LEARN THE SWEDISH NATIONAL ANTHEM...IT'S THE EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES
The English have a poor reputation when it comes to speaking foreign languages and it really has to change, according to the Head of Spanish at one of the region’s top schools.
Malvern St.James in Worcestershire already offers four key languages on the curriculum and girls also have the opportunity to learn Italian, Mandarin, Arabic, Japanese and Russian. Girls as young as seven and eight have started to learn French, through songs, games and other creative activities.
Fiorella Amodeo, Head of Spanish at Malvern St. James said: “We have to start younger and younger and encourage students to take a much wider range of language tuition at school, because the global employment market will demand a much greater breadth in future. The British have relied on people from other countries speaking English, in the past, because it was the key international means of communication, but this has changed. Now our children will have to compete”
So to encourage students, Fiorella, along with her colleagues in the German and French Departments, is planning an action packed day for students, at Malvern St.James on Wednesday
26th September 2007 to celebrate The European Day of Languages, which will include dressing up, a flag competition and getting the whole school to learn the Swedish national anthem.
“ I am Italian, Fiorella continues, so I have grown up embracing different languages; for the English, it’s a bit of a culture shock, something we need to address sooner rather than later, before we really start to fall behind.”
Malvern St. James will also be hosting a Junior Schools Languages Day on Thursday 1st November 2007 when children in Years 5 to 7 from local Junior Schools will be invited to take part in activities ranging from Fun with Greek, use of a multi media language laboratory and Chinese. The emphasis is on participation and building confidence to speak in other languages.
Back to News Index