West Midlands

Aston University invite you to campus for this fun and interesting Spanish cultural afternoon event for Year 8 and 9 pupils from 1pm - 3.30pm on Tuesday, 10th March, 2015.

The afternoon will feature native Spanish speakers from countries outside Spain who will deliver language and culture workshops to small groups of pupils. Pupils will then design their own posters and present what they have learnt to the larger group at the end of the event. Representatives from the Spanish Embassy will be in attendance to judge the winning group.

Alongside the pupils' sessions, the Spanish Embassy will provide CPD training for teachers.

These events are fully funded and therefore FREE to attend. There are a maximum of 80 places on this event and we can offer each school up to 10 places.

Registration will open in January 2015, please contact us at routes@aston.ac.uk for more information.

Aston University invite you to campus for this fun and interesting French cultural afternoon event for Year 8 and 9 pupils from 1pm - 3.30pm on Tuesday, 3rd March, 2015.

The afternoon will feature native French speakers from countries outside France who will deliver language and culture workshops to small groups of pupils. Pupils will then design their own posters and present what they have learnt to the larger group at the end of the event. Representatives from the French Embassy will be in attendance to judge the winning group.

Alongside the pupils' sessions, the French Embassy will provide CPD training for teachers.

These events are fully funded and therefore FREE to attend. There are a maximum of 80 places on this event and we can offer each school up to 10 places.

Registration will open in January 2015, please contact us at routes@aston.ac.uk for more information.

Our Languages in HE Sixth Form Conference will take place at Aston University on Wednesday 17th June 2015.  This is a Routes into Languages West Midlands collaborative event involving a number of partner universities.

The Languages in HE Sixth Form Conference will enable your Year 12 students to discover more about the opportunities available for language study at university, helping them to make an informed decision about their future studies.

The varied conference programme will provide Year 12 students with an opportunity to hear about the different types of language study at university, as well as hearing from current undergraduate students about their experiences of language study and the year abroad.  In addition, students will participate in two sessions in their current language(s) of study (French, Spanish or German) and a taster session in a new language, or in Translation studies.

This conference will start at 10.00am and end at 3.30pm on Wednesday 17th June 2015 and is free to attend.  Please note that places are limited so early booking is advisable as all places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.  Please use the form below to book or contact us at routes@aston.ac.uk or on 0121 204 3872.

Programme

 Please see the draft outline programme below for details of the content of the session - please note sessions titles and course leaders will be confirmed in due course.

Languages in HE Sixth Form Conference

17th June 2015, 10.00am – 3.30pm

Aston University

10.00am  Welcome

10.15am  Languages in HE - what are the options?

10.45am  International Experiences at University - Motivational talk from Lizzie Fane, Thirdyearabroad.com

11.15am  The student perspective - Q & A session

11.45am  Break

12.00am  Lecture Choices (French/Spanish/German)

12.45pm  Lunch & Exhibition

1.35pm    Lecture Choices (French/Spanish/German)

2.20pm    Short break

2.25pm   Taster sessions

Arabic / Japanese / Russian / Translation & Interpreting

3.15pm  Evaluation and close

The Routes into Languages Year 7 National Foreign Language Spelling Bee is BACK! Each year more and more of you are taking part making this a fantastic, nail biting competition! 

To find out more and to register your Year 7 pupils for their chance to compete please visit our special Spelling Bee website www.flspellingbee.co.uk

The West Midlands Regional Final will take place at Aston University on 15th April 2015 and the National Final will take place at Anglia Ruskin Univeristy, Cambridge on 3rd July 2015.

Please remember - you MUST register your school at www.flspellingbee.co.uk in order to take part in the competition.

Since 2001, the 26th September marks the European Day of Languages, a special occasion for European citizens across 50 countries to celebrate not only our own, but all the diverse languages spoken across the world. In Birmingham alone, our school pupils speak over 108 different languages, so we have many reasons to celebrate the talent in our region.

To mark the European Day of Languages in the West Midlands, we are inviting students from KS3 and KS4 to a special celebration event at the Library of Birmingham on Centenary Square. At this free event hosted by Routes into Languages and Writing West Midlands, we’ll be getting creative with languages and poetry, as well as hearing some of the winning entries from this year’s Mother Tongue Other Tongue competition.

The event will run from 1pm - 3pm and light refreshments will be provided in the break. The programme will include a reading from a local poet, presentations from the winners of the Mother Tongue Other Tongue competition and small workshops to create poems or raps in French, German, Spanish or community languages.

Spaces are limited, so please book early to avoid disappointment. To register, please email Jenny Price at j.price@aston.ac.uk / routes@aston.ac.uk

Photo credit: Christian Richters

Calling all linguists and budding artists!

Help celebrate the European Day of Languages on 26th September by taking part in our poster competition!

To mark the European Day of Languages and following the success of the competition last year, we invite schools in the region to participate in our poster competition. With the number of UK language learners reducing whilst international commerce and travel increase, our aim is spread the message of the importance of learning languages, promoting intercultural awaresness and encourage uptake, particularly at GCSE and beyond. By taking part in our competition, your pupils can help us out and learn a thing or two themselves!

To get our Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils thinking about all the places where languages can take them, our theme for this year’s Poster Competition is “My Year Abroad”. Pupils should research and design their own poster, using, if they wish, a variety of materials and languages!

