With national uptake of French and German consistently falling at GCSE and A level, it has never been more important to inspire a love of languages among children.
Thanks to our innovative modern foreign languages (MFL) department at Monmouth School for Girls, we are bucking this alarming trend.
We passionately believe that speaking another language is vital. As well as raising social awareness and promoting sensitivity towards other cultures, being able to communicate with people is a door-opener.
In times like these, any child who has knowledge of a language sets themselves apart and gives themselves a huge advantage in the workplace. Bringing languages to life through debating, dance, exchange trips and even speed dating, leads to many of our girls securing offers to study French, German and Spanish at the country’s top universities.
One of our rising language stars, Rosie in Year 11, has just been appointed a UK-German Youth Ambassador after devising a scheme to strengthen links between children in Wales and Germany.
Her project involves setting up an emailing system to enable Year 9 pupils at Monmouth School for Girls and a school in Berlin to practise conversing with each other.
The 15-year-old will now travel to Berlin on an all-expenses paid trip to meet fellow ambassadors and discuss how their individual plans will be implemented and sustained.
But it isn’t just our own pupils whom we hope to inspire.
Monmouth School for Girls is proud to be part of The Smart Choice: German Digital Network, the aim of which is to strengthen the teaching and learning of the language nationally.
Run by the Goethe Institut, the project enables us to organise exciting outreach activities for local children and share resources with other schools via our website.
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