European Day of Languages Celebration 2012

Usually, the European Day of Languages is celebrated in September, but we at Tomlinscote had a slightly belated celebration -but what a fantastic event it was!

Year 7s had practised role plays on the topic of school in their classes and each tutor group had selected a finalist to compete against the rest of the year group on the 23rd of October.

In front of a huge audience the winning groups were established, as well as the individuals with the most authentic pronunciation. The winners were: for German  Luke Pearson,  Lewis Wall and Luke Hollis in 7Y and for French Alex Wong, Shawn Custodio, Kyle Kumar and Alex Rees from 7R. Congratulations!
The best German pronunciation displayed Lewis Wall and Denitsa Uzunova, while the best French accent came from Chloe-May Patrick and Kyle Kumar. Well done to these great young linguists!

They received great prizes: certificates and bags courtesy of our PASCH partners.
Year 7s enjoyed themselves and in the breaks everyone danced and sang to with the multilingual Arsenal Double Club song.

German classes were in for another special treat: a cookery demonstration of typical Austrian food.
Children gathered in the sparkling kitchen of our vocational centre and were greeted by Frau Soylucicek from the Goethe Institut und Philip, a young chef from Austria who is currently working at Ten Bells, a top class London restaurant. They were invited to try sweet potato and black potato crisps. Philip talked about Austrian specialities, answered questions and showed the pupils how to make Schnitzel and Apfelstrudel. Tomlinscote catering students kindly helped in preparing the dishes.
And the best bit? Everyone was allowed to taste some yummy chicken schnitzel with potato salad and Kraut, followed by a delicious slice of Apfelstrudel!
Super lecker!
Of course, the food and the visit went down very well with Year 7s!
Vielen Dank to Philip and the Goethe-Institut who made this event possible!

Greetings from the German assistant 2012

Liebe Schülerinnen und Schüler,

mein Name ist Angela und ich bin die neue deutsche Fremdsprachenassistentin an der Tomlinscote Schule. Ich komme aus der Nähe von Stuttgart in Süddeutschland. Ich denke, einige Schülerinnen und Schüler sind schon im Rahmen des Schüleraustausches dort gewesen und konnten die Gegend kennenlernen. In Deutschland studiere ich die Sprachen Deutsch, Englisch und Französisch, um später Lehrerin zu werden. Ich bin schon sehr gespannt darauf, wie das Unterrichten in den kommenden Monate in England sein wird. Dies ist mein erster längerer Aufenthalt in England und ich freue mich auch darauf, Land und Leute kennenzulernen. Bisher gefällt es mir sehr gut!

Nach den ersten Wochen an der Schule macht mir auch die Arbeit sehr viel Spaß und es freut mich zu sehen, wie viele motivierte Schülerinnen und Schüler die Tomlinscote Schule hat. Außerdem bin ich sehr positiv überrascht über die vielen Aktivitäten, die die Schule für euch Schülerinnen und Schüler organisiert. Ich denke dabei besonders an den gelungenen "European Day of Languages Celebration 2012" in dieser Woche, an der ich selbst mit viel Spaß mitwirken durfte. Ich bin schon sehr gespannt auf viele weitere tolle Veranstaltungen, die die Schule gemeinsam mit den Lehrerinnen und Lehrern für euch organisiert.

Ich freue mich sehr auf spannende und abwechslungsreiche Unterrichtsstunden mit euch!

Bis bald!!

German exchange group in the papers

Look! Tomlinscote Students are featured in a German paper!

When the exchange group visited the mayor of Wendlingen, the press was there, too. So now we featrue in an article of the Wendlinger Zeitung. Do you understand the text?

 

Greetings from the Spanish Language Assistant 2012

¡Hola!

Me llamo Natalia Ordoñez, soy la auxiliar de conversación de español en Tomlinscote School 2012/13. 

La mayoría ya me conocéis, pero si hay algunos que tengan que elegir estudiar español u otro idioma para el próximo curso, y todavía no estén decididos, me presento también para vosotros. Y os animo a interesaros por el mundo del español y la cultura hispana (de España y de Sudamérica).

Soy madrileña (del centro de Madrid), he nacido en Barcelona y mis orígenes son de Toledo (antigua capital de España en el pasado). Me encantan las 3 ciudades, son muy distintas, interesantes, multiculturales y bonitas. Os recomiendo visitarlas.

