Sophie Blewitt, Head of Modern Foreign Languages, talks about her plans for the Department and why languages are more important than ever.
Our aim: to understand other cultures, not just their language
With a department of 13 teachers and increasing numbers of pupils looking to continue studying languages at A Level, the MFL Department is excitedly making plans to further enhance the languages offering at Sherborne Girls.
Currently, the girls in L4-U5 (Years 7-11) study French, Spanish, German and Mandarin with Italian also being offered at A Level from September 2021. We will have three times the number of girls taking A Level French and Spanish in L6 in September compared to the current cohort, which is a fabulous reflection of the interest in the subject and the calibre of our budding linguists.
The enrichment opportunities in Sixth Form allow girls to keep up a language beyond GCSE, or even start a new one from scratch. They include courses and qualifications such as DELF (French), DELE (Spanish), PLIDA (Italian) and Goethe (German), with an HSK (Mandarin) course being offered in the new academic year.
The girls really do value these courses, which can be a tremendous asset, especially if they are considering living or studying overseas or planning to do a popular ski season in their gap year.
We have recently introduced the Foreign Language Leaders Award at L5 (Year 9). This external award develops the skills in our L5 girls necessary to lead language activities for younger learners and supports the School’s ethos of encouraging independence and leadership. So far, the pupil-led activities have taught Arabic, Hebrew, French, German, Spanish and Italian in a variety of engaging and creative ways.
All of this wonderful, enthusiastic activity is set amidst the backdrop of national statistics showing a decline in the take up of languages. It really frustrates me when people dismiss languages – they are unbelievably under-valued! The old excuse that in business everyone speaks English is no longer valid. Studying a language is not only an important spoken communication skill but also provides an understanding of other cultures, countries and communities. It is this wider appreciation of other cultures and history which deepens our knowledge, tolerance and understanding.
Put into a current context, much of the effort to encourage people from minority ethnic communities to get the Covid vaccine was done via native speakers; allaying anxieties and hearing about the benefits in their own language was hugely persuasive.
So, for me, learning a language is so much more than being able to order a meal when you go on holiday. It is about celebrating other languages through a deeper understanding of cultures, society and communities, political stand points and traditions – and it is more important than ever in today’s world.
