World Languages and Culture Week Roundup!
Dzień dobry! Olá! Labas! Привіт! Dia duit! Bonjour! ¡Hola! 你好！ہیلو!
Many, many thanks to all who participated and supported this year’s celebration, especially our TY helpers, Home Economics dept., Margaret and Ciara in the office and our BAM colleagues for their patience and flexibility.
A few highlights from the week:
Food – there were a lot of delicious delights to sample this week. Individual class groups prepared tapas-style tasters and our 2nd year Home Economics students designed and prepared food from various international menus. Our TY Food & Hospitality course collaborated with our TY Language and Culture class to host a mouth-watering lunch of sharing platters. Sharing food is a ritual that fosters community and belonging. It’s a universal language of care, connection, bringing friends together and making people feel welcome. We had authentic dishes from India, Ukraine, Poland, Turkey, New Zealand, Moldova, Italy, Middle East, Spain, France, Mexico and of course tea and scones with real butter, jam and cream from Ireland! Mrs. Doyle would have been proud! Once again, Joe arrived with his stall to treat our 6th students to freshly prepared churros con chocolate.
Art – we have incredible cohort of artists among our 1st year students. Almost 100 students submitted posters which helped to promote languages as a way of connecting with others. All the students’ work was warmly received and is proudly displayed in our canteen area. The theme was, ‘Languages open hearts and minds’. Prizes were awarded to the following students for their exceptional work: Elena C., Emma K., Ava C., Megan S., Maya M. Our TYs taught our 2nd years a lesson about Pablo Picasso and his famous anti-war painting, ‘Guernica’. We even recreated our own version for our Spanish classroom.
Language – our 6th years hosted a Spanish-language debate and invited Ms. Sheane’s 5th year Spanish class. The motion was: ‘Cambiar is algo positive’ (‘Change is a positive thing’). Both teams were very well prepared and performed excellently. The proposition won the adjudicators’ vote on the day and Olivia and Esmira were noted as stand-out speakers. We also enjoyed multi-lingual boardgames, music playlists and Spanish-language card games throughout the week.
Dance – our 1st years and TYs definitely found their dancing feet with in-class Just Dance competitions and a Zumba class with the amazing Flavie!
¡Fiesta! – La valiente Sra. Sheane organised a mini-Tomatina (tomato-throwing festival) with her TY students. This was not for the faint-hearted but was definitely lots of fun!
Film – Mr. Good hosted a French-language film during Film Club this week and students also enjoyed MFL screenings in their own French and Spanish classrooms.
