Modern Languages
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Modern Languages – French, German, Spanish, Russian and Italian – offer the opportunity to increase one’s awareness of other cultures and to communicate in another language. In spite of greater industrial and technological globalisation, the ability to speak to other people in their own language remains a prized and necessary asset.
The Modern Languages Department
| Head of Department: Head of French: Head of German Head of Spanish: Head of Russian: Head of Italian: Head of Mandarin French & German: Mandarin: |
Ms Sabine Harskin |
Language assistants in French, Spanish, German and Russian.
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Language learning is all about understanding other cultures and the way of life in different countries. In a world which seems to become less tolerant each year, language learning allows pupils the opportunity to experience and to comprehend other people, their history, literature, music, gastronomy and customs.
French
Every pupil learns French in Year 7 at Oxford High School and then can choose to continue through to G.C.S.E. in Year 11. The aim of the course is to stimulate lasting pupil curiosity in the language, by giving them every opportunity to communicate in the language, and to develop their linguistic and grammatical knowledge. At the same time the course aims to develop cultural awareness in France and French-speaking countries, through reading, films, plays, trips, and French Days, and the French Club.
Pupils in Year 10 and Year 12 have the opportunity to spend a week in a French family in Angers, and attend French classes. Sixth Formers are expected to spend some time during the Sixth Form in France. (See Latest News for this year’s events)
The French Day was introduced five years ago to build awareness of wider aspects of French life. The day includes a French play, either for the Seniors or Juniors, by a visiting company, Assembly in French, a French lunch in the canteen, and other activities in classes.
| Five years ago saw the inaugural production by the Language Theatre Company, a group of Sixth Formers, who put on a bi-lingual production of En attendant Godot/ Waiting for Godot. This was followed by a multi-lingual version of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s comedy The Physicists, to celebrate the centenary year of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Two years ago the play was Amadeus, by Peter Shaffer, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. In a lively production involving many Sixth Formers and a live quartet, the cast performed in several languages, conveying the genius of the composer, thwarted by the jealousy of the Viennese court and by Salieri, in particular. Last year’s production was Romulus, an adaptation of a Dürrenmatt play about Rome’s last emperor. (See Latest News) |
Mother Courage 
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For the Juniors, and supported strongly by senior girls, there is the French Club, which meets once a week, to play French games and to develop French beyond the normal classroom atmosphere. There is one club for Year 7 and another for Year 8. This term the Language Theatre Company’s production will be performed by Year 8, who will perform, in French, Jean Tardieu’s Conversation Sinfonietta, an experimental and amusing play for voice patterns.
In the Sixth Form a large number of students continue with French, and here they have the opportunity to read more widely the literature and to watch and discuss films. The added resource of French satellite television allows them to have instant access to a wider culture, as does having a copy of Le Monde in the Library, as well as there being the very popular French tutor groups in Years 12 and 13.
German, Spanish and Russian
These three languages are option languages from Year 9. Pupils choosing them will have a basic grounding in the language for the first year, and those who continue will cover the necessary syllabus through to G.C.S.E. In Year 11 all pupils will have one extra conversation lesson a week with a native speaker to complement their oral work in class. Numbers in recent years for these languages have been very encouraging and most years see two sets for Spanish to G.C.S.E. and one set each for German and Russian.
Pupils studying German and Russian have the opportunity to go on an exchange to Munich and Moscow respectively, where they stay with their partner, attend school and go on local trips. Both of these exchanges are well supported and very popular. This year also sees our first visit to Madrid (see Latest News).
As with French, there are German, Spanish and Russian days during the year to promote these subjects further. Pupils wanting to have some holiday Spanish are welcome to attend the weekly classes in the lunch break.
In the Sixth Form, the pupils are expected to study a wide range of topical themes as well as broaden their literary and cultural horizons. Again, the use of satellite television and regular subscription to magazines help to make the country and its life more immediate to the students.
