Languages Week
Languages week is always a special time for a language learner such as myself, but this year I got to spend some time in my children’s school discussing the importance of learning a language.
Firstly, I popped into my son’s classes (Primary 1 and Primary 3) to read them a little French story. This was so much fun, and the children absolutely loved it. It was amazing how enthralled they were at listening to me speaking a different language and they were really engaged. They were also super keen to show of the French words they knew.
Later in the week I presented about Global Connects and the joy of learning a language to the upper school classes, primaries 4 to 7. My presentation focused on the joy of learning a language, how it can be good for your brain, your confidence and your future career. I also showed the children some fun examples of translations such as the titles of Harry Potter in French and Spanish, and the film Home Alone in different languages too – this certainly sparked their interest.
The children were interested to hear the kind of work Global Connects do on a daily basis, and the different ways you can work with languages other than being a translator or interpreter. I had some really interesting questions before showing the children some videos of real-life translators and interpreters talking about why they love their job and also a little sentence in their own native language – thanks Mo, Wiktor, Anna, Jarka, Jasmin, Joao, Alasdair & Antonia! 😊
I think we have some budding language learners in the classes I spoke to, and they were eager to talk to me about all the fun they had had during language week learning different things about BSL, attending a German club and hearing stories in different languages from lots of different parents from the school community.
Language learning is thankfully still going strong in primary schools!
Fiona Woodford, Head of Language Services & Account Management, Global Connects