Pupils should choose a country or city where the language they study is spoken, and research the possibilities of what they could do there. The poster should tell us where they would go on their Year Abroad and all the things that they would do! 

Entries can be submitted in any foreign language or languages and may include some English if desired (for example, pupils may like to provide a translation of the facts they provide). Each poster should be no larger than a sheet of A4 paper and must be completed by hand but any form of materials can be used – felt tips, paint, fabric, etc. Judges will be looking for originality of illustration as well as accuracy of language and content.

The competition is open to pupils in Year 7, 8 and 9 with one winner and one runner up in each year group. Each entry MUST be clearly marked on the back with the pupil’s name, age, class, teacher and school, as well as any necessary information about the language(s) chosen (i.e. if it is a less widely learned language) to facilitate judging. When sending school entries, teachers should provide a covering note with their contact details for ease of notifying winners.

Please note that entries cannot be returned, we advise making a scanned copy for pupils who wish to retain their work. In the event of insufficient entries of good quality no prize will be awarded; the judges’ decision is final.

The prizes are £20 vouchers for the winners and £10 vouchers for the runners up, plus a framed certificate. The winning entries will be displayed around the School of Languages and Social Sciences at Aston University and will feature on our website. They may also be used in publicity materials in future. Prizes will be presented in school by a member of Routes into Languages staff who will also deliver a “Why Study Languages?” presentation to your pupils.

We hope that you will enter this competition as part of your in-school European Day of Languages celebrations and so the deadline for submission of entries will be Friday 3rd October.

Please send your entries to: European Day of Languages Competition, Routes into Languages West Midlands, MB741, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET. If you have any queries please email us at routes@aston.ac.uk or call 0121 204 3872.

Need some inspiration?

• Encourage pupils to use home languages – they could even teach a few words or phrases to other pupils

• Take the opportunity to do some cross curricular work with your Art department

• Visit https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 2014

We are pleased to announce that the Celebration Event for the regional Mother Tongue Other Tongue poetry competition will take place at 4pm on Friday 20th June in the Bookbox at the Library of Birmingham. The regional competition is being led by Routes into Languages West Midlands at Aston University, Birmingham, in cooperation with Writing West Midlands.

The Mother Tongue Other Tongue is a multilingual poetry competition which celebrates languages, culture and language-learning, and gives students the opportunity to practise and improve their home and foreign language skills. The competition involved all students in KS3, KS4 & KS5 (aged 12-18). Entries for Mother Tongue have been submitted in any language, with an explanation in English; entries for Other Tongue have been submitted in French, German, Spanish or Italian.

At the event we will be hearing the poems submitted as part of the competition and celebrating Birmingham’s multilingual poets! This will conclude with a prize-giving ceremony.

This event is open to the public and all are welcome to participate. Entrance to the celebration event is free.

For more information about the competition or the event please contact routes@aston.ac.uk

A multilingual poetry competition that celebrates cultural diversity and the many languages currently spoken in schools across the UK.

The aim of the Mother Tongue Other Tongue competition is to celebrate languages, culture and language-learning, giving secondary school students the opportunity to practise and improve their foreign language skills (any language they are learning in school) and appreciate their heritage, using poetry. The regional competition is being led by Routes into Languages West Midlands at Aston University, Birmingham, in cooperation with Writing West Midlands.

The idea was originally developed by the Faculty of Humanities, Languages and Social Science at Manchester Metropolitan University and Routes into Languages North West and due to its success, is now being rolled out across the country.

The competition

Mother Tongue entries will be in two parts: The first part is the poem. This can be an original, creative piece, or a poem or song that is ‘remembered’ – i.e. something in your first language that you recall, or that has been told to you by a relative. This can be in any language but English. The second part should be a short explanation of the inspiration behind the piece, where it comes from, or why it is important to the person submitting it (no more than half a page). This part must be written in English and is the part your entry will be judged on.

Other Tongue entries must be an original poem written in a language that is not the first language spoken by the person writing it. Entries are welcomed in French, Spanish, German or French.

Winning students from the West Midlands will be invited to a Regional Event in the West Midlands (date TBC) & the National Celebration Event at Manchester Metropolitan University on 27th June, 2014.

How to enter

The competition opens from Monday 28th April 2014 and the deadline for entries is Friday 30th May by email to routes@aston.ac.uk, or by post to Project Manager, Routes into Languages, MB741, School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET.

The competition is open to all students in KS3, KS4 & KS5.

For more information on the competition, how to enter and for ideas of how to integrate this into your lessons, please find attached the Teacher’s Pack.

See www.mtot.org.uk  for further details and to download promotional materials, workshop ideas and resources.

The University of Birmingham, with Routes into Languages, is hosting a  Languages and Martial Art Sports event for Year 8 students on Friday 20th June 2014.

The day will include language tasters in Japanese, Korean and Portuguese, as well as the chance to try Tai Chi, Wado Ryu Karate, Taekwondo and Capoeira.

The Department of Modern Languages is running a series of talks by employers
aimed at promoting work placements in France and other European countries.
Employers will give advice on how to apply for placements, what previous
experience is required, and how working abroad can help students to enhance
their future employability.

First talk of the series on Wednesday 12th March at 4:00 pm
with Holly Roper-Newman, European Sales Support Manager for FRENCH CONNECTION.
Final Year Language students will also talk about their Year Abroad.