Wycliffe College – English is not enough!
04 Jul 2019
The highlight of the Autumn Term for the Modern Languages Department is English is Not Enough, an event that brings together the whole of Year 9 to focus on the importance of studying a foreign language.
The morning started with a presentation and quiz about languages worldwide, featuring famous national and international stars who speak languages other than English. Miss Wisbey and Mr Lester (the new Ant & Dec) were fantastic in generating a great buzz in Chapel! The emphasis was on using languages as a tool in a whole range of career areas, some less obvious that others. There were talks from Wycliffe staff and videos by former Wycliffe pupils who today use languages in their jobs that they first studied at school.
The second half of the programme saw the pupils in small groups, attending presentations by representatives from GCHQ, Inside Japan (a tour operator) and Bath University Languages Department.
For sixth form linguists, GCHQ provided a taster lesson in Arabic, encouraging interest in a wider range of languages.
The event raised awareness that languages are not only for teachers or interpreters, and the pupils all agreed that English is most definitely not enough!
Here is some of the feedback that Wycliffe Year 9 pupils gave on the day:
“They show us a lot of benefits of studying another language, it interests me in learning another language in GCSE or maybe even university. There are actually a lot of job opportunities if I know another language”
“I have always wanted to learn other languages and I am definitely much more interested in a job to do with Japanese. I found Inside Japan very interesting and I would like to live in Japan”
“I really want to do languages up to A Levels”
“It opened my eyes about how important languages are for lots of jobs and how it can help you in the future with everything!”
“I now realise how many doors are opened if you do take a language and how much fun the settlement year (in Japan) looks”
“It has made me realise that I really want to be fluent in a language and if I am not then I would really regret it.”
“It has helped me understand that languages are very important and can be used in many jobs – not just a teacher of that language!”
“Now I think that it is really important to learn another language. I know I want to learn another language”
“I am going to do French and German at GCSE!”
“This has made me feel that languages are very important and they can take you a lot further than you think”
“It inspired me to learn a language to help me in later life”