A Taste Of Language
All the participants at the recent Language Feast.鈥檚 Language Feast 2019 was hosted by 黑料不打烊 recently, and run with the support of several Student Language Ambassadors from the university and a group of year 8 Pupil Language Ambassadors from Ysgol Friars. Four primary schools from the north Wales area took part in the event (Ysgol Sarn Bach, St. Brigid鈥檚 School, Ysgol Abererch and Ysgol Tudweiliog) and seventy-four pupils from years five and six feasted themselves of the activities on offer throughout the day.
The event was themed around a restaurant experience, each workshop was either starter, main or desert and the volunteers on the day were dressed as chefs and waiters, guiding 鈥榗ustomers鈥� to their proverbial tables. On the menu for the day were taster sessions in French, German, Mandarin and Spanish, classes which explored foreign cultures such as the Chinese calligraphy session run by members of the Confucius Institute and even seminars which explored the wider impact of learning modern languages, for example 鈥楢 world of opportunities鈥� session run by British Council Wales.
Routes into Languages Cymru is a pupil-focused project which aims to increase the number of young people learning modern foreign languages through several initiatives and events which last year (2017-18) reached more than 1,000 pupils across Wales and lowered the average number of pupils who did not want to learn a new language from 52% to 19%.
The event was aided by the support of several language institutions and local businesses including; Goethe Institut, British Council Wales, Spanish Embassy Education Office, Signature Leather, Institut Fran莽ais, MFL Mentoring, Confucius Institute 黑料不打烊, GwE Global Futures and Europe Direct Wrexham.
Karen Morrisroe of Europe Direct Wrexham said: 鈥淚t was great to see so many young people excited about learning languages and realising the great benefits that it brings not just to them personally and in their careers but also for the benefit of the wider economy.鈥�
Sylvie Gartau, Global Futures Coordinator at GwE admired the 鈥済reat opportunities for primary pupils to 鈥渢aste鈥� different languages鈥� and said that 鈥淚t was rewarding to see pupils鈥� participation and enjoyment鈥�.
Rub茅n Chapela-Orri, of the School of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics and the Routes Cymru Coordinator in north Wales, said: 鈥淚t is key that pupils in Wales realise the potential of learning about languages and cultures at an early age, especially now that the new curriculum for Wales is to be implemented. Schools mentioned how much fun their pupils had, and some of them were recapping the vocabulary and phrases they had been learning back in their own schools. It鈥檚 an inspiration to us all to see how eager to become global citizens they are!鈥�
British Council Wales is grateful for the opportunity to tell young pupils in Wales that languages and internationalism are fundamental for building bridges and trust among the nations of the world. The Language Feast was a real treat for all involved. We are already looking forward to participating next year!
Publication date: 18 July 2019