Last week saw us welcome our World of Languages Week, with fun activities on the theme of ‘Poetry in NHEHS Motion’ organised by our MFL teachers and sixth form subject reps.

Kicking off the week was ‘Italian Day.’ Year 7 got stuck in right from the start, learning the Italian names for different pasta shapes and making Italian gestures. At lunchtime they were invited to compete in a ‘Guess the teacher’ activity, by trying to identify the teacher by their own account of their language learning journey! This has been a truly insightful event as it emerged that many staff at NHEHS are certainly capable of converse in more than one language-what a truly multilingual and diverse staff body!

Tuesday was ‘Spanish Day’ and was celebrated with an energetic Latin American dance workshop for Year 7s at lunchtime, Spanish Kahoot quizzes in class for Year 8 while Year 9 enjoyed poems and concrete poetry! Years 10 and 11 read Pablo Neruda’s ‘Veinte Poemas de Amor y Una Canción Desesperada’ followed up by writing ‘Agony Aunt’ style letters in Spanish. Our sixth formers also got in on the Spanish act, with Year 12 acting out their favourite scenes from the Pedro Almodóvar film ‘Volver’ and Year 13 viewing a TVE production of Federico García Lorca’s ‘Bodas de Sangre.’ The members of staff also were also delighted to taste Spanish ‘tortilla’ in the staff room, cooked and wrapped individually by Señora Alonso. ¡Estaba riquísima!

Our sixth formers also got in on the Spanish act, with Year 12  acting out their favourite scenes from the Pedro Almodóvar film ‘Volver’ and Year 13 viewing the Carlos Saura film adaptation of Federico García Lorca’s ‘Bodas de Sangre.’

In keeping with the 2020 theme, German poetry featured very strongly during Wednesday’s German Day.

The Year 9 poetry workshop set the bar high and students were amazed to find out more about Bertolt Brecht’s life as portrayed in his poem ‘Vom Glueck des Gebens’. Our students feverishly competed to produce the most capturing and flowing translation and our winner, Anna Hogben, has to be commended for her most astonishing piece. Year 7, not to be outdone,  enjoyed illustrating and translating ‘Der Panther’ by Rainer Maria Rilke and produced some delightful readings with a particular mention going to Olivia Bebb for her amazing rendition of the poem itself. 

Another highlight of the day was the Year 8 German speaking and singing competition at lunchtime. The Y12/13 German Ambassadors Lizzie Nandra and Carmel Webb took up the challenge to teach two competing Y8 groups tongue twisters and a German children’s song, which was later performed with much laughter and giggling.  After school, Year 11 had the opportunity to watch the acclaimed film ‘Die Welle” and to take part in a debate centred around the films main theme: autocracy in society.

Visiting speaker Mr. Jones gave a lasting impression through his inspiring talk to Y10 Germanists on Monday as he shared many personal stories about how speaking German  (amongst other languages) has given him not only many more job opportunities but also that language learning has enriched his life on a deep personal level- it was truly inspiring! Vielen Dank.

French Day began with a very artistic angle, with a collaboration with the art department as Year 7 took part in a Matisse workshop while Year 8-9 discussed Apollinaire poems and created their own caligrammes. Year 10-11 worked on French passport ideas, as they combined their language and Geography skills. Meanwhile, Year 13 had tremendous fun coming up with ideas for “Le Blog” – whereby girls created pretend blog posts from well-known French personalities, including Marie-Antoinette, Louis XIV and President Macron! Year 8 enjoyed watching the film ‘Adele Blanc Sec’ at lunchtime as well as making up their own speech bubbles in French to match the wildlife photographs! Finally, Mme Spencer shared her own secret crêpes recipe and challenged girls to make their own for their homework!

Not to be outdone, our Chinese department welcomed pupils into school on Friday with two dragons and fortune cookies at the front gate. Breaktime activities included a Chinese language treasure hunt for Year 7 and a Chinese Writing competition. For the treasure hunt, students had to read clue notes in Chinese and locate the hidden prize. 26 out of 30 prizes were claimed. Well done, Year 7.  Year 8’s Morven claimed the winner prize in the Writing competition. During lunch break, Mrs Tang organised a traditional Chinese Kungfu Taichi Fan session where Y8 girls’ core strength was tested.

 A big merci, grazie, gracias, Danke and Xièxiè to our MFL staff and subject reps for creating such a wide variety of inspirational and educational fun activities.