake a study into the impact of the project on our student ambassadors as well as on the School of Modern Languages and Newcastle University. It will focus on the effects of the project on graduate employability and involve working with the Alumni association to analyse the career paths of previous Student Ambassadors. It will also assess the potential impact on the school and university when outside funding ceases.

To read more about this opportunity and to apply please visit the Newcastle University Careers Service website.

You can find out more background about the NWE scheme here.

There was a buzzing sense of anticipation in the classroom at Armstrong School on Monday as part of Newcastle’s Excelsior Academy as the class awaited the arrival of Newcastle United winger Gabriel Obertan. When he arrived he was greeted by an enthusiastic ‘Bonjour!’ from the assembled class of year 9s. This was a French lesson out of the ordinary. Obertan was there to launch Newcastle United Foundation’s new initiative, the Double Club. Routes into Languages North East, based at Newcastle University, have teamed up with the foundation and the city council to produce an exciting programme of language learning through football. The initiative is now being rolled out in the region and two lucky schools have been selected to receive coaching from Newcastle United to be combined with their French language classes. Resources have been produced by Newcastle and Sunderland local authorities to compliment the sessions and are freely available to schools in the region for the teaching of French, Spanish and German. These can be requested from www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/northeast.

The pupils at Armstrong school asked Mr Obertan a series of questions in his native French, he replied in the same language and pupils then translated what he had said. Four television cameras and local newspaper and radio journalists looked on as the pupils learned about a professional footballer’s pastimes, hobbies and favourite food. Mr Obertan got into the spirit of the event, later telling the press that it was ‘great to see the kids making an effort in French’.

Headteacher Lynn Aitchison said: ‘With the numbers of pupils choosing to study a foreign language we need all the help we can get to boost the numbers and using Newcastle United resources and foundation staff will be the perfect combination.’

The project will also be launched in the coming weeks in Sunderland with Sunderland AFC Foundation running a parallel project across the Sunderland and South Tyneside regions. Undergraduates studying modern languages at Newcastle and Sunderland Universities will also assist in the running of the project in their roles as Routes into Languages Student Ambassadors.
 

Monday 11th July saw the fourth ‘Bratwurstpokal’ German language and football tournament take place at Newcastle University’s Longbenton sports ground. Six Schools from the North East region attended bringing with them squads of ten pupils who spent the morning learning all about football in German. The groups enjoyed blazing sunshine as they learned football related vocabulary before putting it to use in coming up with team names, logos, mascots and anthems.

The morning session was followed by a German barbecue with frankfurters, pork steaks and even sauerkraut after which teams began warming up for the afternoon’s football tournament. Teams took to the pitch and began by singing their new chants and anthems before kicking off for an intense and brilliantly played tournament. Unfortunately, with loud claps of thunder echoing around and the sky turning a deep shade of purple, the tournament was cut short as a torrential downpour hit the pitches.

There was only one team who at this stage, had won all of their games and congratulations go to Marden High for coming top of the Bratwurstpokal league and walking away with prizes courtesy of the German Consulate General in Edinburgh and the Goethe Institute. Schools stayed to take part in a quiz during the storm and this saw Sandhill School win a prize for completing the questions based on what the teams had learned during the day. The day’s final prize, for the team who was most enthusiastic and wrote the best team song went to Farringdon School who also received goody bags to take home.

Despite the downpour the day was a success. One teacher commented ‘I thought it was a fabulous idea and would definitely like to be involved again’. The children also left with new German knowledge and most importantly, the motivation to continue enthusiastically with their language study. Thanks to all who got involved for a brilliant day.
 

On 1st April this year, year 7 pupils from across the North East gathered at Northumbria University for the first ever regional foreign language spelling bee. The spelling competition was held in French, German and Spanish and was hotly contested by pupils who had been honing their skill since the Autumn when the competition was launched. In order to reach the regional final, contestants had to win at both class and school level. The regional winners go through to the national final taking place on 6th July at Homerton College, Cambridge.

13 schools originally signed up in the region with approximately 1000 year 7 pupils competing at class level. 7 schools submitted a total of 25 contestants to the final where they were watched by their friends, teachers and parents. Contestants each had one minute to correctly translate and spell as many words as possible in the language category they had chosen. The top four from each language then competed again in a second heat to establish 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st place. Winners were awarded trophies and certificates by visiting project manager of Routes Cymru, Ellie Jones.

The contestants all enjoyed the experience, every one of them reporting that the spelling bee had been interesting in post event evaluations. The idea of using modern languages in a competition appealled to the children, lending a new edge to the learning of vocabulary and pronunciation. 88% of pupils competing agreed that the competition had made them think positively about languages and they were unanimous in their conviction that learning a language is important.