Sobre mi curriculum deciros que estudié Sociología y un Máster en Igualdad de Género, y aunque me gustaron mucho, mi auténtica vocación es la enseñanza. Así que estudié otra carrera más, Magisterio de Lengua extranjera. Tras observar distintos sistemas educativos (en España, en Suecia y en Inglaterra), decidí probar suerte con el Programa de Auxiliares en Inglaterra, porque me gusta vuestro sistema de enseñanza. Y he tenido la suerte de poder trabajar con vosotros en Tomlinscote. 

Podéis preguntarme cualquier duda sobre el español o relacionado con su cultura. Iré añadiendo información al MFL Blog a lo largo del curso.

¡Gracias por el recibimiento que me habéis dado los profesores, el departamento de idiomas, los estudiantes y el personal de Tomlinscote!

- It is not the same message in English but summarizing: 

I am Natalia Ordoñez, the Spanish Language Assistant 2012-13. I am from Madrid (the capital of Spain). I studied Sociology and my vocation is Teaching so I also completed a copurse in Foreign language Teaching. I have been observing and teaching in different types of Educational Systems (Spanish, Swedish and English), and I like yours and how you study in a practical way.

I feel lucky working at Tomlinscote School. And I would like to thank you for the kind welcome that the staff, teachers, Language department and students gave me.
I will add information about the Spanish world in this MFL Blog and if you have any question about this language, ask the Spanish teachers or me!  
I will be happy to help you!

Note: Spanish is spoken, mainly, in Spain, South America, USA and Equatorial Guinea. It is the 2nd most spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese.

German summer course in Roßleben 2012

Last summer, four lucky Tomlinscote students were sponsored to attend a three-week summer course in Germany. Through our Pasch-partnership we could send these highly able and interested people from year 11 to Roßleben to meet with young German learners from all over the world. In beautiful surroundings, they learning through lessons, creative and sports activities, and immersion into the culture. Part of the experience were day trips to Berlin and Leipzig.
The students were Renukah Doll, Laura Greenwood, Isobel Leigh and Gerard Suen. 
Well done to them for embarking on this course and making the most of this fantastic opportunity!

Here is a report by Renuka Doll, one of the participants:

der Hof

"This trip may have been the best decision I have ever made! Every day we would have a few lessons where we could play games, sings songs, as well as interacting with the other students by speaking in German. We would then have the rest of the day off, where we could play sports, such as table tennis, badminton, pool, football, and do much much more.
I generally enjoyed the whole trip as it was an amazing experience, but I mostly enjoyed the campfires and parties that we would have on the rare occasion. The thing that surprised me the most was that the other students could speak English really well, which motivated me to learn more languages as it is important to communicate with other people.
At first, I felt that I wouldn’t fit in and that my level of German wouldn’t be as fluent as the students from other countries. But towards the end, I was happy that I took this opportunity as it has improved my german a lot. I am now able to feel confident when I talk to people in German and my teacher has also realised how much I have progressed.  I would recommend this course to anyone who is willing to expand their German, make long-lasting friends and have a whole 3 weeks of fun and excitement!"  - Renuka Doll 11Q

das Lagerfeuer bei Nacht

meine Klasse

am Lagerfeuer

der Reichstag in Berlin

Here is a report (in fantastic German) by Isobel Leigh, also 11Q


"Meine Reise in Deutschland war schön. Ich habe gedacht, dass ich Deutsch lernen werde und dass ich einige andere Leute kennenlernen werde. Jedoch habe ich nicht gedacht, dass es vielleicht die beste Erfahrung ist, die ich je gehabt habe. Nicht nur hat sich mein Deutsch verbessert, sondern ich habe auch viele Freunde aus verschiedenen Länden kennengelernt. Die Schule, wo wir alles gemacht haben, war toll. Die Zimmer waren groß und bequem und das Essen, wie alles deutsche Essen, war äußerst lecker. Obwohl Roßleben sehr klein war, hat das mir gefallen, weil wir mit den anderen Leuten plaudern und etwas machen mussten.
Wir hatten jeden Tag Unterricht und für mich war es sehr interessant, denn ich habe viel gelernt, und da alles auf Deutsch war, habe ich mehr Grammatik in einer deutschen Denkweise verstanden. Es war natürlich echt nützlich für mein Deutsch, besonders wenn ich Deutsch spreche.
Wir sind nach Berlin und Leibzig gefahren, wo ich viel Spaß gehabt habe.
Insgesamt habe ich einen tollen Kurs gehabt. Meine Lieblingssache waren die Leute, die ich kennengelernt habe. Jeder war anders, aber auch gleich. Wir haben alle Deutsch geliebt und ich hatte die gleichen Hobbys, wie andere Personen aus dem Ausland. Ich habe auch Spanisch und Chinesisch gesprochen, weil ich mit vielen Leuten über viele Sachen sprechen konnte, und eine Sprache war nicht genug!"

