Modern Languages at Aberdeen University

Everyone in Languages at Stirling, and beyond, has been very concerned to read about developments across Languages, Translation and Interpreting at the University of Aberdeen and we wanted to express our solidarity with our colleagues there, across French, Gaelic, German and Spanish.

We have a long history of connections and friendship (academic and otherwise) with Aberdeen and we hope to be able to continue to see those connections and friendships thrive over the coming months and years.

We have co-supervised and continue to co-supervise PhDs together: our former student, Fraser McQueen, currently at the University of Bristol where he is a Lecturer in French and Comparative Literature, was jointly supervised by Fiona Barclay (Stirling) and Nadia Kiwan (Aberdeen). Aedín ní Loingsigh (Stirling) is currently co-supervising a SGSAH-funded student in Translation Studies with Nadia and Nicki Hitchcott (St Andrews). Others of us have taught or, indeed, studied at Aberdeen: Cristina Johnston was a Teaching Fellow in French there in 2004-2006 before joining Stirling, while Pete Baker and Fiona Noble (both now in Spanish and Latin American Studies at Stirling) studied there as undergraduates. Pete’s PhD was supervised by mentors who had taught him at Aberdeen, while Fiona stayed on at Aberdeen to complete her MLitt, PhD and PGDE, as well as working there as a Teaching Fellow. Our (now retired) colleague, Alastair Duncan, also did both his undergraduate degree and his PhD at Aberdeen.

We’ve been involved in external examining at each other’s institutions which has often led to research collaborations between colleagues: Trevor Stack (Aberdeen) was one of our externals in Religion at Stirling for many years, Nina Parish (Stirling) is a current external at Aberdeen. And we’ve been delighted to welcome colleagues from Aberdeen to speak at research events over the years, most recently Ed Welch, who is also Chair of the University Council of Modern Languages (Scotland), with Stirling colleagues, including Nina Parish, Pete Baker and Elizabeth Ezra also having given research papers in Aberdeen.

‘Aberdeen 2040’, the University’s strategic plan (available in Arabic, Gaelic, BSL and Braille, as well as in English), proudly asserts that: ‘Through outreach and the exchange of ideas, we will teach and research across borders. We already rank among the best for our global outlook. We will continue to expand our networks and partnerships, and seek new opportunities for international and intercultural exchange.’ These are fantastic aims for any global University to be working towards and achieving them is dependent on Universities being able to support ambitious, resilient, interculturally literate graduates, equipped with the wide range of skills that will allow them to contribute to local and global communities. These skills are precisely those that are fostered through the study of languages, from Gaelic to German, from French to Spanish, and far, far beyond.

We hope that Aberdeen finds ways to support colleagues across Languages as they work on creative solutions to the extremely challenging circumstances they are facing and we look forward to finding more ways to work with them over the months that lie ahead.

Working with schools

Alongside all the usual activities happening in our classrooms and across our programmes (including our Year 3 students making plans for their upcoming Semester Abroad…), our outreach work centred on language learning in schools has also started up again.

On the European Day of Languages, a team of our Language Ambassadors were invited along to Wallace High to talk to the pupils there about the benefits of language learning. For Patrick, who is in his 2^nd year studying French and Spanish with us, this was his first in-person school visit and a really positive experience: ‘The afternoon was a great success, pupils were engaging with the activities we had set out for them and have asked to be included in the future planning of similar events. From my point of view, it was an invaluable piece of my time used to hopefully persuade young pupils to continue to study languages.’ Feedback from the S3 pupils at the school was equally positive and huge thanks to Modern Languages teacher, Michelle McCaffery, for inviting us. We’re delighted our Ambassadors helped to convey the fact that, in the words of one pupil, ‘languages can take you places you would not expect!’

