Every year we celebrate in Stephen Perse Cambridge modern languages and more specifically the European Day of Languages. It’s a chance for us to share as a school community the many languages spoken at home by students and staff alike. In the senior school we know of 35 different languages spoken and as a foundation this number increases to 60.

Festivities included several guest speakers, Professor Forsdick commencing the events with his enthusiasm for languages which drove his research projects. His persuasive arguments for the need to be multilingual in today’s world chimed perfectly with the main drive behind the European Day of Languages. He finished his whole school assembly with a quote by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: “Monolingualism is the carbon monoxide of culture and multilingualism is the oxygen of culture.”

Later in the week we welcomed Professor Barrell to share his reflections on experiences in China and with Chinese people worldwide. He highlighted the richness of human connections, cultural exchange and learning languages as being a bridge to deeper understanding. His key message: the high value of international, cross-border and intercultural connectedness as a means to a better world. Whatever career direction our young people pursue, reaching out and making connections with others is essential.

There was a Lunchtime Languages Exchange led by students and staff sharing their languages at numerous stations in the senior school library. We were grateful to Mr Riaz for allowing us to take over the area and the atmosphere was buzzing with students participating in the various activities - spurred on by the house points, sweets and chances to satiate their linguistic curiosity! Students were encouraged to have a go at new languages with various challenges such as: the Chinese chopstick challenge, the Modern Greek wordsearch, origami fortune tellers in German, tongue twisters in French, Hebrew phrases, Cyrillic puzzles in Russian, Japanese mini-challenges, Spanish sombrero crosswords, Turkish facts and greetings. One of the many highlights was our Y13 student Lydia K, who has recently published a children’s book in Greek and she was able to share this at her table. We also welcomed Classics Club members who were on a mission to look for etymological connections across the languages. All in the name of celebrating languages!

The houses were pitted against each other in a Modern Languages House Quiz to check the students’ knowledge of languages across the globe along with facts about our top Stephen Perse home languages spoken. There were house points for the houses who gained the most correct answers.  

We finished off with a Sixth Form German breakfast to celebrate 35 years of German reunification and a symposium with the writer Jacob Kushner, discussing the challenges Germany and many other countries face in today’s political climate.

The love of languages and language learning will continue to bubble on throughout the school year with the many lunchtime and after-school clubs available, language competitions advertised, local events, study trips and exchanges abroad. There’s something for everyone to get involved with at all levels, from beginner to fluent speaker.