Throughout this week, all students and staff at Macmillan Academy have been celebrating the annual European Languages Day.

Throughout this week, all students and staff at Macmillan Academy have been celebrating the annual European Languages Day.  They have enjoyed taking part in a wide variety of activities including a French breakfast, which they had to order in French of course, and on Thursday will have lunch from a menu made up almost entirely of dishes from other countries.

Although dozens of languages are being heard around the building, the predominant ones are French, German, Italian, Spanish, Arabic and Urdu with a sprinkling of Japanese.  Students have made television advertisements in Spanish in the Academy’s new media suite and have attended a selection of courses including taster sessions in Italian, French, German, Russian and Cantonese, a workshop on world languages and an investigation into stereotypes across Europe.

The relevance of the ability to use languages as an essential key skill has also been highlighted as has the help available through the effective use of ICT in becoming increasingly familiar with one or more languages.