Modern Foreign Languages
Case Study 1
Year 10 students worked in teams to produce a guide to a local hotel for its German visitors. They contacted the owner for information and advice and arranged to visit the hotel. The students completed a survey of its location, facilities and services. They identified suitable images to photograph using a digital camera. They also collected copies of the hotel’s English language publicity material. Back in school they wrote up their findings in German, edited the photos on the computer and produced mock-up brochures using desktop publishing software. Students were required to cost their publication and to present their proposals to the hotel owner. The winning design was subsequently adopted by the hotel, and with very little change, was given out to German guests staying at the hotel. The students worked well on their own, showing initiative. They gained an understanding of marketing and the hospitality industry and developed their team working skills.
Case Study 2
A group of year 10 students researched European eating habits and customs. They interviewed teachers and students to find out if there was any demand for a continental-style café in the school. Analysis of the market research data resulted in the decision to open a café in the school canteen twice a week, at morning break, during the summer term. Umbrellas and tables were provided for a ‘pavement café’, set up outside. The local baker and a delicatessen acted as ‘business angels’ supplying croissants, pains au chocolat and filter coffee at just above cost price. Students took it in turn to serve in the café and to converse with their customers in French. They decorated the canteen with French posters and provided daily copies of French newspapers. Staff and students were requested to conduct all their transactions in French and purchases were priced in both euro and sterling. Students gained understanding of customer care, developed their language skills and learned more about running a business.
Case Study 3
The school was contacted by the local tourist office with a request to prepare a guide to the area for Spanish youngsters who were visitors to a summer school in the city. This was an annual event and in previous years the students had intermingled at social events. This gave the English students some understanding of the Spanish students and their interests, likes and dislikes. They spent time agreeing what the Spanish students would prefer to do. Students then researched the facilities available for young people in their community and contacted the relevant organisations to obtain copies of their publicity materials. These materials were edited for a youth audience and translated into Spanish. Some of the organisations agreed to pay for advertisements in the finished brochure and the money raised was donated to a Spanish charity set up to help the victims of terrorism. By undertaking this project the students developed their research skills and gained an understanding of niche marketing.
Case Study 4
The language faculty in a large secondary school was looking to extend its links with partner schools in France, Germany and Italy. The head of department decided to set up a European partnership with the local newspaper. Each week students would scan the paper for articles that might be of interest to their peers in continental Europe for inclusion in a newsletter. An editorial board, made up of representatives from all the classes involved, had the final say as to what to include. The newsletters were then prepared for publication and translated into the three different languages. They were published on the school website and used by the European schools as a component in their citizenship programmes. They have subsequently been produced as a CD-ROM by the school and used as a resource to support a beginners’ language course for adult education groups. Through this work, students had the opportunity to engage in decision making and to project manage a product through to completion.
Case Study 5
Students in a year 10 group were encouraged to plan and organise a day trip to Le Touquet for their year group. The students agreed on a date, having first consulted key members of staff. They wrote to a range of coach companies asking for quotations for the journey. Received quotations were compared and a firm chosen. The students also worked with the group teacher to ensure that all students undertaking the trip had valid passports. A meeting for parents was planned and an information leaflet was prepared for them to take away. A student booklet, written in French, outlined the tasks to be completed during the day in France. These activities involved the students visiting supermarkets to undertake a shopping survey and to interview French consumers. Students were allowed to take the lead with this project and to engage in real-life decision making. They also developed their understanding of costing procedures and working with finite resources.
Case Study 6
Students studying GCSE Italian contacted the Italian tourist board in London to obtain information on Tuscany. Using this information and the other information gained from a search of Italian property websites, they constructed a display on living in Tuscany as part of the year 9 options evening. They prepared a guide to buying property in Italy, written in English and Italian and, taking on the role of Italian estate agents, they provided details of a range of houses for sale in the Tuscan countryside. Parents were asked to choose which property they wished to buy and to guess its asking price in euro. Students had the opportunity to consider the role of sales and marketing in international business and to develop their sense of self-confidence when dealing with adults in a commercial environment.
Case Study 7
Key stage 4 students at a school in a small market town worked with the local Chamber of Commerce on a European business challenge competition. Local small businesses, including companies as diverse as a transport firm and a publisher, submitted requests for research to be completed on a European region of their choice. The students made good use of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) website for exporters and other export-related links and sites. The task required the production of a dossier detailing the commercial background of the area, including information on the demography, education system and transport infrastructure of the region. Students were also asked to consider the viability of selling the local product/service in this market and to provide marketing and advertising material in the appropriate language. This activity allowed the students to work to deadlines in a commercial environment and complete a project according to a precise brief.
Case Study 8
A school developed, through the local branch of a French manufacturing company, a partnership with a school in France. The languages department took the lead role in organising for Year 11 French students a residential visit to the school. The students listened to an illustrated talk by an English investor/designer, before being presented with the age-old problem of making supermarket trolleys more steerable. A local supermarket kindly donated seven trolleys for the students to work on and they were provided with old bicycles to dismantle and use for spares. Each group made a presentation explaining their efforts, with the English students speaking French and vice-versa. The outcomes were that students developed important enterprise skills such as creativity, teamwork and communication. This experience also facilitated the practical application of knowledge.
