Dunblane High School’s submission consisted of five varied and interesting projects for a number of year groups and covering a wide range of areas of interest. These were:
Thonon/Dunblane Employability project: S4 French
S4 French classes partnered with the lycée Eugène Delacroix in Thonon-les-Bains in France on the topic of employability. French pupils found out about Gleneagles and the vacancies at the 5 star Perthshire hotel , while Dunblane learners explored the Royal Hôtel in Evian les Bains and its job opportunities. This gave an authentic context for students to practise their job application letters in a more genuine and purposeful manner.
S4 put together an introduction on Gleneagles and selected relevant jobs for the French school. Learners had to reflect on the level of English that would be appropriate for the French students and to identify key skills that needed to be part of each job advert they decided to put forward. By the end of the process, they agreed on 14 jobs. This was sent to the French school who sent back 12 Hotel Royal job adverts.
Learners explored the French website and watched the French promotional video. This gave pupils a good insight into the business they would be applying for and enabled them to draw a list of key skills/ personal qualities required to work in a 5 star hotel while at the same time learning key French vocab and structures on this topic. It also allowed discussion of previous work experience and the importance of finding a link between the post they wanted to apply to and jobs they might have held before.
Prior to writing their job application letter, students drafted a CV in French. This gave them a good starting point for their letter which they then wrote. Traditionally, it is harder to get time to do something that involves a partner school with a certificate class but this fitted easily and perfectly with the Nat5 job application letter while adding an authentic context to it.
The final part of this joint project was assessing what the other school sent, selecting the best application for each job and providing written and audio feedback for each other. Exploring employer engagement is the next step for the schools.
Espacios Increíbles: S3 Spanish
Details of this project can be found elsewhere on the SCILT website; participation was highly motivational for learners, especially those with an interest in architecture or design.
SEET - Our World: S1-S6- open to all
Dunblane High School has been involved in the SEET Our World project since 2018. This project has now impacted a lot of students and one of the key benefits is the willingness of the partner business Brodies to sponsor the project and share the importance of languages in the law firm with learners.
GCHQ NLC: S3
Dunblane High School entered several S3 teams into the inaugural GCHQ National Language Competition. Pupils were set a series of language-themed challenges over the course of 5 days, and this led to discussion about the importance of languages in the intelligence services.
THE WORD IS NOT ENOUGH - BLC/GCHQ CHALLENGE: S3/S4 Spanish
S3 and S4 Spanish students competed in the GCHQ challenge “The Word is not Enough”, arranged through an existing partnership with Business Language Champions. BLC is is a social enterprise which aims to promote modern foreign languages and cultural cohesion by demonstrating to young people the importance of language skills in the workplace. By bringing schools and international businesses together, we inspire more young people to continue with their language learning.
The event included a keynote talk from a GCHQ analyst on how languages are crucial in their field, a language taster in Korean and Arabic, learning about encrypting and decrypting code and a spoken Spanish interview with a GCHQ analyst, who assessed their accuracy, content, pronunciation and delivery. Speaking in Spanish with the GCHQ analyst was incredibly motivational for them.
GLASTONBURY GOES GLOBAL: S3 French & Spanish
In Languages Week Scotland the department ran a Business Language Champions event “Glastonbury Goes Global” for all S3 linguists . They were tasked with designing and marketing their own international music festival , and pitching it in the TL with a language ambassador from Stirling Uni or BLC. The language ambassadors also signed up to speak to language classes throughout the week, sharing how their languages have helped them so far and why they are studying them. This project has led to interesting conversations and planning between ML teachers and Business , Graphics, Computing and Media teachers, planning a more in-depth project combining all these subjects , with input from an external business link. Watch this space!