Our Head of Modern Languages, Aurelie Bass, reflects on another successful MFL Languages Week, and explains why learning languages is more important than ever in our global, networked world. 

MFL Languages Week is one of my favourite events at Blackheath High, culminating in European Day of Languages, where we hosted 75 primary school students from around the area. It was great to see so many of our pupils involved in the activities on offer during lunch times, from Spelling Bee competitions and linguistic workshops to Salsa Dance and the unmissable MFL Masked Singers.   

Languages at Blackheath are vibrant, and the MFL Department is hugely passionate about encouraging students to enjoy Languages in KS3 and beyond. This year, our choice to move from the domestic AQA to IGCSE Edexcel allows us to be more creative, empowering our students to develop their communication skills through class discussions or role play, which reflects real life situations. Using the Target Language outside classrooms is an opportunity to showcase how Blackheath High students boldly go, and are looking forward to implementing this vision with even more extra-curricular activities throughout the academic year.  

More than ever, enjoying, learning, using and transferring languages into the world of work will be paramount. From short sentences to sustained conversations, we want everybody to ‘give it a go’, and my team is dedicated to making this happen, in a gentle and pedagogic way.  

Languages are good for business. 76% of UK employers are not satisfied with young people’s language skills; two thirds of businesses say that a lack of language skills is a barrier to expansion [1]. We want our students to really stand out in a crowd when applying for jobs. With only 38% of Britons speaking a foreign language, having language skills can put you ahead of many competitors [2]. According to a recent survey by the CBI (the employers’ organisation, Confederation of Business, and Industry), 41% of UK business say knowledge of another language is beneficial and they prefer staff with additional language skills [3].  

Although it is undeniable that studying a cost-effective degree might be the first choice when applying, there is now a wealth of joint degrees on offer such as Management and Modern Languages at Kings London, or History and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, including that unique year overseas. Modular courses involving languages with joint degrees are highly respected and make students very employable in industries such as banking, consultancy, accountancy, marketing, advertising, media and management. They give you a wide variety of skills such as communication, cultural awareness, critical evaluation and flexibility as you learn to adapt to global and multicultural realities [4]. Even a career in STEM might lead you to do research in Europe or anywhere in the world. Many NGOs are deployed in non-English speaking countries. The NHS is one of the largest employers of worldwide talent and contains multilingual medics and individuals who can speak a second language. With this in mind, we are keener than ever to encourage all our students to consider languages at A-level. Even if you are aiming for Medicine or Dentistry, languages can be your fourth, vital subject.  

Our MFL Scholarship, on offer to Year 12 linguists, will contribute to the opportunity of attending overseas work experience in their chosen field such as arts and media, administration, business, technology, retail, fashion, beauty, science and medical and veterinary sciences.  So, as we say, “the world is your oyster”. Are you on board? 

Written by Mrs Bass, Head of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) 

Sources: 

• [1.2.3:] Durham University

• [4] King’s College London

• Other: Prospects and Creative Multilingualism