North East pupils to take part in the Great Languages Bake-Off

Year nine pupils from various schools across the North East are taking part in a languages bake-off competition at the end of March.

This competition is a video and cooking competition designed to encourage young people to study languages.

Hosted by the University of Sunderland on March 21, there will be a presentation day for The Great Languages Bake-Off, attended by students who have entered the competition.

The students are invited along to give a presentation about their videos, discussing their experiences, challenges and inspiration for their recipes.

On the day, a winner will be selected by a panel of judges made up of linguists and staff from the University.

Each group entered in the competition will receive certificates of participation plus there will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes of cake up for grabs.

The competition has been running since 2013 and requires students to create a dish with a foreign twist. The dishes must be from the country of the language they are studying either, French, German or Spanish.

Among those schools taking part is St Thomas More R C Academy, from North Shields.

German Teacher at the school Meryl Wakeman said:  “I thought it was a great opportunity to get students involved in a language-related activity that would allow them to use their language in a fun and real-life context,  that would also be memorable and challenging.”

Ms Wakeman added:  “I hope that they all got a real buzz from taking part and doing something out of the ordinary.”

MFL teacher Sarah York, from The English Martyrs School, Hartlepool, hopes that by taking part her students will be able to put the language and grammar they have learnt into context.

She said: “I thought it would be a good opportunity for students to associate using the language with an activity that is fun and engaging. Plus, it will help to develop their awareness of the culture and to help build their confidence.”

The competition is a programme overseen by Routes into Languages who are an organisation funded by Higher Education to encourage and enthuse young people to study languages.

Jenny Hayes, senior Fellow HEA and University Language Scheme Coordinator, hopes students will gain “an interest in studying languages at school and in general”.

For more information you can contact event organiser Jenny Hayes on jenny.hayes@sunderland.ac.uk