Year 9 Schools Event - Language Learners as Peacemakers

60 pupils from 6 local secondary schools visited the Cathedral to take part in our Year 9 event “Language Learners as Peacemakers” Warwick staff included colleagues from French Studies, Hispanic Studies, German Studies and The Language Centre and the day was facilitated by the SMLC Widening Participation Officer and SMLC Student Ambassadors. The morning activities involved a carousel rotation of four 30-minute sessions: a French activity based on Paul Valery’s poem “La Liberté”, Spanish based on Picasso’s painting of Guernica exploring symbolism and language and German based on the city of Dresden (cultural knowledge and German speaking task). Pupils also enjoyed a tour of the Cathedral artworks to explore the themes of peace and reconciliation. In the afternoon they had to use all their learning to work in groups to create a piece of artwork as a new commission to mark the link between Dresden and Coventry combining poetry, art, sculpture and using their imagination. The students had to think about symbolism and imagery and the piece had to contain one language and one cultural element. The winning teams were from Cardinal Wiseman School and Barr’s Hil School and our feedback was extremely positive from students, one word adjectives to describe the day included “Inspiring” “accomplished” “informed” and “amazing” and they particularly enjoyed the creative elements and presentations.

If you have any questions about our events and our outreach work more generally please get in touch with our Widening Participation Officer, Orla on smlc.wp@warwick.ac.uk