Yorkshire and the Humber

The University of Sheffield have run another very successful series of visits to local schools, targeting Y9 students who are preparing for the KS4 choices. Once again, our ambassadors engaged them with presentations of their year abroad experiences, motivation for studying languages and future plans.

These events are simple to run and organise, but prove very effective in encouraging take-up of a language option at KS4. A colleague from Birley College, for whom this was the first such event, commented

‘Finally, many thanks to you and the students who came to talk to us today. They were really professional and great with the kids. Definitely worth doing from our point of view.’

And Brinsworth Secondary School, which we have visited for several years now, echo these views: ‘What a success!!! Please pass on our thanks to your fantastic students. All of the dept came up to me individually yesterday to say what a success the morning had been. Our students were really engaged.’

The other high point of the Spring was a visit to Wales High School to present the prizes to the winners of the year 7-9 category in our ‘World In Your Region’ competition. Jessica Hand, Lauren Hand, Jessica Hawley and Emma Langton produced a fabulous poster with poems in 11 different languages, all translated into English alongside the original language. The poems even demonstrate tricky features such as rhyme in both languages! It was such a privilege to meet these talented young linguists and their teacher, Tina Didlock, who had suggested they enter the competition.

GOAL! at the University of Leeds, June 16th 2010

This football-themed event was held for thirty Year 9 and Year 10 pupils (all boys) from Danum School Technology College in Doncaster, Allerton Grange School in Leeds and Brigshaw High School in Castleford. The pupils took part in two language workshops in either French, German or Spanish. During the first workshop, pupils took part in a commentating activity and learnt new football-related vocabulary. In the second workshop, they then pretended to foreign language journalists, interviewing ‘famous’ football players (expertly portrayed by current undergraduate and postgraduate students from Leeds – together with some enthusiastic staff members) in their target languages. These interviews were then written up as newspaper articles with a prize being awarded for the best articles in French, German and Spanish. After lunch, the pupils enjoyed a tour of the University campus and then took part in a consolidation quiz with a football theme, answering questions on the vocabulary that they had learnt during the day as well as demonstrating their football general knowledge. The feedback for the day was really positive with nearly all pupils saying that they would consider going to university following the event, and two-thirds saying that they felt that the day’s activities would help them with their school work. It was the first event that I had organised since starting in the post of Routes into Languages Project Co-ordinator at Leeds and I am very grateful to the pupils and teachers who came along as well as to the student guides without whom the event would not have been nearly as successful!

Rachel Haworth
University of Leeds
 

French Activity Weekend
23-25 April 2010
Leeds Met Language Ambassadors have been helping school students gain more confidence in French.
Seven level 2 French undergraduates attended an all French speaking activity weekend with pupils from Ermysted's Grammar School to help prepare them for their up-and-coming GCSE exams.

Taking place at Nell Bank Activity Centre, most of the French weekend was spent outdoors where Leeds Met Language Ambassadors took part in playing team games, which involved guiding blind-folded individuals across assault courses, as well as football and frisbee challenges.

Jointly organised by Leeds Met French lecturer Marion Lines and Clare Hudson from Ermysted's Grammar School, the project is part of Routes into Languages which aims to encourage language learning in local high schools.
As part of the project Leeds Metropolitan language students regularly help out providing the chance to use and improve their language skills.

Marion Lines commented: "Everyone has really enjoyed the activity weekend and the pupils have been very interactive. It's been a fantastic weekend where everyone involved, including our language students, has been challenged by being immersed for two days in the French language."

One Language Ambassador, Hayley Winnick, who attended the fun-packed French weekend said: "It's been a great experience and an ideal opportunity to practise my French knowledge and work with young people. I've learnt lots of new skills that I'll be able to use when I work as a teaching assistant in France next year - I wouldn't have been able to gain this valuable experience anywhere else."

Routes into Languages at Leeds Metropolitan provides the opportunity for our students to work with local schools on a variety of projects which goes towards helping to practise and enhance their language skills.
 

Linguastars at Leeds
July 1st – 2nd 2010

The Linguastars residential held at Leeds in 2009 proved so popular that we did it all over again this year!

The two-day residential took place this year on July 1st and 2nd. We had 22 AS level pupils who attended from schools and colleges from across the North of England. The aim of the event was to introduce the students to University life, to provide them with an opportunity to develop their A level target language skills and to try new subjects which they otherwise might not encounter during their A level courses.

