To celebrate European Week of Languages, Wakefield Girls’ has been buzzing with excitement surrounding the fun activities going on around school. There has been plenty for students to get involved with.

Our language celebrations began on Monday morning in the Senior section with a visit from alumna Megan Morris (OG, 2020) who is an analyst at Deloitte. Megan studied French and Spanish at A-Level here in school, before going on to study Modern Languages and Business Studies at university. Students listened intently as Megan spoke about the value of studying languages and how useful they are when entering the workforce, especially in international corporations where communicating to colleagues across the globe is essential.

In the Junior Section, students explored the culture and language of Spain.  There was a fabulous show of  Spanish themed clothing and colours of the Spanish flag as students took part  in a number of different activities. The day included learning some Spanish, looking at the culture of Spain, completing some art work in the style of Miro or Picasso, learning songs in Spanish and taking part in some Spanish dancing, before coming together as a school at the end of the day to share what they have learnt. 

Alongside teaching our Junior students French in Years 3-5 and German in Year 6, our older students also receive an additional language lesson every week based upon the ‘World of Languages, Languages of the World’ curriculum. This new, innovative curriculum teaches our Year 5 and 6 students the history, culture and development of all languages and how they have shaped our lives, which greatly helps with their retention of vocabulary and grammar in our core language lessons.  

Throughout the week Senior students have enjoyed lots of word games, a treasure hunt, Greek and Polish taster lessons and a foreign language film,  encouraging them to learn new phrases and discover more about the diverse cultures and languages throughout Europe. 

Our catering team have also been involved, creating delicious European themed lunches with menu choices including chicken and chorizo paella, pork cassoulet, dauphinoise potatoes, vegetarian currywurst, among many more. 

To round off the exciting week Senior students recreated ‘El Colacho’, a traditional Spanish festival held annually in mid-June. The festival is a baptism of sorts, where the devil runs wild in the Spanish village of Castrillo de Murcia to absorb the sins of the babies, and afford them protection from disease and misfortune. Participants dress in yellow and red masks and act as ‘devils’ and jump over babies to absolve them of sin. Students at Wakefield Girls’ were thrilled to learn they are to recreate the event in the Quad, of course with dolls in place of real babies!

Ms C Donau-Green, Head of MFL and Mrs R White, Junior Modern Languages Lead