On Tuesday 6th October 52 linguists from Dulwich Shanghai and 4 from WISS came to Wellington for our Inaugural MFL Conference of Shanghai Schools.  Being over 6000 miles away from Europe, we wanted to unite Year 10 and 11 linguists to encourage collaborative learning in preparation for their respective IB/IGCSE exams.   The pupils were grouped with pupils from other schools so all three schools worked together.  Having been set a task about Tourism and Leisure, they set to work in Wellington’s library covering such aspects as climate, accommodation, gastronomy, travel and activities.  Their end goal was to produce an A4 pamphlet and a seven minute presentation to a panel of judges from all three schools in French or Spanish convincing them that their idea was the best way to develop a new area of land into a number one tourist destination.  From Peru to La Réunion, ideas for eco-tourism, beach luxury and water-sports came flooding in.  The tensest moment of the day was each group’s unpredictable question; knees knocked together at this point!

The Spanish presentations ended with a People’s Champion (as voted for by the pupils) with a three-way tie.  Representatives of each of these teams had to answer another unseen question.  Nathan’s repose led him to win this challenge, leading Albondigas to be overall People’s Champion.  For the judges’ winner, Team Camp Nou triumphed, for which the judges’ two speakers of the day spoke – Lara (Dulwich) and Alphonse (Wellington).

The French presentations saw a People’s Champion of Groupe Marseille with Wellington’s Edward. The judges’ winners were Groupe Le Pantheon, with Wellington’s Luna and Shingi.  A special mention must go to Groupe Claude Monet as they spoke impeccably and worked so very hard, finishing one point behind the winners.  Jasmine and Langa were excellent ambassadors for the College. 

A day enjoyed by staff and students alike, and most importantly all concerned learnt a great deal in preparation for their Oral exams at the end of Year 11.  The MFL department looks forward to a profitable unity of Shanghai Schools developing MFL pedagogy and learning.