Millthorpe School Languages Blog

German Exchange 2009

On Wednesday June 17th Mr. Winston, Miss Ramsay and 22 year 9 pupils set off for Stadtlohn in Germany for the second part of the German Exchange. After a safe, fairly uneventful journey the group arrived at Geschwister-Scholl Gymnasium in Stadtlohn, where they were warmly welcomed by their host families. Thursday morning was spent in school, with the afternoon free (school usually finishes at around 1pm in Germany!). On Friday the whole group took a trip to the beautiful city of Köln (Cologne), where they were taken on a tour of the Lindt Schokoladen Museum (Chocolate Museum). The students particularly enjoyed the visit to the museum shop, where they purchased a variety of weird and wonderful chocolate (some of the more interesting varieties on offer included chilli chocolate, curry chocolate and chocolate beer).

Over the weekend, the students got up to all sorts of things with their exchange partners - several of them cycled over the border and took a day trip into Holland, while a few of them even took a coach trip to Paris! On the final day, the German teachers put on a fantastic barbecue for everyone. A wonderful time was had by all, to the point that when it came time to leave there were a few tears shed by some of our students!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voyage en France: Stella Plage Avril 2009

On the 3rd of April, 43 Millthorpe Y8 pupils went for 5 days on a trip to the Opal Coast in the North of France. The five days were packed with activities:

• Visit to the Boulangerie Escoeuilles (to witness bread making)
• Visit to a sweet factory
• Nausicaa Marine Centre
• Boat tour of the Marshes
• Visit to La Coupole, a WW2 Museum
• Karting
• Visit to Les Chocolats de Beussent
• Visit to l'Escargotière du Choquel (Snail farm)
• Visit to Saint Joseph, a model village.
• Bowling
• Shopping at the Cité de l'Europe

There are still some places left for next year's French Trip (April 2010), so Year 7 get your skates on !!!

 

Une journée à l'université Saint John à York

 

Lundi 15 Juin 2009, 37 étudiants de Millthorpe (Année 10) ont passé une journée à l'université Saint John à York, pour tester la vie étudiante après le GCSE.

Ils ont participé à 4 lessons de langues pour A-level : français, allemand, espagnol et arabe.

Pendant la leçon de français, ils ont enregistré des films tournés avec des jouets pour promouvoir les langues! Ils ont aussi enregistré de courtes émissions de radio sur le même sujet. Vous pouvez les écouter sur ce blog.

Pendant la leçon d'allemand, nous avons parlé d'alimentation équilibrée; nous avons appris à compter en arabe et à se présenter en espagnol. Vous pouvez voir les photos de la journée sur ce blog.

A midi nous avons mangé à la cantine de la fac, comme les étudiants.

Ci-dessous, quelques-uns des commentaires que les élèves de Millthorpe ont fait après cette journée à l'université:

• What I enjoyed the most is learning Arabic, because it is very different from French and German
• I enjoyed the practical in French where we recorded a podcast and a video. Using fun techniques like this helps learning and is enjoyable!
• What I enjoyed the least is Arabic, because it was hard and different. Had I had longer, my view might have changed overtime.
• I enjoyed learning the languages and seeing university life. The food was OK too.
• I enjoyed the Arabic session the most, because it is much different to normal European languages and it is also very interesting ; I didn't know that it was a very useful language to use and also many countries speak it.
• I thought the canteen looked very nice, modern and welcoming, but I didn't enjoy my lunch much.
• I enjoyed Spanish the most as it was very interesting and I have always thought of taking Spanish in the near future.
• I liked the French and German videos. I learned quite a lot from them and would like them incorporated in our lessons at school.
• The students ambassadors were very helpful.
• I found the trip very beneficial and think that future Y10 pupils would enjoy the trip too. The student talks made me think more about the practicalities of student life.
• I enjoyed doing a wide variety of languages. Especially learning two from scratch (Spanish and Arabic) because I found it very useful. Also most of the tasters had video clips which were really appealing.
• I liked the student ambassadors as they were lovely, friendly, kind and very outgoing! She made lots of funny jokes.

Voilà! Beaucoup de commentaires positifs. C'était vraiment une bonne journée, et nous les profs (Madame Hickey, Madame Andrle et Monsieur Stipetic) avons adoré ça aussi. Merci les années 10 de Millthorpe.

Madame McNulty

Podcast:  reasons to learn languages - French lesson

Download 01 Podcast French YSJ Group 1

Download 02 Podcast French YSJ Group 2

Download 03 Podcast French YSJ Group 3

Download 04 Podcast French YSJ Group 4

Photos of the day: