Wycombe Abbey Celebrates European Day of Languages
The UK may have formally left the EU in January 2020, but as a truly international School, we take every opportunity to celebrate the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of our community. So European Day of Languages, traditionally marked on 26 September across all EU countries, became an International Week of Languages at School that included every member of the Wycombe Abbey community. Each year group had many different activities to take part in throughout the week which encouraged curiosity about different cultures as well as learning a few new phrases in languages that they may never have heard before.
UIIIs and LIVs spent the week completing as many ‘Secret Agent Language Challenges’ as they could, which included writing a word in different alphabets, spelling their own name in sign language, identifying words in one language ‘borrowed’ from another, and listening to songs in five different languages. (Next stop: Wycombe Abbey’s own Eurovision Song Contest perhaps?). UIVs, LVs and UVs took part in a series of online quizzes and activities during Tutor time, ‘Guess the language’ was a particular favourite. They also tried their hand at articulating some truly tricky tongue twisters in different languages too.
To tap into their creative sides, the girls also entered the in-house art competition to create a design to go on a special Tote bag. The challenge saw some wonderfully creative ideas being produced and we look forward to producing the bags soon.
Food was high on the agenda in our cookery sessions with Mrs Christian making lots of delicious world foods such as Tortilla Española, Oreo Mooncake and Beef Chow Mein. The catering staff also produced a special lunch offering featuring French, Spanish, Italian, Greek and Austrian dishes for the whole School community to enjoy.
Throughout the week, all staff and girls were encouraged to wear stickers displaying the languages they speak, even if just a few words, and it was truly humbling to see just how many linguists and polyglots we have around the School.
It was a fantastic week highlighting the many different languages that are spoken within our own School community. We look forward to learning even more about the diverse culture we have at School and more chances to celebrate them in the future.
Ms Lucy Nott
Head of Modern Languages