After a lively ice breaker session on Thursday morning (which involved being a barnyard animal and then building the tallest possible tower out of balloons, drinking straws and sellotape), the students got down to some hard work, attending language workshops in French, German and Spanish as well as trying out subjects like Linguistics, World Cinemas and Portuguese. The most popular taster session, however, proved to be Interpreting, which allowed the pupils the chance to practise their interpreting skills (about knitting!) in the University’s Interpreting suite. In addition to these sessions, students had the opportunity to explore the campus and to get an insider’s perspective of what (not) to do on a UCAS form.

Thursday evening gave all those who attended the chance to experience the lighter side of University life as they went to a local restaurant for a meal and then stayed overnight at a nearby Halls of Residence. On Friday, the students continued to attend workshops, in preparation for a target language presentation session at the end of the day, with a prize on offer for the best presentation. Despite some stiff competition from two very informative presentations in Spanish, a mime, a TV interview and ‘A day in the life of…’ in German, the overall winner was the French group who presented a short sketch about the lives of three University students all adeptly interpreted for those who didn’t speak French.

The positive feedback which we received from those who attended would seem to suggest that we will be running this event again next year! I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students who came along, all the student guides who supported the event and all the staff who provided the workshop as they helped to make Linguastars 2010 so successful.

THANK YOU!
 

Going Global was the subject of a languages conference attended by 73 young people at the University of Hull on March 24.

The Conference had been organised by the Excellence Hub and included taster sessions in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Russian. It was aimed at GCSE and As level students from schools in this region, with a view to allowing them to experience languages which they had not accessed at school as yet.

Director of Reach-out, Mrs Kerry Dobson of the Department of Languages at the University of Hull opened the event with a talk about how vital languages and cultural understanding are in today’s global economy. Kerry explained how studying languages increases employment prospects and also explained how studying a language can develop intercultural understanding.

“Learning a language allows us to gain a better understanding of the people themselves, their culture and humour for example. The more we understand a different culture, the more we understand our own, and we can then laugh at some of our idiosyncrasies” Kerry said.

Humour helps us to understand others; it can lower barriers, overcome prejudice and open up a bigger world. However, rather than trying to 'sell' language study, various humorous scenarios were featured to try and raise a laugh from the students and get them thinking about languages from a slightly different angle. The point was also made that the UK has the worst language skills in Europe, and that most Europeans speak their own language, plus English and another one. Whilst English may be the language of business and is used as the lingua-franca, paradoxically monolingual students (English speakers) are disadvantaged as many international companies want an additional language, as well as English. In this regard our European peers and beyond leave us standing. Their English skills match ours, and they have one or two additional languages!

For over half of the students attending, this was their first Excellence Hub event. Over two thirds of them were highly enthusiastic about the event and hoped there would be more. The Excellence Hub is run through York University and consists of 4 Yorkshire universities, (Sheffield, Leeds, York and Hull) who collaborate with the coordinating centre in York to run events in their universities for Gifted and Talented students (G & T students), in a variety of subjects. This event was co-badged with the Excellence Hub and Routes into Languages Y & H and the University of Hull. The Excellence Hub has replaced the Gifted and Talented scheme.

The next event is planned for November 2010 at the University of Hull
 

Hull City Football Club and Yorkshire County Cricket Club in association with the Yorkshire Cricket Board have joined in partnership to deliver a modern foreign language programme to local primary and secondary schools across Hull.
The programme will be the first of its kind where a Cricket and Football Club have joined together to deliver a languages programme in to schools alongside football and cricket coaching. Two French pilot programmes have already started at Alderman Cogan Primary School and Hull Collegiate School in Hull with a third at St Mary’s College.

Players from both Clubs have been involved in the educational element with Hull City footballer Steven Mouyokolo and Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s Hull born fast bowler Steve Patterson each recording a teaching aide DVD to be played during class lessons. The students participating on the 10 week course are rewarded with a visit to KC Stadium for a presentation ceremony and stadium tour at the end of each programme with tickets to watch Yorkshire play at Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground given to each student.

Ed Townend from the Tigers Sport and Education Trust said “We are pleased to be working in partnership with Yorkshire County Cricket Club to deliver this new Language Club to the schools in Hull. We hope that by using the professional sports clubs to drive attainment in Modern Foreign Languages, students will find this new approach to learning exciting and interesting whilst receiving multi sports coaching undertaken by the football clubs community coaches City.”

Alison Giles, Community Marketing Manager for Yorkshire County Cricket Club added “Hull City Football Club are leading on this programme, however, we have put two of the Hull City FC Football in the Community coaches through UK Level 2 Cricket Coaching courses so that a football and cricket themed session can take place with the students. We’re really proud to be working with Hull City Football Club on this innovative educational programme and are pleased to be reaching more people in the Hull and Humber area.”

