Year 9 Linguists attend Magdalene College, Cambridge

On 15^th January, ten of our most able linguists in Year 9 had the opportunity of attending an Outreach event run by the University of Cambridge Language Centre. Jocelyn Wyburd, Director of the Centre, talked to them about the importance of learning languages as global citizens, the skills that language learners acquire and the benefits associated with language study. They then experienced a taster lesson in French, German or Spanish followed by lessons in Japanese, Arabic, Russian and Portuguese. One of the highlights of the day was definitely the Japanese session – in the space of 50 minutes the students learned to bow at the correct angle, hold a short conversation, count from 1 – 100, write their names in Katakana and make an origami penguin!

As well as the university staff, the event was attended by several current Cambridge students who answered many varied questions about university life, courses and languages offered by the university, entry requirements, potential careers, sports facilities, accommodation and university food! We had a really excellent and interesting day.

Mrs Fern

Head of MFL Faculty