Languages Festival at St Ives
Liza Askew
/ Categories: In the press
The objective of the festival was to explore language in its widest context, as well as provide the children with a brief introduction to German, Italian and Welsh, on top of French and Spanish, which they learn as part of the school curriculum. The festival also looked at how animals communicate, both with each other and with humans.
Each class was given a particular country and the children were tasked with bringing in items relating to that country to build a display in their classrooms. The children were then given a passport and "travelled" to the different countries on a fact-finding mission to discover details such as capital city, language(s) spoken, typical food and famous landmarks and people for each of the countries.
As well as look at language and culture, the children also enjoyed a variety of arts and craft sessions from around the world such as Japanese art, origami, Native American dream catchers, Aboriginal boomerangs, Spanish fans, and bookmarks decorated with "hello" in different languages.
The fun didn't stop there as the children honed their singing skills and performed a rendition of a foreign language song in the "Ivovision Song Contest" and donned their dancing shoes for an international dance workshop and competition. They also enjoyed a game of French Boules!
With such busy days, the children worked up a healthy appetite and enjoyed tasty international treats such as French crêpes, Spanish magdalenas, and pastries and goodies from the French Cafe which was expertly set up and run by Years 3 to 6.
Kay Goldsworthy, Head Teacher at St Ives, said “The aim of this festival was to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity by exploring the many aspects of languages and we have achieved this objective in abundance! The children have enjoyed an action-packed, fun-filled and wholly educational three days.