West Midlands

Routes into Languages are very pleased to invite students and their parents/guardians to attend an exciting event at Aston University this summer term.

Come along and find out more about how much fun studying languages can be and the many future opportunities they could provide your son or daughter in what is becoming an increasingly global marketplace.

There will be an opportunity for you and your child to have fun together learning another language in one of our language taster sessions.

Hear from one of our recent language graduates about her experience of learning languages at University, including time spent working or studying abroad on her placement year and what she is doing now.

Each student is welcome to bring up to two members of their family with them.

This event is FREE to attend and refreshments will be provided. Closing date for registrations is Monday 26 June 2017.

If you have any questions about the event in the meantime please email Claire Richards, Project Manager, Routes into Languages West Midlands at routes@aston.ac.uk

We look forward to seeing you then!

For this coming summer term, we would like your students to produce a poster promoting learning langauges aimed at anyone from primary school pupils up to undergraduate students – the choice is theirs!

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.

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.

This session consists of a 1 hour motivational talk followed by a 2 hour taster session in a given language with a specific career focus to engage students and offer more realistic career 'snapshots'. The language tasters will be clearly aligned to a specific industry sector and raise the awareness of a language as a valid and beneficial skill to give competitive edge in the real world.

Open to KS3 and KS4 students and 200 places are available.

This event is fully funded and therefore FREE to attend. Please email Monica Cozzone monica.cozzone@wlv.ac.uk to confirm your attendance.

Celebrate Chinese Year of the Rooster with our new competition!

On 28 January this year, Chinese people all over the world will be celebrating New Year and this year it is the year of the Rooster.

The Year 9 Language Day at the University of Wolverhampton aims to raise aspirations and encourage pupils from schools in the West Midlands to study languages. The day features inspirational talks from local business executives and a marketing activity related directly to language learning and its relevance in business. This event has always been well received and well attended.

60 places are available and this event is FREE to attend. Please email monica.cozzone@wlv.ac.uk to confirm your attendance.

Learn about Christmas traditions in different countries by taking part in our Foreign Language Christmas Card Design Competition!

This year Routes into Languages West Midlands will be sending out a Christmas e-card to all of our contacts and would like to invite students in years 7 and 8 from schools in the region to participate in our Christmas Card Design Competition.

We would like the students to design a card which shows the Christmas traditions of another country. Pupils should research and design their own card, using, if they wish, a variety of materials.

Entries can be submitted in any foreign langauge – entries containing English will not be accepted.

Each card 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 Years 7 and 8 and the winning entry will be used as our Christmas E-card for 2016. The winner will also receive a £20 National Book token.

The winning entry will also be displayed around the School of Languages and Social Sciences at Aston University and will feature on our website. It may also be used in publicity materials in future.

Each entry MUST be clearly marked on the back with the pupil’s name, age, year group, 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.

We hope that you will encourage your pupils to take part in this competition. The deadline for submission of entries will be Monday 5 December.

Please send your entries to: Claire Richards, Project Manager, Routes into Languages West Midlands, Room NW803A, School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET. If you have any queries please email us at routes@aston.ac.uk or call 0121 204 4720.

Routes into Languages West Midlands invites you to Aston University's campus for this fun and interesting French cultural event for Year 8 and 9 pupils from 12.45pm to 3.30pm on Wednesday 22 March 2017.

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 learned to the larger group at the end of the event.

This event is 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. Late cancellations (one week before the event) are charged at £5 per pupil.