An innovative reading project that encourages students to broaden their cultural awareness has been awarded the European Language Label.
Cardiff High School’s Multilingual Reading Circle, which has been established for two years, has been recognised with the award for creative language-learning projects from the European Commission.
The reading circle was started by Helen Dawson from the Council’s Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS) as a way to encourage pupils to read in the languages they speak with their families at home, raise the profile of world languages as well as promoting good literacy skills. Around 40 languages, including Urdu, Punjabi, Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Mandarin and a number of European languages, are represented by students in the school, but at the time there was a limited selection of foreign language books in the school library for young people to read in these languages.
Following a successful bid for funding from the Cardiff High School Partnership and subsequent fundraising activities, the school has bought a selection of resources and built up a collection that currently boasts 125 books in 18 languages for pupils to borrow. The circle has regular members that meet every Wednesday lunchtime and now bilingual Year 12 and 13 students have begun to mentor Year 7 and 8 pupils by offering help with their reading.
Alongside the reading club, a world film club was also set up last year with the school’s head of media, Deborah Jones, to give students the opportunity to watch films in other languages. The club has screened films such as Persepolis, an Iranian animation, Belleville Rendezvous, Mulan and A Christmas Carol, to represent British culture.
Following a well-attended launch in July, a new film club initiative will now continue at Cardiff High with plans to screen international films after school every week through FILMCLUB, an education charity that helps schools set up film clubs. Pupils will be encouraged to develop their writing and critical skills by producing film reviews.
Helen Dawson accompanied a selection of pupils from Cardiff High to collect their award at the European Commission in Westminster last week where the school received prizes of books, vouchers and teaching materials as well as a certificate signed by the Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth.
Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, said: “Many congratulations to Cardiff High for gaining this recognition from the European Commission for such a positive project. The Multilingual Reading Circle and Film Club have been a tremendous success at the school and this achievement will enable these initiatives to develop and continue to promote world languages and multi-culturalism in the school.”
