The steering group for the initiative ‘Portsmouth ~ City of Languages’ would like to invite all Portsmouth school and college leaders, or a representative, to attend a partners’ virtual meeting on Friday 29 November 2024 from 1pm – 2pm.
We are excited to announce Portsmouth’s first-ever Celebrating Languages in Portsmouth week and would love as many schools as possible in the city to participate. This special week will take place from Monday 17 to Friday 21 March 2025, aligning with the University of Portsmouth’s Global Week. It will be a fantastic opportunity to celebrate […]
We are excited to announce Portsmouth’s first-ever Celebrating Languages in Portsmouth week and we would love for as many schools as possible in the city to participate. This special week will take place from Monday 17 March to Friday 21 March, aligning with Portsmouth University’s Global Week. It will be a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the wealth of languages and cultures that enrich the lives of so many of our learners.
As this is a pioneering event, we encourage schools and all education settings to participate to the extent they are able. To support schools in getting started, we will distribute a ‘menu’ of activity ideas in the New Year. Additionally, we plan to establish a shared Google Drive where colleagues can upload and exchange ideas, creating a directory of activities that can be used both this year and in future celebrations.
To spark initial ideas, consider having older students greet pupils in their first language at the start of the day, or try incorporating recipes from around the world with students explaining their significance, names, and ingredients in their own language. For those who wish to take it further, why not host a dedicated celebration day or plan rotating activities throughout the week?
Whatever your level of involvement, we invite all of our education settings to join us in this celebration and to reflect on how it could grow in the coming years to truly honour the vibrant tapestry of languages and backgrounds we are privileged to have in Portsmouth.
More information will follow shortly, outlining details of what we hope will be a wonderful opportunity to recognise and celebrate the richly diverse languages heritage of our learners. Please do get in touch if you would like to be more actively involved or you have exciting ideas to share.
For more details, please contact Liz Lord at [email protected].
Primary schools in Portsmouth will be offered taster lessons taught by experienced local German teachers to give their pupils a taste of a different language.
For more details, please contact Liz Lord at [email protected].
Teachers are invited to come along and observe or even to take part in two separate languages events in primary schools, which will demonstrate the level of language that pupils are able to achieve in KS2.
At this event there will be a celebration of diversity using pupils’ first languages. Pupils will be able to understand a story from a language that another student speaks and to create their own story. They will listen and watch a range of strategies, including translation to support their understanding.
This is a content language integrated learning (CLIL) session where Art is taught through the medium of French. At this event attendees will see pupils learning to say French words for shapes; listening and understanding as well as saying sentences describing shapes and colours in paintings; writing a paragraph to describe a picture they have produced using words for shapes and colours.
For more information, please contact Tanya Riordan, PGCE Course Leader for MFL at the University of Portsmouth ([email protected]).
In collaboration with the University of Portsmouth. Further details to follow.
Save the date! A conference with national speakers, bringing together languages colleagues from across the different key stages.