The Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) Department celebrated Leighton Park’s very own International Languages Day on Tuesday 26th September coinciding with the European Commission’s and the Council of Europe’s joint celebration ‘European Day of Languages’.
Leighton Park’s community includes students with over 40 nationalities between them, reaching well beyond the limits of Europe’s borders. “We didn’t want to exclude anyone from our day,” commented Anna Murgett, Head of MFL, “We have a broader international community and we want to celebrate all languages.”
Anna continued: “Being able to speak a foreign language is so important; it gives you the ability to communicate with people from different cultures and backgrounds, it improves your attention span, and it slows down cognitive decline.”
The day featured a petanque game on Grove Field for students in Year 8, led by Anna and by her fellow MFL teacher, Isabelle. An international theme offered vibrant colour with flags and bunting in Oakview restaurant, accompanying the global cuisine on offer.
On Thursday 28th September students in Year 7 learned about the Chinese mooncake festival. They watched a short film which shared the narrative behind the tradition and discussed the history of the celebration with Mandarin teacher, Lan Worrall. As mooncakes unfortunately contain too many nuts for the students to try in School, they sampled some green tea as another traditional element of this annual event.
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