School_Matters_Issue_34

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EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES 2020

The European Day of Languages celebrates the rich diversity of spoken and written world languages in Europe. It is designed to highlight the importance of language learning to increase intercultural understanding, promote multilingualism and encourage lifelong language learning. This year, S7–S10 pupils participated in two different activities. The first invited pupils who use a language other than English at home to deliver a short presentation in their heritage language to the class. Notable presentations were given in: Arabic by Taym Al-Kabbani, S10; Danish by Natasha Hymans, S10; German by Lilly Inderst, S9; Greek by Evelina Kitsantas, S10 and Alex Skouras, S9; Italian by Sophia Cutler, S9 and Greta Romano, S8; Mandarin by Emily Zhou, S8; Portuguese by Carlos Romero Araujo da Silva, S8; and Serbian by Bianca Nikolic, S8 and Elena Deverill, S8. Pupils were very keen to spot the linguistic similarities and differences between English and the aforementioned languages. The second activity was a Multilingual Spelling Bee in two rounds. The first round consisted of a spelling test of 24 words in six different European languages. In the second round, the top three contestants had to spell specified words accurately. Emily Zhou was judged Senior 8 Winner with Zara Quazi as Runner-up. The Senior 9 Winner was Esme Perry and Runner- up Catherine Zotov. Charlie Tebbutt won the Senior 10 competition, with

Runner-up Amber Mitchell. Congratulations to all. Mr Emanuel Diaz, Teacher of Modern Languages

Carlos Romero Araujo da Silva, S8

GERMAN DEBATING VICTORY Four LVI Germanists – Georgie Hughes, Arthur Mellor, Alex Mortimer and Tom Moutafov – beat Exeter School in the first round of a national German debating competition organised by the Goethe Institute and held online this year. The pupils debated the motion: “The renaming of colonial and racist buildings their preparation. Their performance was excellent and the judges referred to the “amazingly high standard” and

being very impressed by “two very strong teams”. Although our formidable opponents were judged deserved victors, we are extremely proud of our four LVI Germanists for representing the school so splendidly. We thank the Goethe Institute for organising such a worthwhile competition. Mr Oli Williams, Teacher of German

and street names is justified.” IPS ran out narrow winners, with judges complimenting both schools on the quality of their German language and debating skills. The pupils put in a huge amount of preparation in advance of the debate, and performed admirably on the day. Their victory meant progression in the competition. In the second round, also online, the quartet was up against Watford Grammar Schools Consortium. Here, the IPS debaters were given the task of opposing the motion that there should be equal pay for people of all genders. Our four pupils employed a variety of creative arguments (which we hope do not reflect their actual views!) to argue against equal pay and put a huge amount of work into