South East

http://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/film_comp_2014

The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at Oxford University is looking for budding film enthusiasts in Years 7-11 and 12-13 to embrace the world of French cinema. To enter the competition, students in each age group are asked to re-write the ending of a film in no more than 1500 words.

You can work in English or French. No additional credit will be given for writing in French, but incorrect French grammatical expression will not be penalised: this is an exercise in creativity, rather than language!

The judges are looking for plausible yet imaginative new endings. There are no restrictions as to the form the entry might take: screen-play, play-script, prose, prose with illustrations... you could even upload a YouTube video or audio file! Experiment!

The films for 2014 are:

Years 7-11: Le Hérisson dir. Mona Achache (2009)
Years 12-13: L'Auberge Espagnole, dir. Cédric Klapisch (2002)

A first prize of £100 will be awarded to the winning student in each age group, with runner-up prizes of £25. The teacher of each winning student will be offered free attendance at the Sir Robert Taylor Society Conference, a forum for continuing professional development and exchange between practitioners of modern foreign languages teaching in secondary and higher education (see http://sirroberttaylor.wordpress.com)

For further details about entering the competition (including the points in each film where we'd like you to take up the story), please click on http://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/film_comp_2014 and the FAQs. Each essay should be accompanied by a cover sheet.

Essays and cover sheets should be submitted by email to french.essay@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk by noon on Monday 31 March 2014.

The French film essay competition is very grateful for the generosity of Routes into Languages South and the Sir Robert Taylor Society.

The Gold Award for Languages is an exciting, multi strand scheme for language learners in year 9 and above. Combining a work experience challenge, a personal challenge and a community challenge, it encourages students to think creatively and use their language skills in a variety of different settings.

The following documents explain the scheme in more detail:

How could this work in my school?

Getting started

The work experience challenge

The personal challenge

The community challenge

Please contact Clare Forder at the University of Brighton if you'd like to register your students for the award.

Launching at the end of November 2015, Oxford University's French film competition offers students the opportunity to engage with French cinema by watching a French film and re-imagining and writing the ending.

The films for this year's competition will be announced shortly and competitors will be able to enter in one of two age categories.

Please email french.essay@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk to take part.

Discovering the Americas is a three-point engagement with selected local schools and colleges. It aims to raise year 8 students' aspirations to choose Spanish for GCSE and ultimately to continue Spanish and Latin American studies to degree level. The theme "Discovering the Americas" will also support all participatns to become more informed global citizens by making important connections between the origins of the Americas as we know them and the contemporary contexts of international trade and travel.

Students will work on a screencast and video in school during the autumn term, then participate in a follow-up workshop in the spring term. During the summer term students will visit the University of Reading for an on-campus event to round off the project.

Year 11 students studying GCSE Japanese or similar are invited to Oxford Brookes University to take part in a Japanese workshop. The session will involve reading a story from the Let's Read Japanese series (Level 1) and writing a corresponding scenario. The workshop aims to develop skills to enable students to read for pleasure in the target language, as well as to work on associated writing skills.

The activity is free and will run from 10.00am-3.30pm. Students will need to bring a packed lunch or bring money to purchase food from catering outlets on campus.

Year 12 students are invited to Oxford Brookes University to take part in an applied languages workshop in either French or Spanish. Participants will work in groups to develop a pitch for an English product which will be delivered to a panel of leading foreign supermarkets.

Students will first take part in a plenary session about the importance of languages for business and will also learn target language business vocabulary. Following delivery of all pitches, students will take part in a Q&A session with Oxford Brookes undergraduates about the Year Abroad. Prizes will be awarded for the best presentations!

The event is free and will run from 10.00am - 3.20pm.

* INVITE ONLY EVENT *

This event provides an opportunity for year 7 & 8 pupils to learn a new language and to highlight how language learning can open doors to a wide variety of experiences.

Pupils will take part in a variety of activities run by Languge & Area Studies students as well as international students. Each activity will contain elements of culture, history and personal experiences from countries around the world.

Maximum of 10 places per school.

Our ever-popular Foreign Language Spelling Bee for year 7 students is back again for 2015-16! Students will compete in stages as follows:

Stage 1: class competition - students learn 50 words and compete against classmates

Stage 2: school competition - winners from the previous round learn a further 50 words and then compete against all class winners

Stage 3: regional final - schools identify their top 4 spellers who are given 50 more words and then invited to the University of Brighton for the regional final (more details about the regional final here)

Stage 4: national final - winners from each of the regional finals across the country will be given a further 50 words to learn before coming together for the national final. The national final is usually held in Cambridge in early July. Dates and venue to be confirmed.

The word lists all link to the KS3 curriculum in French, German and Spanish.

The competition is open only to Year 7 students of French, German and Spanish who are beginner learners. Native or near-native speakers cannot enter.

Registration for the competition will open shortly via the Spelling Bee's dedicated website. Schools who entered in 2014-15 will be contacted directly once registration is open.

Those new to the competition and wishing to take part in 2015-16 should contact Clare Forder for further information.

Year 8 finalists from schools participating in the Routes South Great Languages Bake Off are invited to bring their winning cakes to the University of Brighton (Falmer campus) ready for judging!

Entrants should have submitted the posters accompanying their bakes by Monday 4th July as poster and cakes will be judged together to find the overall winners in French, German and Spanish (see original competition information here).

Prizes will be on offer!

We are on the lookout for budding bakers and creative cooks in Year 8 to enter our Great Languages Bake Off competition!

To enter, pairs of students need to bake some cupcakes following a recipe in either French, German or Spanish. These can be traditional recipes or ones that have been translated. Competitors will then give a (very) short in-class presentation, using as much target language as possible, on how they went about their bake, ready for teachers to judge the best one. Students can bring in samples of their cakes if they think this might help sway the decision!

The winning students as picked by their teacher will then be invited to a Bake Off final at the University of Brighton (Falmer campus) on Friday 8th July 2016. There can be up to two entries per school and those wishing to attend the final will need to complete a registration form and return it by email to Clare Forder no later than Monday 27th June 2016.

Finalists will also need to submit a poster of their bake (max. A3), including a photo of the finished product and the recipe and ingredients list in the target language. Posters should be submitted by post to arrive at the University of Brighton no later than Monday 4th July 2016 so that they can be displayed in advance. Posters will be judged alongside the cakes to find an overall winner per language.

Please send posters to Clare Forder at:

School of Humanities

The Checkland Building – Room D331

University of Brighton

Falmer

BN1 9PH