German Exchange Montag: Heidelberg

Everyone has safely returned from the German exchange - and no doubt the students enjoyed the sleep-in courtesy of our inset day on Wednesday! All those early school mornings have worn everyone out! But they had a great time, behaved impeccably and were a joy to accompany on this trip!
If you are considering taking part in next year's exchange programme, why not ask one of the participants how they liked it?

To whet your appetite, here are some last photos of the group's trip to beautiful Heidelberg!

beautiful Heidelberg

A Warm Welcome to our New Assistants

Meet Natalia, Manon and Angela, our new Foreign Language Assistants from Spain, France and Germany!
Over the coming nine months they will help our students from year 7 to 13 with their language learning, taking out small groups for conversations, extra grammar explanations and practice for GCSE oral exams. Our Sixth formers have weekly timetabled lessons focussing on speaking. The FLAs will also prepare up-to-date resources and present cultural features of their home countries.
Do make them feel welcome!
Assistants are a fantastic asset to any MFL department, but not many schools provide this opportunity, so we are very fortunate to have three young native speakers again to join our team!

Watch this space for more information on the assistants!

French exchange - we're back!

After a very busy week in France, it was time to return to Tomlinscote and to Britain. Most students seemed to be torn between the sadness linked to departing from Lille and the joy of seeing their families again...

Well done to our Treasure Hunt winners:





Congratulations to all students involved for making the very most of the language opportunities available to them and fully embracing the French culture. Well done!

Fantastic Chinese Work

Have a look at what some of our Year 8 and Year 9 students are doing in their spare time: Tomlinscote offers Chinese lessons as an extra-curricular course. These very dedicated pupils come to lessons before or after school to learn a very interesting third foreign language.

Here are three examples of Chinese work from the first year GCSE course.

Rebecca Dyer, Ed Thomson and Phoebe Johnson have all scored 100% in this test.

Mrs Cole is very proud of them! What an achievement!

French exchange - Monday

Today, our Year 11 and 13 students carried out some work experience duties in the Primary School. In addition to helping individual pupils in the classroom, they also gave presentations to whole classes in French on topics such as the Royal Family, Tomlinscote, Italy or the Olympic Games. French pupils absolutely loved having them round the classroom.

Year 9 and 10 students accompanied their French partners to lessons and thoroughly enjoyed the French education system- no doubt...

Back home tomorrow! Already!

German Exchange 2012 - Freitag

On Friday, the group caught the train to Tübingen, a very pretty town with a renown university and lots beautiful buildings and great little shops. Unfortunately, our bad luck with the weather continued and we got soaked yet again, even though some of us got some bright rain ponchos at the tourist information.
We had an interesting guided tour around the town and trusted the forecast of brighter weather in the afternoon, when we were supposed to go punting on the river. When we split up for lunch, it was actually sunny.
We then headed for the punts, it started to rain as we boarded and those of us with ponchos put them on, others put up umbrellas and some toughed it out. We got part way and the weather was not too bad, just a bit of rain, so after discussion, we decided not to cut it short: just minutes later the heavens opened. It absolutely chucked it down. So much so that we got wet from the water running down the bench seats, as well as from the rain. Frau Sparkes got all her important documents wet in her rucksack.
Still, all laughed about the rain and several children still tried out the punting, like Jack, Reece, Emma, Cassandra and HollyAnna.

The weekend will be spent with the host families again to practise our German some more!
Most of the pupils were ice-skating Friday evening and were going to the Cannstadter Volksfest this weekend for an impression of a German Oktoberfest.

French exchange - Friday

On Friday, it was time to sample the French education system. Everybody agreed that the school day is too long: 8.00AM till 5.30 or 6.00PM!!! Tomlinscote is not all that bad after all.

Luckily, everyone got a chance to recover at the pancake evening. The staff did the cooking and the students did the tasting.

Who cooked the best pancakes?

Some serious debating took place over how to best spread Nutella

Guess who's hiding behind the pancake?

Miam, miam!

Tomlinscote and French students also got a real chance to socialise.

Enjoying the attention, boys?

Best friends

Posers!

And one additional cultural experience: the French table football.

A nice weekend to all, before more time in lessons with the French pupils on Monday.
Year 11 and 13 students will also get to work alongside the teachers in the Primary School. Special moments...