Sam, aged 9 said: “I’ve really enjoyed the classes so far. I liked going to the KC Stadium to see where my heroes play. It’s lots of fun learning French with football and cricket too – it’s much better than normal school!”

As part of the same scheme, 14 Year 11 pupils from Hull Collegiate school, all studying French were recently invited to visit the KC Stadium to interview a French-speaking Hull City player in his native language. The player was Steven Mouyokolo, one of the team’s defenders. Pupils asked a wide range of interesting questions which they had prepared beforehand in class focusing largely on his football background and how he prepared before a match – but they also managed to slip in one or two more serious questions such as his opinion of the French President Sarkozy! Mr Gordon Stephenson Head of Modern Languages at Hull Collegiate commented: “The player spoke very clearly and our pupils managed to understand his replies very well. Afterwards, the group was treated to a tour of the stadium, including the changing rooms, tunnel, VIP suite and the Manager’s area.”

Each student participating in the Language Clubs receive resources supplied by Hull City and Yorkshire County Cricket Club with the support of Routes into languages include a resource booklet, branded goodies, rewards and a trip to Headingley at the end of the programme. Claire Barber, Regional Project Manager for Routes into Languages Yorkshire and the Humber commented: “This is a very exciting opportunity and an excellent project that motivates young learners to study languages, especially those who are disengaged in language lessons, and it helps pupils see languages from a different perspective. This is the first time that Hull schools have had the opportunity to work alongside Hull City football club and we are hoping that these pilot schemes are a success so that we can roll-out the project to other Hull schools in September 2010.”

For more information about this project which is supported by Routes into Languages Yorkshire and The Humber please contact: routes@hull.ac.uk
 

Despite the fact that one of the 6th formers attending one of the three day revision conferences in the Modern Languages Department at Hull University unfortunately found “Reading the set text very tiring” – the three day event was voted an overall success by teachers and students.

“The sessions were designed to be intense and help the students achieve as high a grade as they could in the forthcoming exams so perhaps the “Tiring” criticism in the evaluation comment should be seen as a compliment,” commented one of the lecturers wryly!

Over 80 students from across Yorkshire and The Humber, including 15 schools and sixth form colleges attended the conferences on March 22, 23, 25. In each case the day included lunch in the staff house and AS students went on tours of the campus during the lunch break. Hull has been running these revision conferences for over 5 years and the interest in them has grown every year.

The revision sessions included sessions looking at major set books and as well as speaking and listening work in German, French and Spanish. There were also group sessions on everything from – ‘Accueillir de nouvelles cultures : l'immigration et le modèle d'intégration en France’ to ‘Schlankheitswahn versus Fastfood’ or ‘La Cultura Popular’. The teaching was carried out by student ambassadors and lecturers from the Modern Languages Department.

One of the students who presumably had not found the sessions too tiring said: “I liked working in small groups so we all had a chance to contribute to the discussions and ask questions. The student ambassadors were really nice and friendly and very helpful during the sessions. Use of video, listening and debate helped keep revision lively and interesting. The sessions helped me list things that I needed to look at again. And by way, we liked the cake at lunchtime.”

Another said: “I learnt lots of new vocabulary. The tutors were really helpful and tried hard to encourage participation. I think I gained in confidence when speaking German.”

Another equally enthusiastic student said: “I liked how all the sessions were in French, as it gave me an idea of what studying a language at Uni might be like. I particularly liked the ‘Vers un avenir propre’ session.”

“I liked the French adverts, they were really funny and it helped to do a multiple of things – speaking, listening and reading. The ambassador students were a big help with vocabulary and tenses. This day has really helped me with French and has showed me which parts I should look at to improve."

Kerry Dobson of the Modern Languages Department at the University of Hull said: “These sessions take quite a bit of organising but they are well worth it and well attended. I think the students who come learn a lot from being part of a university environment. People like myself benefit from seeing how determined and enthusiastic they are.”

“But perhaps another time we may have to warn people that revision can be tiring!”
 

Chinese New Year 2010 was celebrated with much enthusiasm by students from David Young Community Academy, Holy Trinity Senior School, Minsthorpe Community College and St Bede's Catholic Grammar School. The activities available were paper cutting, calligraphy, Chinese painting, the Chinese language, a virtual tour of China and a Chinese meal. Nicola’s thank you message sums up the value of the day:

Thank you very much for the Chinese day that you organised. I really enjoyed the day, it was fun and I learned a lot. My favourite part was when we did the Chinese writing because I really like to paint and it was something I had never done before. My Mum and Dad were really impressed with what I had done and so was I. I really enjoy languages so it was a really good experience to learn a different language.

An opportunity for the schools students to talk to the Language Ambassadors and to write a short piece about their experiences with languages completed a busy and very successful event.
 

