Building Bridges through Language Learning  

For European Day of Languages our TCT for Languages, Simon Piesse, explores his personal passion for communication and the evergreen importance of language learning in schools. 

My name is Simon Piesse and I am delighted to be the new Trust Consultant Teacher (TCT) for Languages and Classics at the GDST. 

I have taught French and Spanish in secondary schools since graduating from Oxford University. I was 13 when I first went to Spain, to the Andalucian city of Córdoba.  I remember visiting the ‘Puente Romano’, across the Guadalquivir river, built by the Romans in the 1st century BC, rebuilt by the Moors and later subsumed into the early modern Catholic city.  Here began my appreciation of the multi-layered nature of Spanish and of the important impact Roman civilisation had on Spanish, indeed on all Romance languages. 

 

Why is language learning so important?

And it is not just physical bridges that are important. Language learning builds metaphorical bridges between diverse people, places, ideas, cultures, and enables us to understand, and ultimately improve, our human condition.  

However, as I write this, chasms rather than bridges seem to be growing ever wider. The causes? Conflicts, such as the current war between Russia and Ukraine but also, equally as damaging in the longer term, an increasing and apparently inexorable narrowing of cultural and linguistic horizons.  We need to look no further than here in the UK, where uptake of languages at GCSE continues to spiral downwards. At A-level this summer, according to the latest Languages Trends Report by the British Council, the number of students sitting German A-level nationally was equivalent to the total number of students in one single large secondary school (2,500). This effect percolates upwards: university languages departments are closing, whilst the UK economy continues to lose billions of pounds in potential trade due to the chronic deficit in its workforce’s linguistic skills, exacerbated by the effects of Brexit. 

 

Our linguistic approach at GDST 

And yet, at the GDST, the girls are a shining example of how things can be different: as linguists they achieve excellent levels of proficiency in a wide range of languages, from Latin and Greek to French, German, Italian and Mandarin. They are taught by passionate specialists, using methods that combine grammatical rigour with the latest immersive techniques. These include the innovative use of digital technologies and regular contact with native speakers.  Trips and exchanges (both virtual and face-to-face) are an integral part of the curriculum, promoting cultural awareness. Fun and authenticity come from competitions (such as the Linguistics Olympiad), film screenings and student-run assemblies.  I will never forget our recent assembly to mark the Fête de la Musique on 21st June, in which our sixth form linguists maturely analysed current musical trends from across the globe, before bursting into a lively rendition of ‘La Vida es un Carnaval’, complete with live band and feather boas!  GDST girls are also given opportunities to broaden their global awareness and citizenship, through initiatives such as Amnesty International Youth Groups, developing key life-skills such as the capacity to understand a topical issue, champion a just cause and make a difference.  

 

Innovations and excitement in the classroom 

All of these endeavours culminate in our celebration of language learning in March at the GDST Festival, in which girls from across the GDST family come together to engage in a veritable smörgåsbord of activities.  The performance in a foreign language of a short play the girls themselves devise is a firm favourite: the previous winning French play centred around a girl who left her husband, having fallen in love with a bottle of milk! 

Aware the world is rapidly changing, at the GDST, we continue to innovate in our language provision. For example, this year, as well as enhancing our use of digital technologies in the classroom, such as the use of Google Earth, we are researching how we can better value our girls’ diverse linguistic backgrounds and develop these in a truly pluri-linguistic environment, so that we can be true to our 150 year old mission of ‘girls first’ in the 21st century. 

On 26th September, our GDST girls will be celebrating the European Day of Languages, as part of their fellow 700 million European citizens from 46 member states. Started in 2001 by the European Commission, this event champions linguistic diversity and intercultural awareness. The theme this year is best summed up by the Danish word ‘hygge’: celebrating a feeling of comfortable conviviality.  My favourite activity, so far, has to be the creation of a multilingual joke-book, which seems the perfect antidote to the encroaching autumn dark: the potential for all of us to build a beautiful bridge between nations, through languages, while having fun in the process! What’s not to love? 

 

Glædelig europæisk sprogdag!

Happy European Day of Languages! 

 

Find out more about languages and classics at the GDST

Discover more about our community of educational experts, the Trust Consultant Teacher community