In  October 2019, a group of 12 S6 pupils and 3 teachers went to Japan on a school trip funded by the Sasakawa Foundation.  They had an amazing time, and were lucky to get there before Covid stopped all trips of that kind.

Charlotte Geekie was one of the pupils who went to Japan, and she is now studying art for some months in Kyoto as part of her University degree in Scotland.  She has sent us some photos, below.

The Japanese Club takes place roughly on the first Monday of the month in Miss Muir’s room, S006, at 12.30 for lunchtime, and Fumi and Yushin, our Japanese friends from Glasgow, come to tell us about language and an aspect of Japanese culture.  All are welcome to come along and see what it’s all about!

This year, 1T6 have been writing to French pupils at the Collège St Charles in Guipavas, in the north-west of France.  Here is a selection of the letters from the French kids.   French handwriting is so curly!

Miss Muir’s S2 French class have penpals in a school in France.  They have written a letter to each other – we write in French, they write in English – and the results are lovely!  Here’s a selection:

S1 spent a bit of time watching a slide show about words which don’t exist in English.  They went on to invent words that should exist but don’t, and made a poster of their word and concept.  We’ve picked some of the best, and here they are:

Rosetta Stone, an online language learning platform that gets good reviews, is offering its services free for 3 months.  It’s quite expensive, so set a reminder cancelling it, but go on and have a shot at it.  You can even do other languages if you feel so inclined.  I’ve added the link to all my Teams but here it is too.

https://www.rosettastone.co.uk/lp/freeforkids/

What to do for Modern Languages over the next few weeks…

• Please check your Glow.  Your teacher may have added you to a Team and put files up online for you to work through.

• If not;  Linguascope.  Make a note of new vocab and try all the activities.  Beginners (S1 and S2) or Intermediate (S3)

• S4/5/6 – Scholar will be available; if you don’t have your login, check with your teacher as soon as possible.

• Quizlet is also available – put the following codes into your Google browser:

For French –

• S1 – https://quizlet.com/join/kGNx4A3Sw,
• S2 – https://quizlet.com/join/QJrUWkZ2w,
• S3 – https://quizlet.com/join/gV8DgPUQT,
• S4 – https://quizlet.com/join/7mkd5h4MA,
• S5 – https://quizlet.com/join/X5fMftQJV

For German –

•  S3 – https://quizlet.com/join/dm4xgUHXU                                                     S4 – https://quizlet.com/join/8uz6Hnj5U     and if anyone’s feeling particularly enthusiastic for next year,
•  Higher German – https://quizlet.com/join/BWqWu84VH

You don’t need to request to join but you can, and if you do, your scores and so on are saved so you can see how much better you get.

• languagesonline is great for grammar and for vocabulary – there are drills with immediate feedback so very useful.

• Kahoot can be played yourself – just search through for any Kahoot on any topic you’ve covered this year so far.

Any questions, try to reach your teacher through Glow in the first instance.  Textbooks and worksheets are also available if you don’t have reliable access to the internet.

Bye for now.  Work hard.  Wash your hands.

Here’s a link to the past papers section of the SQA website:

https://www.sqa.org.uk/pastpapers/findpastpaper.htm?

Try all the papers as tests, time yourself and so on, then mark them according to the marking instructions (mi).  Make a note of any vocabulary you didn’t know.  If you don’t have a dictionary at home, Collins online French (or German, or Spanish) dictionary is a reasonable, and free, option.

MsF was on yesterday for the Higher Maths and Modern Languages pupils – an annual national competition where pupils answer 13 maths problems, one of them in the Modern Language they’re studying. We haven’t won yet, but this year the pupils were particularly focussed and we’re really hopeful!