Taking a lead on languages

Pupils in our J1 and J2 Languages Club enjoyed a very special session recently when they were joined by Senior School pupil, Prisha. 

Fourth Year pupil Prisha is one of our Language Leaders and she led a session all about the Hindu festival, Durga Puja, which also included an introduction to some Bengali words. 

A highlight for the pupils was an opportunity to show off their acting skills when they took on the roles of the Goddess Durja, the demon Mahishasura, the great god Brahma and other characters to recreate the story, and they also enjoyed a Kahoot quiz at the end of the session which proved how well they had listened and how much they had learned. 

Maren Rowley-Williams, who oversees the Language Leaders course in Senior School, said: “Our Language Leaders are passionate about language learning and this is a great way for them to share their passion and develop new skills. 

“As part of their Language Leaders course, they are tasked with developing and delivering a lesson to Junior School pupils and we have seen them really grow in confidence. They have learned a lot about how to use tone and body language, as well as how to engage a class of younger pupils, and they have all enjoyed creating something that they are passionate about to share with younger pupils.”

Philippa Rae is the Junior School Languages teacher who runs Languages Club. She has been working with Mrs Rowley-Williams on the Language Leader programme and she thanked Prisha for teaching the children about Durga Puja: “It was a real pleasure to have Prisha in the club today and it was great to see how much the children loved learning all about the festival.

“Prisha is the first of the Senior School’s Language Leaders who will be visiting Languages Club to lead a session over the coming weeks and she did a fantastic job.”

Mrs Rowley-Williams is looking forward to developing the Language Leaders programme further. 

She said: “”One of the great advantages of sharing a school site is that pupils of all ages can share their interest in languages and learn from each other.

“I am looking forward to these J1 and J2 pupils being our Language Leaders of the future!”