St Mary's Calne
Tuesday 26th September was European Day of Languages which we celebrated across the school starting with a Chapel by Mrs Moylan and culminating in a workshop where students designed their own Chinese Opera masks during Academic Enrichment Week.
We celebrated European Day of Languages with a number of activities starting with a Chapel run by Mrs Moylan about the importance of untranslatable words and expressions, including a video showcasing the favourite words of some of our staff members, which you can watch here.
There was also an online talk to our UV Spanish students about learning languages at university level, pebble decorating with the LIV and MIV, a European themed lunch, and the creation of an eye-catching display of ‘favourite foreign words’ with contributions from pupils in all year groups.
As part of the Academic Enrichment Week activities for UIV, we welcomed Ms Bastaiens from the Stephen Spender Trust who ran a creative translation French workshop based on the comic strip La Guerre de Lulus, and one in Spanish based on Mexique, el Nombre del Barco. Both texts focus on young people’s experiences of war and have striking colour themes, which links to the central theme for this Academic Enrichment Week.
Alongside this, the German Department ran engaging and creative tasks based on an English/German book called How The Dinosaur Got His Shoes and, in their Mandarin sessions, the girls were inspired by the Beijing Opera and designed their own opera masks with some wonderful, colourful results (pictured).
Mrs Leonie Moylan
Head of MFL