Winner of CILT European Award 2007

Torquay Boys' Grammar School became CILT SW 14-19 Language Network Coordinator in 2006 and since then we have been working very closely with Devonport High School for Girls to organise and run language events for students in the South West. 

In January 2007 our Languages Department organised the first Making Languages Our Business project with the aim of getting more students in Torbay and Plymouth to realise the importance languages have in the business world. 

Torquay Boy's Grammar School won a CILT (National Centre for Languages) European Award for Languages in 2007 for its highly successful collaboration between three sectors: Torbay secondary schools, Exeter University and local businesses such as Centrax Gas Turbines and Paignton Zoo and Living Coasts as well as working with CILT and the Goethe Institut. The project produced a series of fun one-day events which emphasise the importance of languages in the world of business.  The schools that took part were: Torquay CC, Paignton CC, Churston Ferrers Grammar School, Torquay Grammar School for Girls, Cuthbert Mayne School, Westlands School, Torquay Boys' Grammar School from Torbay and St Luke's School from Exeter.

The hands-on sessions see students taking part in business simulations and discussions in German, French and Spanish, as well as attending a Chinese/Japanese lecture in the afternoon.  Sixth Form students and Undergraduates from Exeter University help with the sessions, an excellent opportunity for Year 9/10, Sixth Form and Undergraduate students to work together.  This project has already led to a rise in the take up of languages at Key Stages 4 and 5 and our school has seen the largest numbers ever choosing languages at A level. 

The Award judges said of Making Language Our Business, 'The project is effective, successfully achieving its main aim and encouraging more students to see that languages are an essential tool in business. It has set up productive links with three local businesses and a university'.  The project is now being replicated in other parts of the country such as Oxforshire, Hull, Leeds and Buckinghamshire.

The whole staff in our Languages Department was thrilled to hear that Making Languages Our Business had won a European Award for Languages. It was a wonderful recognition for all the hard work put in by so many people to open doors to youngsters and make them aware of the real importance of languages in the business world.

Mrs Foster received the award at a high profile prize-giving ceremony at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on 20 November 2007.

Torquay Boys' Grammar School organises Making Languages Our Business events at Exeter University and cascades the activities in all Torbay Secondary Schools by running mini events in each of the schools to reach as many students as possible. 

OUR COLLABORATION WITH DCSF

Because of the success of the Making Languages Our Business events, which our school organises for Year 9/10 students from local schools Torquay Boys' Grammar School has collaborated with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).  The DCSF is putting together a toolkit for schools in the UK to show them the type of events that make a difference and encourages students to study languages beyond KS3, which is planned to go live in September 2009.

Our school was one of the selected three in the whole country to take part in filming some of the activities which students take part in at the Making Languages Our Business event at Exeter University as good examples of how to link languages and businesses.

Mrs Foster organised a mini Making Languages Our Business event for 18 Year 10 students who had not been able to attend the event at Exeter because we were only able to take 12 students despite having shown an interest in attending the event.  It was quite manic having to organise a mini event in the space of one week only, the week after the big event had taken place but everything was put into motion and the filming crew arrived with about 6 massive cases with all their equipment!  The students actively participated in three activities: Mrs Perrett ran a hands-on Hospital Simulation in which students had to interpret the dialogues between foreign patients and the English speaking doctors, Mrs Hamlyn from Centrax ran two different activities: in one students pretended to be a Centrax sales department representative and a foreign client who wanted to buy one of the new gas turbines, and the other in which students produced a poster promoting Centrax new gas turbine.  The last activity "Understanding other cultures in business" was run by Mrs Rademacher, who is a local businesswoman.  After lunch there were some students and staff who were interviewed and filmed.

Six Year 10 students who came to Making Languages Our Business at Exeter helped with the activities as assistants and it was fantastic to see how they used their language skills to help their peers with the activities. 

The whole day was a completely new experience for all those who took part, filming means that sometimes you end up repeating the same thing several times which at some points was not that straight forward as we were not working with a script!  It was quite fun for all of us to see how filming is done and all the different aspects that have to be taken into account when filming.

I would like to thank all the students who took part in the filming, they were outstanding and were a credit to the school, but in particular thank you to the six "helpers": Jacob Downs, Iain Tinkler, Tom Oakley, Oran Perrett, Johnny Foster and Sam Bealing for their help during the morning.

The film and toolkit will be on the DCSF and Teachers Net website in the autumn.