Each February the British Council holds a festival of languages where students can demonstrate their linguistic progress in ‘a language they are learning at school or one they speak in their community. It’s about sharing a love of language and celebrating the diversity of people in the UK who speak a language other than English’. Such a celebration is, of course, at the heart of Europa UK’s vision, and Anina, Leo and Felix from 2DE are excellent representatives of this community of language learners. 2DE pupils have been studying ‘Der Hase mit der roten Nase’, a well-known German poem for children by Helme Heine, reflecting on the benefits of being different. Anina, who is also learning Afrikaans, gave a stunning rendition of the poem and dressed up to perform the part. Felix, who had no prior German before joining the school, intrepidly performed his poem ad hoc in school, a fantastic achievement for a year 2 child. Leo’s contribution reflected the importance of heritage speakers in our school – he made a video displaying his multi-lingual abilities to their best advantage by reciting a poem in Mandarin. As if this were not enough, he also speaks Finnish! In spite of having worked at Europa for almost thirteen years, I continue to be amazed at the linguistic abilities of its pupils. A huge well-done to all children in 2DE who learnt and recited the poem so beautifully. Please click on the link below to hear Anina, Leo and Felix.
Dr Havenstein