Festival of Languages and European Day of Languages 2006
On 13 November 2006 St. Aidan’s Catholic School and Language College organised and hosted a Festival of Languages for Sunderland schools, attended by some 250 children from ten schools and from years 3 to 8. This was the culmination of Sunderland LA’s celebration of European Day of Languages in September, giving students from across the city the chance to share their work and their language learning achievements. They sang, danced, chanted, acted and drummed, mainly in French but with some African and Catalan music too. They also participated in language learning activities: trying taster sessions in Italian, Swahili and Spanish, ICT based games about language learning and singing German carols. We were impressed with the confidence and preparation of these young language learners and the enthusiasm with which they participated in this celebration of other languages and cultures; a lovely afternoon, which we hope to repeat next year.
Portland School held a French Experience Day using the funding from the European Day of Languages.
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All the pupils took part as there was something for everyone especially those for whom sensory experiences are the way of learning. We had:
• A wine making area where pupils trampled grapes –very popular with all of our students
• A wine tasting table with various wines ( all non-alcoholic of course but the students didn't know that!)
• A salon culinaire where crêpes suzette and moules marinières were cooked to order
• A ‘guess the smell' competition featuring lavender, garlic, onions etc.
• An opportunity to try different cheeses
• A table with croissants, pain au chocolat and brioche
• Different breads and jam
• A boules contest
• A ‘feel the food' competition where students had to reach inside a box and identify foods by touch
• Music by French artists
In the afternoon we watched a video of a performance of Mauritian folk tales by ‘Théâtre sans Frontières'.
As our students all have a severe learning disability, it is important that they can experience different activities to help their learning. Without the money from the European Day of Languages, it would not have been possible to have such a successful day."
Redby Primary School celebrated European Day of Languages on 26th September. During this day children were presented with the opportunities to study the countries flag; learn phrases from their language; taste traditional food; politics; daily routines; how a life in England differs from a life in the country studied and religion. Upon discussion with the children it was apparent that the most popular activity of the day was the food tasting! During this session children were introduced to the name of the food and the ingredients and upon tasting were asked to consider if they liked the food.
Throughout
the day the following countries were studied in the following year groups:
Nursery - England;
Reception – Italy;
Year One – France;
Year Two – Spain;
Year Three – Sweden;
Year Four – Germany;
Year Five – Holland;
Year Six – Greece.
In addition to the activities described children were able to learn key/simple phrases from German, Spanish or Sign Language. Members of the teaching staff held these sessions.
Overall the day was a huge success in terms of increasing multicultural awareness and celebrating diversity, form both staff and pupils perspective. In Key Stage One and Lower Key Stage Two a number of parents were invited into school to assist with the food tasting, thus assisting the home school link.
Since the event the Multicultural Leader (Ruth Thompson) and myself have applied for International School Status. We included the European Day of Languages in our application along with other days/events celebrated (multicultural week, Chinese New Year etc.) I have recently been informed that we have been successful in our bid and we are including work from the European Day in our portfolio.
Upon reflection
the day was an enjoyable experience and something that we will continue
to do next academic year.