Italian
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Italian is offered to students in the Sixth Form, where they can study it to all levels over two years. This means that the courses are very intensive, and the spoken aspect of the language emphasised from the first lesson. All girls will also have extra conversation classes throughout the two years. Students will take G.C.S.E. at the end of Year 12 and AS and A2 at the end of Year 13. Trips to Rome and Sardinia have been arranged in the past, and the exchange to Ivrea, in North Italy, is now well established. An Italian club takes place on a regular basis to develop an awareness of Italian to junior pupils and Italian films are shown regularly in the film club. The Dorothy Rowe Trust Award has given a grant for an Italian student and one from OHS to have an exchange each year. |
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Mandarin
From September 2006 Mandarin has been introduced to ALL pupils in Year 7. This exciting development allows all pupils to explore this wonderful language and discover a new culture at the same time. China is set to become the world’s second superpower in the next decade, and OHS pupils have the opportunity to experience this world and its language.
Other languages
Other languages can be catered for as supply and demand dictate. In the last few years students have studied a variety of languages, ranging from Dutch and Polish to Hebrew and Persian. Conducting the orals is great fun!!
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Latest News
Spanish Department trip to Madrid 2009
We have recently returned from our first OHS trip to Spain, and very much hope that this will now become a regular event. Twenty-two girls from Years 10-13 spent 5 days in Madrid accompanied by Miss Stewart (Head of Spanish) and Mrs Coulton. We stayed in a hotel in the heart of the capital, which proved to be an ideal location for exploring everything: museums, restaurants, churches, the Palacio Real…and numerous ice-cream shops and cafés.
We visited two of Spain’s most important art museums: the Reina Sofía and the Prado. We saw Picasso’s Guernica, and Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, as well as many works by other well known Spanish artists such as Goya and Dalí. All the girls produced a piece of written work in Spanish about a painting that had inspired them during the visit; they also conducted street interviews, which proved a very good way of overcoming any inhibitions about speaking Spanish.
We also went to Toledo for the day, where we enjoyed exploring the narrow, winding back streets as well as visiting the impressive cathedral - when we eventually managed to find it! We also went to a damascene workshop, where we saw them making the gold and black jewellery and swords for which Toledo is famous.
We all tried lots of Spanish food while in Madrid; many tapas were eaten, as well as mountains of chicken and seafood paella, squid, octopus, Spanish omelette, hot chocolate, and churros – very sticky sweet doughnuts which proved too much for some of us.
Everyone had fun and lots and lots of Spanish was spoken. Some of us are already thinking about the next trip planned for two years’ time.
Miss M. Stewart
Head of Spanish
Russian Exchange visit to Oxford High School in October 2009
Nine Russian girls accompanied by two Russian staff made their first ever visit to England this October. They were given a warm welcome by their host families and their exchange partners.
The parent of our exchange partners provided a variety of exciting trips and new experiences for their Russian guests at weekends and during the evenings. During the week the school organised excursions to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to see Nelson’s Flagship, the Victory and a trip up Spinnaker Tower in brilliant sunshine which afforded a wonderful view of Portsmouth Harbour and the Isle of Wight.
Picnic in St James Park
A day in London gave them the opportunity of seeing a host of the famous sights including Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and of watching the changing of the guard at Horse Guards Parade and Buckingham Palace. They also enjoyed the Madame Tussaud museum and Trafalgar Square.
On bridge in St James Park
A highlight for the group was being received by the Lord Mayor of Oxford and a guided tour of Christ Church College by Mrs Coulton. In our programme we also included a trip to the theatre in Oxford to see a musical and a day visiting Warwick Castle and Stratford. At the end of the week the Russian girls gave an excellent concert to the younger years of the school which included some splendid dancing in lovely national costumes. Our OHS girls got on very well with their exchange partners and are looking forward to the return trip to Moscow when we shall be celebrating the twentieth year of our Exchange!
Visit to the Lord Mayor of Oxford
Italian Exchange 2009
10 Sixth Formers travelled to Torino in Italy during the first week of the Easter Holidays. We were guests of the Liceo Classico-Linguistico "C Botta" in Ivrea.
During the stay in Ivrea (40kms from Torino), we spent a day in school and were treated with lectures on the Italian Political System, a preparatory lesson on the "Last Supper" and a lesson on Dante's Divine Comedy, reading together the 5th Canto (Paolo e Francesca). At the end of the day the headmaster offered a cappuccino to us all in the new "cafeteria" of the school, and we went for a walk in the pre-alpine city.
On the second and third day we were not blessed with good weather, but anyway had good fun visiting Milano, where we saw the Da Vinci "Last Supper" with the help of a guide and explored Milan city centre: the Duomo and some of the most exclusive shops of Europe.
