#ThinkLanguages Day

04 Dec 2020

Sincere thanks to all our TY students who participated in the #ThinkLanguages Day in Regina Mundi College. The initiative, established by Languages Connect, was coordinated by Mr Finn and Ms McGrath. The day was very successful with an array of activities to keep the girls engaged and active. The day was officially opened by past pupil Jennifer Chadwick, who spoke about our language learning journey. This was followed by a language Kahoot! Some short movies in Irish, German and French were then shown. The first of our competitions was public speaking. The girls were tasked with speaking about themselves, technology and language learning. They were most impressive as they spoke in Irish, English, French and German. The judges were blown away by their language skills. The completion was sponsored by Douglas Credit Union. We then finished the morning with a video from the Home Economics Department where they showed us different foods from around the globe, a presentation from Mark O’ Mahony on studying languages in college and a piece from SERVE on the work they do with those in need in all corners of the world. The next part of the day saw another past pupil, Méabh Willis and our Japanese Teacher, Gretta Daly, speaking about the benefits of learning Japanese. This was followed by a zoom call to Dr Neil Buttimer, Roinn na Nua-Ghaeilge, UCC. The highlight of the day was our connection with Gymnasium Achern and Lycee Notre Dame du Veou, our exchange partner schools in Germany and France, through Microsoft Teams. It was great to connect with the schools and a virtual exchange is being established for after Christmas. Ms Lucey addressed the three school communities, as did Mr Corrigan and some members of last years German Exchange. We were addressed also by the Principal of Gymnasium Achern and some of their students from the exchange last year. This session finished with a video from Pat Crowley, French Department, UCC and another Kahoot! The well was alive with the sound of international music at lunchtime. The afternoon was filled with our spelling bee, kindly sponsored by AIB, Douglas Road. And the day concluded with a whole school Edmodo quiz on languages, with the winners being announced on Tuesday. The graphic design competition sponsored by Johnson and Perrott Motor Group, Douglas will be judged on Tuesday. Other video presentations from Máiréad Ní Loinsigh, Seán O’ Laoi, Jessica Barry, Rachel Magshamhrain and the Confucius Institute, all based in UCC as well as contributions from our Music and PE Departments and our foreign exchange students will be shown to the students over the next few weeks. It was refreshing to see the value placed on language learning in Regina Mundi College throughout the day. Well done to everyone involved.