Languages open doors

Understanding another language apart from English sets students apart from their monolingual peers. Apart from the obvious career benefits, one of the best aspects of learning a language is the pleasure gained from being able to communicate with others in their native tongue.

A recent study by the Higher Education Policy Institute highlighted an EU-wide survey showing that just 32 per cent of young people in the UK are able to read or write in more than one language, compared with 79 per cent of their peers in France and more than 90 per cent in Germany. The sharp decline in the number of students taking foreign languages at school or university in the UK is a result, in large part, of modern languages being dropped as a compulsory GCSE subject back in 2004.

The result has been a significant shortfall of language skills in the workforce, which, for the UK, has become an even more critical issue with the UK’s departure from the EU. Languages are essential if we want to build trade relations with new markets, engage in diplomacy – and they aid cultural understanding.

Contrary to the national picture, modern languages continue to thrive at Dauntsey’s and we pride ourselves on offering a wide range of languages at all levels. Many pupils progress with one, or even two modern languages to A level, while dipping into a further language through a club or society. A growing number choose to combine a language with another subject at university.

Our approach starts in the First Form, where half of the pupils learn French and Latin for six months, while the other half learn German and Spanish. At February half-term they swap, so they get a taste of all four.

Pupils continue with two languages in the Second and Third Forms. In the Upper School they can choose to continue with one or two languages for GCSE and at A Level they can also learn Mandarin, Japanese or Italian off-timetable.

With languages, you are at home anywhere

Edmund de Waal

During their studies, pupils have opportunities to travel to Germany, France or Spain on school trips to immerse themselves in the language and culture of those countries. A level linguists will leave school not only able to communicate in a foreign language but also with an appreciation of the literature, current affairs, cultural heritage and geography of the places where it is spoken.

Each year, the department organises a series of events outside the classroom. Three language assistants play an integral role, providing weekly conversation lessons and promoting their own language and contemporary culture. Last February [2021], in a new venture, the Lower School celebrated carnival week in collaboration with the Music, Art and Dance departments.

To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world 

Chinese proverb

Languages are a skill for life, not just a qualification to give evidence of academic attainment. They allow you to understand and share your ideas with people from very different places; they are the doorway to other cultures and societies and an insight into different thought patterns and approaches. In today’s globalised and multicultural world, that has never been more important.