World of Work – showcasing the value of languages in the workplace – at the University of Surrey
on 17 June 2013
On Monday 17th June, the School of English and Languages at the University of Surrey welcomed
118 Year 8 & 9 pupils and their teachers for an engaging and interactive day, focusing on
encouraging more pupils to consider studying a language at GCSE level and beyond.
Activities during the day included taster sessions in languages not traditionally available in schools
such as Greek, Russian, Chinese, Hindi, Italian, Norwegian and Turkish, along with an interactive
language quiz and talks from guest speakers on the importance and usefulness of languages in the
workplace.
The event, organised in collaboration with Routes into Languages, was extremely well received, with
schools travelling from as far as Bournemouth to attend the event. The full list of schools attending
was as follows:
Broadwater School, Godalming
Harewood College, Bournemouth
Christ’s School, Richmond
The Holy Cross School, New Malden
Rodborough Technology College, Milford
Fullbrook School, New Haw
Guildford County School, Guildford
St Peter’s Catholic School, Guildford
The first session saw the pupils participate in an interactive language quiz, in which the pupils used
electronic buttons to cast their votes. During the break, the pupils were given the opportunity to talk
with current students about languages as well as taking the chance to enjoy some well-earned
refreshments, including some 'nice biscuits' as one pupil fed back on their evaluation form!
The morning concluded with the pupils attending two talks delivered by external speakers on a wide
range of language topics. Many thanks to the guest speakers who kindly volunteered their time to
participate in the event:
Alex Pickering (Goethe-Institut)
John Evans (European Commission)
Following the engaging talks, lunch took the form of sandwiches, which were enjoyed outside the
Austin Pearce building.
After lunch the pupils were given the opportunity to take part in language tasters; this gave them
the chance to experience new languages not traditionally taught in schools. The taster sessions
covered interesting facts about the country/culture as well as the opportunity to learn some basic
words and expressions. It is sometimes surprising to find that everyday words in English such as
chutney or the colour khaki originate from another language (in this case Hindi).
The day was a great success, as highlighted by the pupils feedback:
"I found it very interesting and changed my mind about studying languages"
"really enjoyed learning languages"
"Thank you for today, it was great"
Many thanks to Routes into Languages, without whose funding this event would not have been
possible.