Employment

George Heriot’s “Languages In Work” project was devised for S3 pupils learning French, with the aim to provide them with a real life context for how they may be able to utilise their language skills in their future career. Learners worked alongside three professional partners who use languages on a daily basis in their employment.  

To find the project partners, the Modern Languages department approached external businesses, as well as personal contacts, parents of pupils and former pupils. The final three partners were selected on the basis that the three jobs varied in style and of interest to their pupils.   

The first part of the project was for the pupils to research the three jobs and compile a list of questions for the partners. The second stage involved each of the partners delivering a talk on what their job involves and how languages had assisted them in getting their roles. These talks were delivered on Teams, due to the international locations of some of the partners. Each of the partners’ talks was followed by a live Q&A session between pupils and partners. The third stage was for pupils / class groups to carry out authentic tasks similar in style to those carried out by the professionals (including simultaneous translation, a travel marketing campaign and a communication campaign for either water sanitation or malaria or TB prevention). These tasks were devised by the judges but were delivered by class teachers. On completion of the tasks, the tasks were submitted to be judged by the partners and prizes were awarded.   

Pupils were very engaged throughout the project and feedback was very positive from pupils, staff involved and the partners. Partners stated how impressed they were with the calibre of the submitted tasks.   

Congratulations to George Heriot’s School on a strong example of a Bronze submission! The verification panel members were all impressed by the thoughtful range of employers chosen and the depth and challenge provided by this project through the interviews and related activities. Learner engagement is clear, thanks to careful organisation and  interesting tasks.   

This is clearly a very successful project and one which has much scope for expansion. In its current form, covering one year group, it is eligible for Bronze level and we are delighted to award this. It would be very replicable for other year groups as well as other languages, as the submission says is planned, and this would then qualify for Silver or Gold depending on scope. We look forward to hearing more as the project develops!