In Torino we visited the world-renowned Museo Egizio and the fun Museo del Cinema, where we also took an elevator to a panoramic terrace, from where the Alps should have been seen all around us, had it not been for the rainy weather.
Luckily the sun eventually was shining on the Italian side of Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc), at high altitude. On Friday, on our way to the highest mountain in Europe, we stopped to visit one of the many interesting castles in the area, at Issogne. When we came back from the mountains, we ate together at a Pizzeria.
During the weekend the Italian families took our girls to different destinations, some to family reunions, others to do some more shopping. We returned to Oxford on Monday 6th April.
Moscow Exchange Easter 2009
Eleven Year 11 girls accompanied by Mrs Earley and Mrs Coulton braved the cold of Moscow during the Easter holidays. The welcome by the host families was very warm and even overwhelming at times. Abundant meals and a host of activities kept us all going through snow, rain and sunshine. We visited the wonderful monastery at Sergiev Posad and saw the preparations in the churches for Easter and ate lunch in a restaurant decorated in traditional country style and served by people in national costume.
This year we were taken to Tsaritsino, the magnificent palace built for Catherine the Great, designed by two famous architects. It was restored very recently after being abandoned for 300 years because Empress Catherine did not 'like' it! We, however, enjoyed our guided tour and were offered an 18th century style meal in the café there. The agility of the acrobats, tight rope walkers and high wire performers of the circus was much admired and the performance of the Bolshoi ballet stars in the 'Sleeping Beauty' was amazing as was the decoration and the marvellous orchestra in the 6,000 seat Kremlin Palace Theatre.
Numerous trips were made to Red Square and to the Alexander Gardens which incorporates the moving sight of the tomb of the 'Unknown Soldier' and the eternal flame as well as the monuments to all the 'hero' cities in Russia which suffered dreadful losses in the Second World War. The treasures of the Tsars including the carriages, crowns, coronation garments, thrones, weapons, the silver and gold plate presented by the crowned heads of Europe to the Tsars as well as the Faberge eggs in the Kremlin Armoury were very impressive.
At Kolomenskoye, the summer residence of Peter the Great's father, the guided tour by a 'noble' lady in seventeenth century dress was very interesting and culminated in a fascinating seventeenth century wedding in which our girls and their partners took part as the wedding guests feasting on pancakes and hot tea after the ceremony.
At the presentation of gifts to the Russian School our girls excelled themselves in giving a short variety show to the Russian school which included musical numbers, Shakespearian drama, a dance routine, clarinet and piano playing, poetry reading in Russian and finished off with a rousing Abba song!
All have returned safely, very tired, but full of memories of a unique first experience of life in a Russian family and of the sights and sounds of Moscow.
Angers 2009
Very early, on Monday 30th April 2009, 30 sleepy but very determined Year 10 girls set off by coach for a home stay trip to Angers in the Loire valley. They were accompanied by three dedicated teachers (Mme Harskin, Dr Rushton and Mrs Liebrecht).They were to stay in French families for a week, go to a French school in the mornings and do outings in the afternoons. 
They visited two châteaux: The Angers Castle, a medieval fortress in the heart of the town, and Brissac castle, the tallest castle in France nicknamed "The Giant of the Loire Valley". They also had the opportunity to see how people used to live under ground right until the 1930s in the troglodyte village of La Rochemenier. One of their favourite activities was "Le grand jeu du chocolat" where they won loads of succulent prizes, and Futuroscope, France's best known theme park about the latest media technologies. Some courageous ones even danced with robots! They got back to England on 5th March very tired but full of fond memories and funny anecdotes about their French families, their adventures and of course "le shopping".
Mme S Harskin (Head of Modern Languages)
German Exchange
The sixth German exchange demonstrated that contacts made between young people in different countries can be so worthwhile. Contacts between the exchange partners started back in November, and so by the time the German group arrived from Munich in March both groups knew each other very well, having being in e-mail and phone contact for some time (even homeworks had been exchanged!). After a rainy start to their week the Germans enjoyed better weather and visits to Bath, London and Stratford. Soon it was our turn to go to Munich, and in spite of having to face Terminal 5 only a few days after it opened, amazingly all our luggage arrived with us, although Customs did feel the need to confiscate Miss Pallas Brown’s marmalade! It augured well for the week when several German families had got lost on their railway system getting to the airport, but that was the only hiccough in an amazing week. All sort of activities happened over the weekend, ranging from visits to Salzburg, the Alps, to the Olympic Tower, Schloss Nymphenburg and trying on Bavarian dirndls.
