We were delighted to welcome 10 schools to our GDST Languages Day last week after a four-year Covid-induced hiatus!

The theme this year was ‘Languages Create Adventures’ where we encouraged students to enjoy experiencing the extraordinary sense of adventure that being able to understand and communicate in other languages can give. This sense of adventure can spring from what the French call ‘dépaysement,’ leaving one’s own familiar external surroundings; this can occur internally, rejuvenating, even reconfiguring one’s own perception of oneself and one’s place in the world. Often, as literary tour de force Simone de Beauvoir observes, this can occur in a completely unexpected way.

‘Quelque chose va se dévoiler: un monde

si imprévu que je connaîtrai l’extraordinaire aventure

de devenir moi-même une autre.’ 

                                Simone de Beauvoir 

Translation: ‘Something is going to reveal itself: a world, so unexpected that I will discover the extraordinary adventure of becoming myself somebody else’

The sense of adventure was embodied by our wonderful keynote speaker, Paula Beegan, who shared how her love of languages opened the door to so many adventures, from studying at Cambridge, UNESCO, international film festivals, to Human Rights Watch and more.

A day of adventure-filled, multilingual activities followed so students got the chance to perform, be creative and have fun!

Years 7 and 8 excelled at their French, Spanish, German, Mandarin and Latin Spelling Bees before trying to free the world from monolingualism by solving clues in French, German and Spanish together to find the murderer in their Murder Mystery Challenge! They also enjoyed a multilingual treasure hunt around school. Year 9 playwrights prepared and performed amazingly creative 3 minute plays on the theme of ‘Unexpected Encounter’ in French, German, Spanish, Latin or Chinese in front of an audience. Year 10s collaborated across schools to make three minute mini-movies on iPads re-imagining an extract of a literary adventure, including pieces by Simone de Beauvoir, Miguel de Cervantes and Bernard Schlink.

Following the prize-giving, we ended an amazing day with ‘Ode to Joy’ sung in German, Spanish, French and Mandarin by the whole GDST Family!

The finale of the #GDSTLanguagesDay – ‘Ode to Joy’ sung in German, Spanish, French & Mandarin! Thanks for taking part @BlackheathHigh @bromleyhs @NewcastleHigh @NorthamptonHigh @NorwichHigh @putneyhigh @RoyalHighBath @SuttonHighGirls @SydenhamHigh @SCHSgdst @GDST 🇩🇪🇪🇸🇫🇷🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/RqutOnYpeK

— NottingHill&Ealing (@nhehs) March 9, 2023

A big thank you to the festival team, encompassing SLT, IT, Caretaking, Catering, Marketing, Medical, Health and Safety, General Office, Reprographics, Cover, MFL, Classics, PE, Drama departments and colleagues from GDST.

Thank you Sutton High, Norwich High, Northampton High, Putney High, Blackheath High, Bromley High, Newcastle High, Royal High School Bath, Sydenham High for coming and making it such a fun day! And thank you for your lovely feedback, like this tweet from Blackheath.

See our Instagram post for all the action including videos here!