Despite some pretty atrocious weather, many of the Ambassadors got together at the end of that week, too, for a training and information session about the Ambassador scheme over the coming year. And while we were talking about that on campus at Stirling, some of the Ambassadors from our Strathclyde partners were out at St John Ogilvie High School, meeting with pupils and teachers there, including our own graduate Sam Evans! We’ll be joining forces for more school visits over the weeks ahead, working with Cédric Moreau from Strathclyde and Emma McLean from SCILT so watch this space…

And on Saturday 1^st October, Cristina Johnston, Pete Baker, Fiona Noble and Elizabeth Ezra ran an online workshop for senior phase secondary school pupils, focusing on the multiple benefits that can come from using films as part of the ways we study languages. The event was part of a series of workshops organised by SCILT and was supported on the day by Sheena Bell, Suzanne Ritchie and Alice Lister. We were also really pleased that three of our current students, Dagmara, Alex and Helena, were able to join us on the day to talk about their experiences learning languages and, in particular, the ways in which film and visual culture have formed part of their own language learning. And we’re especially grateful, of course, to all the pupils who attended, from across Scotland, students of French, Spanish, German and Italian. They asked brilliant questions and worked hard on listening exercises involving songs from Encanto, as well as thinking about the wide range of topics that might emerge through the study of that kind of film.

Thank you, merci, Danke, grazie, gracias… to all the pupils at our SCILT workshop and to everyone who has been involved with our outreach activities so far.

Advanced Higher Workshops on Campus

At the end of last year, French and Spanish at Stirling were delighted to get the chance to host a workshop for Advanced Higher pupils on campus, organised via SCILT (Scotland’s National Centre for Languages). Particular thanks to Sheena Bell of SCILT who helped to set this up and who has very kindly sent us through this blog post about the day’s events:

‘Every year, SCILT holds a series of workshops for Advanced Higher Modern Languages pupils to support them in completing the course and preparing for the exam. This year, for the first time, we held a workshop in the University of Stirling. This made it more accessible to pupils from Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire councils (and beyond!) and meant that they could attend more easily. We were delighted to have over 40 in attendance; pupils were able to hear tips and advice from experienced teachers and SQA markers, and work on strategies for developing their skills. It was all the more enjoyable because of the beautiful surroundings of the university! The event gave pupils the chance to have an experience of university at the same time as they were considering their UCAS applications, and they also benefitted from an introduction to Languages at Stirling from Peter Baker at the beginning of the workshop.

Many thanks from us at SCILT to Dr Baker for all his support and help with arrangements. We look forward to being back again next year.’

Thanks again to Sheena for taking the time to write this post and we’re also looking forward to welcoming more pupils this year!

School Visits, Language Blogging & Tips for French at Uni

Regular blog readers will know about our Schools Days and our Language Ambassadors and our students who spend a year working as English Language Assistants. We’re also always looking for new activities and new ways of building connections with a wide range of schools to give us further opportunities to work with secondary teachers and pupils. With that in mind, colleagues from French and Spanish worked together a few weeks ago to organise an event for a local secondary school and we’re very grateful to Peter Baker, Lecturer in Spanish, for having sent us this update:

‘On Wednesday 20 November, Higher and Advanced Higher pupils of French and Spanish from Bannockburn High School attended a series of lectures, workshops and a library visit hosted by lecturers in French and Spanish. The day started with an introduction and a lecture on the historical memory of the Spanish Civil War in Spain by Peter Baker, followed by a tour around the University library. This was followed by a lecture on essay writing at university hosted by Hannah Grayson in French. We finished the day with a Q&A session about the expectations of studying Modern Languages at Higher Education, the transformative experience of the semester abroad and about future employment with a degree in Modern Languages, with the presence of Aedin Ní Loingsigh and Peter Baker.

We would like to thank Claudia Marqués-Martin and Derek Monaghan for organising the day with us and for coming along to support the pupils, and for the very positive feedback we received on all aspects of the day. We would also like to give special thanks to the pupils themselves who showed great enthusiasm and exceptional good behaviour whilst they were with us. We would encourage them to let us know if they decide to study languages at university where they end up and to come visit us if they are ever on campus – and especially if they choose Stirling as their place of study!’

Many thanks again to Peter for sending us through this post and to all involved for what sounds like a great day.

Blog readers might also be interested in a couple of other schools-related pieces of news. The first is that one of our current English Language Assistants, Eilidh, has added a new article to the Language Linking Global Thinking blog she’s running while she’s in France for this academic. The LLGT scheme is an initiative that is run by SCILT (the Scottish National Centre for Languages), the British Council and Project Trust, working with the UCMLS. It involves pairing up students on assistantships with classes of school pupils back in Scotland to and those assistants then keeping in touch with the school to tell them about the experiences and to give the pupils a clear sense of the benefits and opportunities that come with spending time using a language other than English.