Congratulations to all those who took part and particularly to the winners.

We're delighted to say we will be running the competition again next year. After the success of this year's competition and the obvious positive effect it had on pupils, we hope to see more schools signing up to this worthwhile event when registrations open in the autumn term.

This spring saw three festivals of international culture take place across the North East. Schools attended from across the region bringing a total of 240 pupils to the three events held in Durham, Middlesbrough and Newcastle. Every pupil had the opportunity to learn a new language and take part in a cultural activity. Schools also attended a group session encouraging them to understand other cultures and emphasising the common interestes bridging these cultures.

Student Ambassadors

Throughout the morning events pupils were led by student ambassadors from the various host universities. Ambassadors were able to offer advice and inspiration to the pupils who all showed a great interest in studying languages. Indeed, evaluations showed that after the festivals there had been a remarkable 70% reduction in pupils who said that before the festival they did not want to study a language. There was also a 31% increase in pupils said they would definitely carry on with a language.

These statistics confirm the effectiveness of the day's activities. Most popular amongst these were the cultural activities which included Capoeira (a Brazilian dance/marshal art), Bollywood dancing, Origami and Persian Caligraphy. Pupils particularly enjoyed the way that these sessions combined foreign language and culture with something tangible they could either actively practice or take home with them. This cultural activity was complimented by a taster session in a language ranging from Arabic to Russian, Chinese to Portuguese. These taster sessions were led by both students and teachers and were very succesful. One inspired teacher has even begun to learn Portuguese in earnest with a view to teaching it at GCSE after attending the taster session at Teesside.

We are delighted to anounce that next year we will be running the festivals again. We intend to coincide them with the passing of the olympic torch through the region and theme the sessions around the olympics.

As more and more schools across the UK begin to teach their pupils Mandarin, the British Council’s Mandarin speaking competition has developed over the last four years from a fledgling project to a high profile event. On Tuesday 8th February pupils and their teachers from 14 schools across northern Britain arrived at Newcastle University to compete in the northern heats of this prestigious competition. Victory will see them through to the national final and the chance of a week long trip to China, courtesy of competition sponsors HSBC Global Education Programme.

This is the second year running that Routes into Languages North East has assisted the British Council in organising the northern heats and hosting the event at Newcastle University. The competition is for UK secondary school students and was designed primarily for non-native speaking learners of Mandarin Chinese. This was one of two regional heats (the other held in London on 13th December) leading to a national final at the British Museum in London on 10 March 2011. Pupils competed in both group and individual categories at various levels of ability.
 

The group performance section took place in the morning and saw 10 schools from all over northern Britain compete in front of their peers and a panel of judges for a place in the final. Performances came in the form of short plays and songs featuring a variety of costumes and themes. The individual competition followed and featured 15 pupils competing at three stages of competency. They were required to speak for 2 minutes, translate three random sentences and answer three general knowledge questions.

Meanwhile, pupils not competing were given the chance to participate in three alternative activities organised by Routes into Languages North East. Chinese lecturer Linlin Fang and undergraduate Chinese student Francesca Cooper held a talk on studying Chinese at Newcastle University. Student ambassadors Ryan McFaul and Katie Murrey provided a tai chi workshop based on the skills they learned whilst in China themselves. Finally, student ambassadors either native to or studying Chinese conducted tours of the university including visits to the university library, the Great North Museum and the Language Resource Centre where pupils were given a demonstration of the online learning resources for Chinese which have been developed there.

The day was a great success and saw skilled and enthusiastic performances from pupils of all age groups whilst also providing them with an idea of university life and Chinese culture. Competitors all left with a good chance of making the finals and the judges now have a difficult task ahead of them to choose the winners.

By Nick Johnston

The Association for Language Learning has recently published news on the current situation within Government of the curriculum and the role of language learning within it. Below is their call to action. Please use the links provided to found out more information and have your say.

After ten years of decline in languages education, we’re now at a turning point. The Government has been making very positive noises about the importance of languages and it’s now our chance to have a say in shaping the curriculum and the role of language learning within it. It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for and it’s crucial that we respond both as individuals and as a community and that we encourage as many people as possible who are not directly involved in language teaching (especially parents) to respond in a positive way, too.

What you need to know

Education Bill:
The Government has now published its Education Bill, after releasing its Education White Paper back in November. You can find out more on the ALL website.

