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Languages, Cultures and LinguisticsPart of Humanities

Outreach

Welcome to Outreach in Modern Languages and Linguistics at the University of Southampton.

A key focus of our outreach agenda is the delivery of the Year 7 South East Regional Foreign Languages Spelling Bee, an Able Linguist Day for year 8 students, a Study Day for year 10 students and a sixth form conference for year 12 and 13 students.

Modern Languages and Linguistics at Southampton is offering secondary school outreach on-campus and off-campus activities in order to promote our enthusiasm for our area and to inspire young people to take up and to continue studying Modern Languages of all Key Stages in primary and secondary.

Follow us on Twitter for further updates. These events will draw on the research excellence of the department's world-leading academics and provide an insight into studying languages at university level.

Our outreach events

Year 8 Able Linguist Day

The year 8 Able Linguists day provides pupils, selected by their school from the most able pupils, with a chance to further develop their language skills.

In the morning, there is an intensive mini-project in French, German or Spanish, led by our university's trainee language teachers.

In the afternoon, pupils can try a new language by attending a taster in a new language such as Portuguese, Chinese or Italian, hence developing awareness and raising interest in expanding their love for learning languages.

Testimonials

“I just wanted to thank you all on behalf of all of the students from Bitterne Park School who attended your events over the last couple of days, they really were inspired and so was I!” Bitterne Park School

“I just wanted to say how inspired Mia and Shannon are after their trip to University yesterday! They are raving about it so thanks for running this!” Bitterne Park School

“I just wanted to say thank you for yesterday. My students really enjoyed it and Italian was very popular. In fact, I felt like going back to do another language!” Westgate School 

"Thank you for organising the two day event for Able Linguists. My pupils enjoyed themselves and it has inspired them too." Mayfield School

Year 10 Modern Languages and Linguistics Study Day

The Year 10 MLL Study Day starts with a workshop session exploring cultural topics in French, German or Spanish, in which pupils are able to practice grammar and vocabulary, as well as learn more about specific country topics. 

In the afternoon, pupils have the chance to attend an ab initio session in either Chinese, Portuguese or Italian, hence developing awareness and raising interest in expanding their love for learning languages.

Sixth Form Modern Languages and Linguistics Conference

The University of Southampton hosts a Modern Languages and Linguistics conference exclusively for 6th form students (Yeasr 12 and 13). Focusing on the broad topic of 'Why Languages Matter', the event seeks to encourage 6th Form students to continue studying languages at university and inspire them with the huge range of employment opportunities that a languages degree can open up to them.

There are taster lectures and hands-on seminars led by experts on translation, interpreting, linguistics, socio-historical studies, and cultural topics drawn from our lecturers’ widely published research from the French, German and Spanish speaking worlds. These sessions give students an insight into the broad array of subject areas which are taught in Modern Languages and Linguistics here at the University of Southampton.

The conference welcomes back a number of graduates of Modern Languages and Linguistics as guest speakers to discuss how their degree has been invaluable in securing graduate employment and how they are using the various languages they studied in their careers today. There is also a student Q&A panel, where students ask our current degree students about their experiences of studying languages at university, and find out first-hand about the exciting year abroad opportunities that are an essential part of degree-level language study.

Day of the Dead

For several years now University staff and students and school children, have gathered at the end of October to celebrate El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). With its Catholic and Aztec roots, Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is an important event which is celebrated annually on 1-2nd November. It comprises a beautiful series of rituals when Mexicans, in Mexico, the USA, the UK and across the worlds, happily and lovingly honour the lives of many departed ancestors. Families remember their dead, place altars in their homes and decorate tombs and attend huge street events.

We have invited annually about 100 secondary school children and staff on campus to celebrate this event by attending an engaging lecture discussing the festivity, doing a fun quiz and visiting an altar built on campus where the children learn about the different features of the altar. Due to Covid-19, we have sadly had to cancel these in-person events.

However, for this year (2021) we are inviting schools to participate in Day of the Dead activities at school as a way of encouraging children to become involved with exciting cross-curricular hands-on activities whilst also enhancing cultural awareness. We invite schools to send us (anonymised) images or videos of their creations to our Twitter account.

Read more about this event

 

Latest events

routes-into-languages

Routes into Languages

The University of Southampton is a member of the Routes into Languages South East consortium.

winners

Day of the Dead Video Competition 2022

The Mexican Embassy in the UK and co-collaborator Dr Jane Lavery had the pleasure of inviting school children across England to participate in the National Schools Mexican Day of the Dead Altar Video Competition!

Other activities

We organise a range of other exciting activities including:

Contact us for further enquiries.

 Contacts

Dr Jane Lavery,
Modern Languages and Linguistics Outreach Officer and Co-Lead Routes into Languages South

Visit our main Modern Languages and Linguistics pages to explore undergraduate and postgraduate Modern Languages and Linguistics degree provision.

Details of outreach events for schools are listed in the events section of the this website.

Outreach event archive

6th Form Conference

6th Form Conference

Events for year 12 and 13 students thinking about studying a languages degree at university soon

For more information

Languages South East – support for language teachers

Part time language courses

Modern Languages can be studied part time with Lifelong Learning

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