Swallow Hill Community College is less than a year old and already a Routes into Languages partner school. SHCC opened in September 2009 in a superb new flagship building and provides a fantastic 21st century educational opportunity for its students and the local community.

Lively modern language teacher Michaela McKee jumped at the chance to bring a group of students to Headingley Campus for an Italian taster session, campus tour and Spanish Business Workshop led by Language Ambassador Rebecca Harwood. “The experience was rewarding and fun,” says the final year Spanish student.

“I do honestly believe that every child should know a language and also I want to dispel a few of the myths regarding languages, the difficulties, where they can take you etc.”

Helped on her way by the skills developed as a Language Ambassador, Rebecca is about to train as a language teacher; the workshop, on the other hand, introduced students to key Spanish words used in Business and basic import / export procedures – a reminder that there are many career routes open with language skills.
 

Going Global - 19th January 2010

Gifted and Talented event for GCSE/AS students
 

Over 100 secondary pupils from all over Yorkshire and the Humber descended on the Modern Languages Department at the University of Hull to “Go Global” on January 19.

The event had been arranged by Routes into Languages and included sessions in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Russian.

Dr Marina Mozzon-McPherson, Director of Routes into Languages Yorkshire and the Humber, welcomed students and spoke about the vital role modern languages can play in career, life and international aspiration. Her emphasis was on how modern languages can add to international understanding and study whichever field the student decides to concentrate on. Modern languages are a route into a richer and more fulfilling global existence.

Tony Meech, Senior Lecturer in Drama, was the guest speaker and his topic “How I survived irregular verbs and made a career in translation for performance” challenged young people to look at the how the impact of words, good memories of studying a subject and passion in a subject can accompany us for life.

Dr Meech delighted students with a brief biography charting the highs and lows of life as a university language student and how that led onto a varied career in drama lecturing and working in translation and dramaturgy for the National Theatre in London. There were amusing and serious digressions in East Germany along the way.

Dr Meech explained that he translates stage drama texts for English audiences, but a text is always best appreciated in its original language wherever possible. Languages have a vital role to play in the appreciation of international drama. “My knowledge of German has allowed me to experience performances in German theatres, to read texts which have not been translated and to access writers and theatre practitioners who would not have given interviews in English.” he said.

Later the students divided into groups and went into language sessions with a university tutor and student ambassador. There were 14 ambassadors on hand and the students interacted well with them. The ambassadors were international – a vital mixture of native German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and also 4th year English students, as well as students from the Department of Modern Languages. Mary in Year 11 said of the ambassadors: “I loved talking to the Ambassadors that study different languages and the people who came from Italy, Spain, France and Germany. They were so lovely and fun to talk to.”

Ruth Sadler, student ambassador, said : “At school I was always very motivated towards languages - but a day like this would have been useful. It helps to open people’s eyes to other languages available other than the obvious. A Going Global day is a fantastic way of getting students interested in languages. The seminars were fun and people seemed to enjoy them.”

Pupils took part in revision sessions in French, German and Spanish and then chose a taster session in another language. Teachers met separately to discuss the role of Routes and to see the new Routes video “Now You’re Talking.”

During the lunch break pupils were shown the campus, including the Student Union, library and the Language Learning Centre by the student ambassadors. In the afternoon there were further revision sessions in French and German GCSE topic work (Partons en Vacances and Das sinkende Schiff). These were enthusiastically taken up as well as taster sessions in Italian, Japanese and Chinese.

At the end of the afternoon, Dr Marina Mozzon-McPherson talked to the group as a whole about careers which involved languages as well as opportunities to use MFL in the 2012 Olympics. Dr Mozzon-McPherson commented: “The enthusiasm which young people have for learning modern languages and taking their place in our global future was very apparent today. Routes into Languages exists to help these young people access first class, modern language learning and make sure that it is successful and exciting for them. We are planning many more days like this in the future.”

Comments by pupils and teachers at the end of the day were extremely enthusiastic and many expressed the hope that there would be further sessions of this type. “They are great for seeing how languages work and they also help with the nitty gritty of revision,” said one pupil.

Nathan, Year 10, said of the French GCSE session: “The French lesson was challenging, as we learned new vocabulary and improved skills.” The students were equally enthusiastic about the language taster sessions. Of the Chinese session Baris in Year 10 said: “It was amazing. I learnt a new language which means a totally new world!” Charlotte Bauer,Year 11, also commented: “ It was interesting and I learnt some Chinese. It has also improved my attitude to languages and my interest in studying a language at higher education has grown.”

Another Going Global event is taking place on 24th March 2010 at the University of Hull.