Think Languages with Presentation Secondary
The Modern Foreign Languages Department in Presentation Secondary School, Mitchelstown, organised a full day workshop for the Transition Years on Monday, 29th November. The focus of the workshop was on the variety of different third level college courses that involved language development, and the job opportunities and career paths that are opened as a result of having a diverse range of languages.
Throughout the day the students got an opportunity to engage with people who worked in many different fields, including a lady who works as a translator in the EU Parliament in Brussels, as well as with an Irish businessman who is now based in Switzerland and speaks six different languages. He informed the students that he learned these languages to communicate with business associates and production teams in different countries.
The Presentation students also heard from a former Irish rugby player, who had to change career paths as a result of an injury sustained while playing the sport. He is now a coach to several youth teams in Italy. He told the students that living in a country and immersion in that country’s culture is a great way to learn a language.
Different activities throughout the workshop meant the Transition Year students were exposed to several new languages. They learned and performed some of the basics of ballet through Russian and belly dancing through Arabic. They also cooked using recipes that were in French and German. Students engaged in quizzes and other fun activities in Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish and Lithuanian.
Transition Year student, Abigail King, said that the workshop had provided her with a positive mindset about the opportunities that exist to engage in languages as a possible future career option. Niamh Mullins, another TY student in Presentation, said that it showed her the importance of keeping an open mind when it comes to studying languages in the future.