7 / 20
MFL Society
Alex Dhayaa U4E (MFL French Representative)
Last term was
a busy one
for the MFL
Society! We had
a variety of talks,
from cultural
understanding to
taster sessions.
MFL was buzzing
with new pupils
and teachers whose interests were sparked.
We kicked off the term with a talk by Gayle Noah, an OB, who spoke
about her experiences of studying a language at University as well
as spending two years abroad! Her wisdom really helped us to
understand what her experiences would have been like!
Adding to the cultural aspect of MFL, we had an engaging talk by
Dr Harrington and the Russian language representatives discussing
Russian Festivals. They discussed religious to ancient festivals and
how they all came from the very roots of the country. Our tastebuds
were then satisfied by the delicious salad that was offered, which
funnily enough Russians call French and the rest of us call Russian!
Putting the cultural element aside, MFL had many taster sessions
ranging from Urdu to Dutch! We began the first taster session with
Hasha Dar, who resembled an actual teacher, while teaching us all
the Urdu alphabet and basic beginner words! With whiteboards,
whiteboard pens and the often said phrase “repeat after me”, the
session proved a successful taster lesson! We then flew along to
the Netherlands where Isabella Lock taught us all the skills and
techniques in order to master the hard pronunciations of Dutch.
She ended the talk with informative and interesting facts about the
Netherlands, as well as offering us the country’s speciality, sticky
toffee waffles, which we all enjoyed greatly!
Other than the talks, the snacks, and the culture, MFL also has a
magazine in which students are able to improve their language
writing skills and explore new topics which interest them. The club
runs every Tuesday from 4:00-4:30pm in Room 119, when students
are able to write articles and send them in for editing. Even if you
cannot attend, we still take in your articles with open arms!
MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES 7
Removes Easter
Trip To Salamanca
Amber Fisher, RN
During the Easter
holidays, fifteen
Removes travelled to
Salamanca in Spain.
When we arrived,
after a long and tiring
trip, we met up with
the families we were
going to be staying
with, and walked to
their homes.
We stayed in groups of two and, luckily, all the houses were very
close to the school at which we were going to be learning. We
were pleased to be given a lot of independence during this trip,
including walking back and forth to the school three times a day
by ourselves. Unfortunately my roommate Ishani and I didn’t pay
enough attention when we were shown the way to the school (as
we were enjoying the local culture), so the next day we couldn’t
remember and unfortunately ended up getting a little bit lost!
Each day we had a couple of hours of lessons, then went back
to our host’s house for a three hour lunch break, as the Spanish
usually like to have their siesta at that time of day. In the
afternoons, we appreciated some free time in the local square (in
which we all enjoyed many ice-creams and
churros
), followed by
a Spanish oriented activity. These activities were great fun, and I
particularly enjoyed the salsa and cooking lessons. On the final
day we had to wake up very early to visit a small village called
Segovia to experience some local Spanish culture. We were given
a tour to see the ancient buildings and visited a royal castle,
which was actually a museum!
We had a fantastic five days and would all like to thank Miss
Gadhvi for organising such a wonderful trip and Miss Hancock
and Mr McGuiggan for accompanying us and for all of their help
too.
¡Muchas gracias!
¡Español En El BFI!
Davissen Thielamay U4E
On May 3, a group of Spanish students were lucky
enough to visit the British Film Institute (BFI). The
day promised to be exciting, and it was, with several
Spanish themed exercises to put us through our paces.
The day was split into two parts. The first being a
workbook on two
cortometrajes, La historia de siempre
and
7:35 de la mañana
. Both films widened our Spanish
horizons and improved our perspectives of Spanish
culture. The workbook was equally motivating, with
activities that tested our listening, reading, writing and
other iGCSE skills.
After an interactive morning, we had the chance to view London
from the banks of the Thames during our lunch. Following a
relaxing and well-needed meal, we returned to the cinema for a
largometraje,
titled
No se aceptan devoluciones
. With the film being
fully in Spanish, this provided a great opportunity for us to improve
our understanding of the language and, despite the prospect of
a film screened in another language sounding tedious; it was a
hilarious comedy that drew laughs from everyone.
The day was una experiencia inolvidable and if we had the chance
in the future; we would definitely go back for another great day
organised by a great MFL department.