World Challenge

In January 2020, our A-level French students enjoyed their annual Journée française, led by guest speaker Richard Peltier. Conducted in French throughout, the day provided students with plenty of opportunities to practise their listening and speaking skills whilst exploring a range of topics relevant to their studies. With Year 12, Richard talked about the diversity of French-speaking music, new family types and ‘the seventh art’, cinema in the Frenchspeaking world. Year 13 students discussed the cultural heritage of the French-speaking world and whether this is a benefit or a disadvantage, if prison is a good or bad solution and teenagers’ views on the right to vote and their political commitment. Throughout the day, students were invited to answer questions, debate with each other and Richard and react to quotes and videos. The Sixth Formers enjoyed the day, which provided them a lot of very useful material for revision. The experience also gave them confidence as they were able to keep up with a whole day of lectures delivered in French. Katie Riggs & Ani Sastry Despite the disappointment of our GCSEs being cancelled, we were given a unique opportunity to get a flavour of what new, exciting topics we will be studying on our MFL A-level courses, giving us a good headstart for when we begin Year 12 in September. Our lessons have been really enjoyable, with a good balance between new, interesting topics and revising the Grammar points. Most memorably, we have studied the Netflix show ‘Las Chicas del Cable’, the story of four women who gain jobs at the first national telephone company in 1920’s Spain, which has greatly improved our listening skills and also inspired us to explore more of the culture of the Spanish Speaking world. Overall, it has been great to be able to continue our language studies during these unprecedented times and has made us really excited for the new experiences and opportunities that A-levels will present.

Year 13 Perspectives

Learning to teach at BSGD

If you had told me when I was a student here at Bolton School that I would return as an MFL Trainee Teacher, I never would have believed you. This past year I have been training to teach MFL as part of the National Modern Languages SCITT with BSGD as my main placement school. I thoroughly enjoyed coming back as an Old Girl and being able to share my passion for languages with the current pupils. Previously, I studied French, Spanish and Italian at the University of Liverpool where I was able to study abroad in Spain and Italy. After completing my degree, I moved to Italy to teach English as a foreign language. After a year over there eating my way through all the culinary delights Italy had to offer, I studied an MA in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Manchester, which made me realise how much I missed teaching. Having been able to learn from some of the amazing teachers I had whilst I was here has been wonderful. In addition to teaching some delightful students, I’ve also had the opportunity to share my experiences of living abroad with Y11 and Y12, as well as offer an Italian taster session to Y11 pupils. Studying languages was the best decision I ever made, and I hope that all pupils who are reading this will go on to love languages as much as I have. Miss Keegan, Summer 2020 Charleigh Adams Learning through lockdown has certainly been different but nevertheless the new style of education has put forward many new interesting avenues to explore. Based on the recommendation of the Languages department I subscribed to a four week online translation course provided by the University of Cardiff. Translation has always been a more challenging aspect of studying languages but the course, delivered by leading lecturers, has shown me that translation is far more than just conveying a message from a text or speech: it also requires a nuanced skill to convey key cultural messages. An easier activity for pre-University learning has been discovering many fascinating foreign books and films - the vast resources online and on the television provide an easy way to improve your language and cultural knowledge. At the moment I am reading ‘Entre les Murs’ by François Bégaudeau; I would highly recommend this novel which delves into the reality of Parisian high schools and the challenges faced by both teachers and students. Ella Kaut-Howson The post A Level education that the MFL department has offered has not only helped me to remain motivated to learn, but also to broaden my knowledge of language in general and build on the skill of learning new languages from scratch. Having the opportunity to be taught both beginner-level Portuguese, and beginner-level Italia, has hugely benefitted my skillset as a student of languages, and further prepared me for studying French and Arabic at university, the latter ab initio. Lauren-Rae McGann One of my favourite courses has been Portuguese, which is completely new to me. It has been a while since I started learning a new language, so it has been both refreshing and interesting. In addition, I have valued the opportunity to present on aspects of Spanish and Southern American culture, society and politics. I chose to speak on women’s rights in Spain as well as the Amazon rainforest.