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MO D E R N F O R E I G N L A N G UAG E S
Spanish Film Contest Win
On Monday 9 March, Mr Urreaga Gorostidi and Mr Hernandez
took a group of 5th Form (Year 11) Spanish pupils to compete
in the Spanish Short Film Contest held at North London
Collegiate School.
There were several other schools competing: Dulwich College,
Latymer Upper School and Haberdashers’ Aske’s, amongst
others. Our pupils had been working very hard to create a
short film on their given topic of “the environment”.Their film,
Las Aventuras de Juanita,
concerned veteran documentarian
Juanita who embarks on a worldwide journey to track down
rare animals which seem to have disappeared. A world-famous
explorer with thirty years’ experience, she travels to a range of
locations, from forests to the sea to the Arctic. She is shocked
to realise the harsh reality of the status of the environment
which looks bleaker than ever.
The Bancroft’s team was awarded the prize for the best short
film. Pupils were delighted to win a Spanish course in Salamanca.
Maha Dannawi also won the prize for the female actor with the
best spoken Spanish - a week long Spanish course in Málaga.
The judges were very impressed by the short film and at the
end they came to talk to the Bancroft’s team and complimented
them all on their Spanish, which they said clearly stood out.
This is a fantastic and a rare achievement: well done to the
pupils involved.
MFL Writing
Competitions
Huge congratulations to Ananya
(5Sa) who has been judged the
winner of theYear 11 (5th Form)
category for Spanish for the
ISMLA (Independent Schools´
Modern Languages Association)
OriginalWriting Competition; she
has received a £50 iTunes voucher
as a prize.
This competition was open to all
Year 11 pupils in independent
schools all over the UK. Pupils were
given a choice of three titles and
Ananya chose to respond to a work,
The Flower Vendor,
by prominent mid-twentieth century Mexican
artist, Diego Rivera.The essay was entitled,
“Diego Rivera expressed
his personal views about social injustice through his art. Imagine you are
the flower seller in the image.Tell us about yourself.Your essay should be
set in the cultural context of this period.”
Ananya’s piece of writing entitled
Las Flores de la Esperanza (Flowers
of Hope)
demonstrated excellent creativity and imagination,
engagement with the Hispanic culture and linguistic ability. She says,
“I have always enjoyed creative writing and Spanish which is why I
entered the competition. I was inspired, firstly, by the sheer beauty
of the Diego Rivera painting and, secondly, by the social criticism
evident in the piece. I felt compelled to explore the injustice faced
by the poor in Mexico in the early 1940s through writing from
the viewpoint of a flower seller. It did push me out of my comfort
zone as I have never written a short story in Spanish before.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the process very much, especially learning
about the rich history and art of Mexico.Thank you to the Spanish
Department for teaching and supporting me over the years.”
Mr Urreaga Gorostidi, Head of Spanish, said,“I would like to thank
Ananya for engaging with such enthusiasm with this competition
and producing this impressive short story.This is a fantastic
achievement: ¡
enhorabuena
, Ananya!”
In April, Bismi Rahman (L6E) submitted a 500-word essay written
in German on the topic of ‘Learn Languages to Build Bridges’
and was commended by a panel of academic staff from the
Department of Languages and Cultures at Lancaster University.
Bismi said of her essay.“In a world where borders and maps
separate us, language is what reunites us. Language is the tool
which connects different groups of people.”
Ben Bagley (L6W) was awarded Highly Commended in theWhite
Rose Project Writing Competition 2020 in association with the
Oxford German Network.TheWhite Rose was a student led
resistance movement against the Nazis. The competition asked
entrants in years 12 and 13 to write an essay in German
“Was
können wir heute noch von der Weißen Rose lernen?“
(“What can
we learn from theWhite Rose today?”) Very well done to Ben.