West Midlands

The Spanish Section at Aston University is organising a literary meeting with Spanish poet, Manuel Rico to be held at 5pm on Thursday 29 November in room Main Building 504.

Manuel will be reading some of his work and talking about literature and writing in contemporary Spain.

For more information please contact Aurelio Cabellero a.r.cabellero@aston.ac.uk

https://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Manuel Rico.docx

Date: Tuesday 16th October 2012

Time: 14:00-16:00

Location: Shrewsbury Library, Shrewsbury

Summary:

A termly language promotions fair hosted on the ground floor of Shrewsbury Library. Open to people of all ages over 5 and for any interest in languages.  The session will be led by members of the society’s academic and advisory staff. No appointment or booking necessary.

For more information visit the website: www.shropshirelanguages.org.uk

University of Warwick volunteers will visit schools in the region to work with students with the aim of improving oral language skills, stimulate interest in language and culture, and act as role models.

** Please note this activity is restricted to schools in Coventry and Warwickshire ONLY **

For more information please contact Sasha Kulikova at A.R.Kulikova@warwick.ac.uk

Language Roadshows are offered by University of Warwick and feature an interactive language workshop combined with various life-skills activities (e.g. French and football, Spanish and Art, Italian and fashion) and/or language taster sessions focussing on particular languages and cultures. Sessions are delivered by student volunteers and university language tutors.

To take part, please register below.

** Please note this activity is restricted to schools in Coventry and Warwickshire ONLY **

The Language Shadow Scheme is open to Sixth Form students across the region. Participants will be able to spend a morning, afternoon or whole day with a current language undergraduate or academic, attending lectures and finding out more about university life at Aston University.

The aim of the scheme is to improve understanding and better transition between A-Level and university study.

The scheme will take place during the October half term.

For more information and to book, please contact Jasmin Simms by email at j.simms1@aston.ac.uk or by phone on 0121 204 3828.

Calling all linguists and budding artists!

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

To mark the European Day of Languages, 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 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!

Pupils are invited to produce a poster on the theme of “Why Study Languages?”. Entries can be submitted in any foreign language or languages and may include some English if desired. 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.

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 should 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 Monday 8th October.

Please send your entries to: EDL Competition, Routes into Languages West Midlands, North Wing 914a, 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 www.whystudylanguages.ac.uk , www.llas.ac.uk/700reasons/orderform.html and http://edl.ecml.at/ for more inspiration and ideas.

The Routes into Languages Year 7 National Foreign Language Spelling Bee is now in its third year! 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.flpellingbee.co.uk

The West Midlands Regional Final will take place at Aston University in March 2013 and the National Final will take place at Anglia Ruskin Univeristy, Cambridge in July 2013.

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

Do you need help motivating your pupils and encouraging them to continue studying languages at GCSE, A level and beyond?  If so, then our STAR Ambassadors are on hand to help out.

Routes into Languages West Midlands has a team of enthusiastic STAR Ambassadors keen to use their passion for languages and encourage others to see the benefits of learning languages.  Our team includes current languages undergraduates as well as Erasmus students from France, Germany and Spain currently on study exchange placements at these Universities as part of their English Language studies.  They are on hand to give 'Why study languages' presentations as well as share their own experiences of studying languages in higher education.  Our students are also able to develop language taster and cultural sessions to inspire and enthuse your pupils.

Our STAR Ambassadors can adapt sessions to suit your requirements both in terms of content and duration and are happy to work with pupils of all ages. 

For more information please contact us at routes@aston.ac.uk

To book a visit from our STAR Ambassadors please register below providing the following information:

• Date of event (if flexible please give a range of dates or a day of the week which is most suitable)
• Time of event (if flexible again please give a time which is most suitable)
• Year group of audience (this can be multiple, either all pupils together or separate talks)
• Approximate size of audience
• Focus of presentation (inspiring pupils in general, careers, GCSE options, A level options, university options, etc)

Languages and Film Day for Year 12 French, German or Spanish students

Aston University

Wednesday 27th June 2012 10.15am – 4.00pm

Aston University is hosting a Languages and Film Day on Wednesday 27th June 2012.  This event will provide an excellent opportunity for language students to develop their language and communication skills through the study of a given film in the target language.

• French students will focus on ‘La Haine’ and the portrayal of violence and racism in the Parisian suburbs.

• German students will examine the film “Goodbye Lenin” and how the effects of division and unification are dealt with in contemporary German film and literature and will analyse the socio-political situation in Germany today.

• Spanish students will study ‘Volver’, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, and will consider the underlying themes of family and friendship whilst learning more about Almodóvar, Spain’s most influential director.

All sessions are taught in the target language by language professionals from Aston University’s School of Languages and Social Sciences and student language ambassadors will provide support throughout the day.

In addition to studying the relevant films in depth, students will also learn about the benefits of subtitling versus dubbing in the translation of foreign films.  During the afternoon, students will have the opportunity to produce subtitles for a short clip from their respective film using software in Aston’s language laboratories.

This event is open to Year 12 students currently studying French, German or Spanish at AS level.  Please note that all students must watch the relevant film, some of which are certified ‘15’ prior to attending the event.  All films should be readily available in local libraries and online.

The event is free to attend but please note lunch is not provided. There are several options on campus for students wishing to buy lunch and an area will be provided for those who prefer to bring a packed lunch.

Please contact us if you have any queries at routes@aston.ac.uk or on 0121 204 3872.