Monday 23 October 2017

St Paul's High School

This year, with the backdrop of European Day of Languages, St Paul's High School decided to promote languages through our ‘Language Week’ celebrations. We wanted to raise the profile of languages in our school as well as acknowledging the diverse range of languages spoken in our school community.


Firstly, we made a video showcasing many of these languages spoken by our pupils and showed this at our S1 Languages Assembly.



Our daily prayer was delivered in a different language every day and was accompanied by a language-themed quote.

We planned a different event for every day over the course of the week:


On Tuesday, for our map challenge pupils had to label different countries and we gave out prizes for 10 correct answers.



Our Wednesday event was a language-themed photobooth. Both pupils and staff donated props and everyone was keen on having their picture taken (there were some interesting costume choices).



For Thursday, we had a selection of food from around the world for everyone to try. This went down a treat and the food didn't last long. The ‘pain au chocolat’ was a particular favourite (no idea why!) Bon appétit 👍



Friday was ‘Flag Face Painting' Day. Thanks to senior pupils and some creative staff, pupils were able to have the flag of their choice painted on their faces.



Overall, it was a  really enjoyable week, both for staff and for pupils. It would not have been possible without the enthusiasm of the young people at St Paul’s High School.



Merci 🇫🇷
Gracias 🇪🇸
Grazie 🇮🇹
Danke 🇩🇪
Xiè Xiè 🇨🇳

Tuesday 17 October 2017

Stonelaw High School

On Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th September, pupils from Stonelaw High donned their best fancy dress to celebrate European Day of Languages.



Through the wonders of technology, pupils were able to transport themselves to European cities such as Paris, Barcelona and Berlin for snaps outside some of their most famous landmarks.



The #selfiecompetition was promoted by the Modern Languages Department with help from a number of the school’s Language Ambassadors. The competition was enjoyed by all pupils and even some teachers!


Hyndland Secondary School

Each year, the Modern Languages department at Hyndland Secondary School in Glasgow celebrates European Day of Languages. The aim of this year’s celebrations was to promote the importance of language learning; and the linguistic and cultural diversity of our school community.

Classrooms and corridors were decorated with flags from across the world as we discovered from a survey that we have over 22 languages spoken by pupils and staff in the school community.


Throughout the week, there was a wide variety of activities organised for pupils across all year groups. 


S1 pupils had the opportunity to take part in a quiz about the various languages and cultures in Europe. They also got involved in the poster competition answering the question: “Why learn languages?” The quality of work from pupils was phenomenal which made the judging process rather difficult.




S2 pupils had the chance to take part in French and Spanish challenges about the European Union and also listened to some international music! They also wrote acrostic poems about Europe and languages as part of National Poetry Day.




S3 pupils found out about famous people who speak different languages and discussed the importance of language learning.

S4-S6 pupils took part in a QR code treasure hunt which involved finding out about how foreign languages are vital in many careers.


A number of pupils got involved in the EDL ‘world record’ attempt by creating a short video clip based on the theme of “I love [a language] because…”.  They also had the opportunity to get their picture taken at the European photo booth!




Staff and pupils also took part in the request from @Glasgowlangs to share how to say "hello" in a language they knew or had learned at school or university. Videos of these can be found on Twitter @Hyndland_ML. They also took part in a general knowledge quiz about Europe with the successful winner ending the week with a lovely vino tinto!


The launch of the Russian language club also took place during European week. Almost 30 pupils signed up to attend! Language learning is very much alive here at Hyndland Secondary.

Staff from across departments had the opportunity to use their language skills by greeting pupils as well as engaging with lesson starter activities that linked their subject to foreign languages.

The canteen staff also got in on the act by organising a European themed menu and decorating the Fuel Zone.




Huge thanks to everyone who took part in the event or helped out in anyway. Lots of photos and videos of the week can be found on the twitter account @Hyndland_ML.

Caldervale High School

Caldervale High School pupils celebrated the European Day of Languages on Tuesday 26 September. 


The enterprising pupils from S1 to S3 created displays depicting aspects of European culture and language. The projects were then showcased in the school’s assembly hall as part of the European Day of Languages Exhibition. 



The pupils researched and described topics which were of interest to them and the results were fantastic. Project topics ranged from ancient roman games and fashion to music and describing countries. 



Pupils from the remaining year groups were then able to visit the exhibition and widen their knowledge of European culture.


Thursday 12 October 2017

Broughton High School

Broughton High is unique. Our students speak almost 50 languages other than English. They bring added depth and richness of culture and experience to our school and for this reason we decided not only to celebrate European Day of Languages, but also to make the celebrations last an entire week.

We held a series of hugely successful events each day in the school where all year groups, and staff too, were involved.

  • Sign Language Workshop for S1 pupils with Sign Language teacher Carole Wallace
  • Language themed assemblies
  • S1 poster competition to design the advertising posters for Celebration of Languages 2018
  • S2 interdisciplinary learning with HFT - pupils learned about the ingredients, utensils and recipes in French class and made the crêpes in HFT time
  • Shuttlecock kicking tournament with Mr Huang
  • S3 careers workshops - finding out about how languages can be used in different professions

  • S4-6 careers event in the assembly hall with 3 speakers - Bilingualism Matters at Edinburgh University, Annie Horsman formerly of Visit Scotland and Kate Aitken, former pupil and international opera singer
  • S5/6 French and Spanish Translation Duel - Higher/Advanced Higher French translated Baudelaire and Higher/Advanced Higher Spanish translated Machado

  • French Breakfast for staff in the staffroom served by Modern Languages staff
  • Mini Languages Lessons - S1 pupils who speak languages other than English taught their peers a little of their languages and culture
  • Staff dancing workshop – staff learned the Cha Cha Cha with Mrs González and Mrs García
  • Bag making with a linguistic theme with S3 class
  • International Music Quiz for all year groups

Many of our colleagues in other faculties contributed with language themed lessons during the week e.g. science did NASA rocket countdowns in Mandarin and Swahili, Maths lessons in Italian, Art and Design explored patterns and fabrics from different cultures, SFL explored the etymology of words borrowed from other languages, Media explored French film...