Curriculum Review in England:
The Department for Education has now announced the review of the primary and secondary National Curriculum in England - and they want to hear YOUR opinions about what is taught in schools:

The Basics:

Phase 1 of the review will:

• define the overall shape and structure of the National Curriculum
• consider which subjects will be included, and which left out
• what support will need to be in place in schools to support this
  

It will also look at detailed programmes of study for English, Maths, Science and PE.

The DfE has launched a Call for Evidence from Jan – Apr 2011, seeking feedback from all interested parties. Ministers will announce which subjects will be included in the National Curriculum in Spring 2012.

The questions about languages in the online consultation ask:
Should languages be

1. part of the National Curriculum? In which key stages?
2. compulsory, but not part of the National Curriculum? In which key stages?
3. non-compulsory, but with a programme of study? In which key stages?
 

Phase 2 of the review will establish the detail for the remaining subjects forming part of the National Curriculum, or where there are non-statutory programmes of study.

The Call for Evidence for this phase will take place in Spring 2012, and final decisions on this phase will be announced in early 2013.

Read more about the timetable, remit and aims of the review here, together with some FAQs.

Three crucial things to do NOW:

1. Talk to ALL

ALL will be collecting your opinions on how languages should be taught in schools, to present to ministers as part of the review. ALL has regular meetings with the DfE, and is in a good position to influence language teaching policy for the better.

We want to make the best possible case for language learning to be an integral part of the core curriculum in primary and secondary education. We need your views!

You can contact ALL:

• By Email: to curriculumreview@all-languages.org.uk,
• On Facebook: www.facebook.com/alllanguages.org.uk,
• On Twitter: http://twitter.com/wendynewman1,
• By Post: to: Association for Language Learning, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH.

2. Respond directly to the Department for Education

We need language teachers to respond individually to the DfE as well. This is our chance to shape future language teaching policy. This is our opportunity, as a community, to speak up for our subject and make our voices heard.
You can do this in the following ways:

• Online: view the consultation document and respond on the DfE website.
• By Email: to NCReview.RESPONSES@education.gsi.gov.uk,
• By Post: download the documents online, and send them to: Department for Education, Consultation Unit, Area Level 1 C, Castle View House, East Lane, Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 2GJ.
• On Facebook: information on the curriculum review: www.facebook.com/educationgovuk.

3. Encourage others to respond

The voices of language teachers across the country area very important to shaping the future curriculum. But we also need voices outside our own community to make the case for languages: school governors, parents, local business people, key colleagues in other educational sectors: please encourage everyone to voice their support for languages through the channels mentioned above.

In the ALL's September 2010 consultation with members on the current state of language teaching, a Head of Languages at a secondary school in the North East summed up what so many of us feel……

“We as a body of professionals need to get together and say what we believe are the most effective pedagogical approaches to language learning... We are the people we have been waiting for”

Order now for January!

2011 will be the third year that Routes into Languages produces its popular ‘Why Study Languages?’ calendar.
New for 2011 is the addition of interactive support materials that are designed to generate classroom discussion. These resources will draw on other areas of the curriculum including art and design, music, food technology, creative writing, history and culture and geography.
At just £6 including p&p, it’s fun and ideal for raising awareness of a wide range of languages.

Teachers said the following about last year's calendar:

"The calendar has been a super resource, sparking interest and debate at a number of levels ‑ thank you again"

"The calendar you produce is fantastic and every Language Centre should have one ‑ what a great way to see different languages, scripts and alphabets with excellent images to match"

"As Head of Modern Languages I would like to congratulate you on the 2010 Why study languages calendar. It has been a joy to turn from one month to the next and learn about different countries and language"

Accompanying website
Also, the new pupil facing website contains lots of interactive quizzes, videos and practical advice for KS3, KS4 and Post-16: http://www.whystudylanguages.ac.uk
 

On 22nd November 22 keen French students attended the weekly French Club and enjoyed making a traditional French croque monsieur. This involved understanding a real French receipe! All thought the hot sandwiches were delicious. For photos of this event please click here.

This was followed by a  successful French Christmas event on Friday 10th December 2010 with a group of year 9 students. The pupils learnt a tremendous amount about Christmas in different parts of France. There was a nice, relaxed atmosphere. They enjoyed trying the traditional Christmas food and learning some new Christmas vocabulary using the wordsearch and carols. Ruth O'Rourke (Project Manager, Links and Routes into Languages North East) came in and was very impressed. Floriane and Sabine from IBM also talked to the class about working for IBM and the value of language skills. All in all, a very beneficial afternoon for the students. For some photos of this French Christmas event, please click here.