And the second piece of schools-related news is that the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France has posted an article on their blog with tips for preparing to study French at University from Cristina Johnston and Hannah Grayson. The article is available here! Bonne lecture!

Learning and Teaching Celebration

Better late than never… Somehow, in the flurry of excitement and activity around end of term and graduation, we managed to forget to post this back at the start of the Summer:

French at Stirling were delighted to be recommended for excellence in teaching innovation at the University’s Learning and Teaching Celebration. The recommendation acknowledged the work done by the French at Stirling team through the informal conversation sessions we have been running for our students, led by visiting French-speaking exchange students, and overseen by the language team and Programme Director. It also highlighted the work that goes into maintaining this blog as a means of giving a space to our students and colleagues to talk about a wide range of activities related to French at Stirling. So, a huge thank you, firstly, to all those who’ve been involved with the conversation sessions over the past few years and, secondly, to all of those who have contributed articles, photos and ideas to the blog since it started back in 2013 – please do keep them coming!

Congratulations, too, to our colleagues in Spanish and Latin American Studies, Dr Inés Ordiz, María Sánchez and Dr Peter Baker, who were recognised with a Teaching Impact Award at the same event.

Schools Day Success

As regular blog readers will know, this week the time had finally come for our Languages event for S5 and S6 pupils from schools from all across Scotland. On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, we welcomed a total of around 300 pupils to the Pathfoot Building and colleagues from French & Francophone Studies and Spanish & Latin American Studies led them through a day of mini lectures, culture and language classes, CPD sessions for the teachers and a series of presentations by current and former students, as well as our Faculty Employability Officer, on the benefits of time abroad as part of a degree (whether within Europe with Erasmus+ or well beyond), English Language Assistantships and the many, many doors that languages open up in the wider world beyond University.

After a brief welcome from the Faculty Dean Richard Oram, and the event organisers, Pete Baker and Cristina Johnston, the pupils were split between French and Spanish activities for a short opening lecture and then for the classroom activities. Those doing French enjoyed a lecture on ‘Race, Religion and the Republic’ by Aedín ní Loingsigh before heading off into smaller groups for culture classes examining extracts from Autour il y a les arbres et le ciel magnifique led by Cristina Johnston, Emeline Morin, Aedín ní Loingsigh, Elizabeth Ezra, Hannah Grayson and Beatrice Ivey. At the same time, those doing Spanish enjoyed Pete Baker’s lecture on Frida Kahlo and further discussion of Kahlo’s work in culture classes led by Pete and his colleagues Inés Ordiz and Ann Davies.

After lunch, it was back into the classrooms for some written language and listening work, led by Jean-Michel DesJacques, Mathilde Mazau, Fraser McQueen and Cristina, Emeline and Aedín for French, and Jose Ferreira-Cayuela, along with Pete and Inés for Spanish. And while the pupils were hard at work in their culture and language classes, their teachers were being led through CPD activities focusing on feedback and assessment, as well as the challenges that arise in the transition from secondary to HE, by Emeline and Aedín. The CPD sessions also included an opportunity for the teachers to benefit from a guided tour of the AHRC-funded Experiences of Exile exhibition by Beatrice Ivey.

All the pupils and teachers were brought together for the final session which included presentations by a group of Languages graduates, as well as current students at different stages in their degrees, and our Employability Officer, Elaine Watson. They all spoke passionately about their experiences of Study Abroad, teaching English as a Language Assistant, travelling during time abroad, career paths they have embarked on or are considering as a result of having studied a language and, in the words of Meg, one of the speakers, the confidence that comes from knowing that ‘if you can navigate France through train, plane and University strikes, you can do anything!’

All in all, a great chance for us to get to talk to a fantastic group of pupils and teachers, and an opportunity for those pupils, in particular, to get a real taste of what University and Languages at University is like and where it can lead you. Many thanks to all those who came along, to all the colleagues who led sessions over the course of the two days, to the students and graduates who gave up their time (and sent photos!) to come and speak to our visitors, and to the Division of Literature and Languages and the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France for their support.