This week we celebrated a Week of Languages. Our Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) Reps kicked off the week with a fantastic assembly on Monday, with every day dedicated to each of our languages.

Italian Day got us off to a tasty start as we celebrated with Italian merenda, Italian movies and Italian pizza.  

German Day included a German bake off, a debate on the challenge of immigration in the German Arts, poems from German artists with migrant backgrounds and, for Years 10-13, lessons on German film and a poetry workshop. In the afternoon, our Years 10-13 students headed off to the MFL Symposium ‘Fables, Folklore and Fairytales’ North London Collegiate to discuss literature from around the world. There was an interdisciplinary forum enabling all students interested in literature and the arts to celebrate the rich tradition of stories that shaped societies through the ages. There were breakout talks on English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin and Russian literature, as well as on links to music, and all enjoyed the inspiring panel discussion that concluded a well-planned event. Read more in Year 10 Giuliana’s symposium report.

Wednesday was Chinese Day! Our celebrations included tai’chi at morning break and an afternoon workshop with traditional Chinese waterfall sleeve, fan and ribbon dances.

Spanish Day activities focused on festivals. In their Spanish lessons, Year 7s made masks inspired by Spanish festivals, while Year 12s wrote first person reflections on festivals including La Tomatina from the viewpoint of a tomato (!) & Los Sanfermines from the bull’s point of view! On Thursday we also enjoyed an assembly on studying languages by Dr Catherine Smale, Senior Lecturer for German Studies at King’s College London. Dr Smale also led university seminars led for our Year 10 and 12 German students, where we discussed the writing and experiences of May Ayim, an Afro-German activist who lived during the time of the reunification of Germany – a topic which coincided perfectly with the Week of Languages 2023: Diversity in German Literature and the Arts. Read more in Giuliana’s report: https://nhehs.gdst.net/year-10-enjoy-seminar-on-diversity-in-german-speaking-literature-by-kings-college-senior-lecturer-for-german-studies/ 

Friday was French Day, which would never be complete without Mme Spencer cooking up her legendary crêpes at lunchtime for all to enjoy – as long as we asked in French! She even made some special ones celebrating our 150th birthday! Pupils also studied French music in class and Years 9 to 11 were busy planning school trips around Francophone festivals. They even included letters to Mr Shoults to try and convince him to let us go on this “pretend” school trip!

To end a fabulous week, we held a family French film night showing ‘Intouchables’ with all proceeds going to charity.

For more photos and videos, please see our Instagram reel!