A group of Year 9 students from Dyffryn Taf School were recently chosen to represent the French department as Language Ambassadors to raise awareness of different languages and cultures in the school. They attended a conference at Swansea University with the guest speaker, Huw Edwards.
Throughout the day they attended workshops and were able to collate and share information about the importance of foreign language skills for work and life. There were many workshops on offer, but the students opted to attend an introductory lesson in Spanish and a STEM presentation (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), where Susan Jones from TATA steel and David Hargreaves, a researcher from Swansea University, spoke about the importance of language skills in the workplace.
Following on from this, they attended a training session on how to be an effective Language Ambassador and a plan was put in place on how they would promote languages in school this year.
The highlight of the day was, however, the question and answer session with Huw Edwards, who himself is a language graduate. He spoke at length about his life, career and aspirations, which was truly inspirational for the students.
Through this scheme, the pupils will be able to develop a range of skills such as communication, team work and presentation skills and will undoubtedly share their enthusiasm for language learning with fellow students.