Come Monday morning everyone was happy and ready to face the German education system, followed by a tour of the royal Residenz, a climb to a clock tower to see over the whole of Munich, and a tour of the city.
Tuesday was eagerly awaited as it meant a visit to the Elly Seidl chocolate company, a private concern who makes delicious chocolate and, of course, everyone had to taste plenty of it. The visits after that were more sobering, as the group first visited the university where they met one of the surviving members of “die Weisse Rose” movement, Franz Müller, who had been fortunate only to be imprisoned for distributing anti-Nazi and war leaflets. He told the group about why this resistant group had taken such risks, and then we went to Dachau concentration camp to see how the less fortunate had been forced to endure, and often to die, because of their politics, religion, background or sexual behaviour. A sobering time for the whole group.
Wednesday’s weather brought sunshine, just the right weather for heading off to the Alps to visit the delights of Neuschwanstein (with a guide who clearly was in a hurry to be elsewhere!), Wieskirche, Linderhof and Oberammergau. We even had time to visit Austria! There was just about snow to have the customary snowball fight at Linderhof, before heading for the cakes and ice creams at Oberammergau.
Thursday meant testing the risk assessment as we tested out the Munich transport system to its fullest with changes from underground to bus to tram to town train. At the end was the Bavaria Film Studios, with an excellent tour around the sets of films like “das Boot”, “Never ending Story” and “Wilde Kerle”, the latest German teen flic. We also made our own version of Star Trek (or something like that!), saw a fantastic stunt show and a 4D film, before returning to school for the farewell party and an evening of karaoke. Eine tolle unvergessliche Woche! The next exchange is in March and April 2010. Plans are already well underway for this trip.
Chinese Day 2009
It was the second celebration at Oxford High School of the Chinese New Year Day. Chinese New Year is called Chunjie(春节) which means ‘The Spring Festival’. Chunjie(春节) is the most important festival in China. On this special morning assembly, 8 girls from Years 8 and 9 presented three topics to the whole school: When is Chinese New Year? What is the meaning of the word “year” in Chinese? How do Chinese people celebrate Chinese New Year?
When they learnt that during the New Year, Chinese children received red pocket money from their parents (which represents that they will prosper in the New Year), a lot of girls took the red pockets home and hoped that they will receive the luck money from their parents and relatives. Some girls have told us they got some!
During lunch time, everyone had Chinese food. The girls were interested in the displays about Chinese New Year’s food, activities and customs, and many took part in the quiz.
French Day - 2nd May 2008
For Years 7 – 9 the European Theatre Company gave a colourful performance of Celine Bio. This amusing, energetic performance was enjoyed by Years 7 – 9, with plenty of audience participation, including by Miss Mills. The French tutor group took assembly, giving the school a history about French song writers.
Italian Performance - Six Characters in Search of an Author
On 1st May a group of Year 13 Sixth Formers performed their own innovative adaptation of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, directed by Christabel Rose and Ellie Piddock. Our version of the play centred on the rehearsal of a Sixth Form production which is interrupted by the entry of six characters looking for an author. These characters, a torn family from pre-war Italy, are abandoned by their author mid-way through their creation, and are thus unfulfilled, unrealised. What is already a confusing situation is further complicated by the questions Pirandello raises through his adoption of metatheatre: are characters more real and alive than actors?
The performance was a great success and the girls had great fun exploring these philosophical conundrums in a moving tension between tragedy and comedy, illusion and reality… All proceeds from the retiring collection went to the Alzheimer’s Society.
Mother Courage – Language Theatre Company November 2008
The latest offering from the Language Theatre Company (a group of Sixth Formers who like performing plays in different languages) was Brecht’s Mother Courage. It’s not often that Polish is used in a play in a British school, but as Mother Courage made her way across the battlefields of northern Europe during the Thirty Years War a knowledge of Polish, German and Russian was vital.
This lively production, performed in the round, with a large wagon being dragged by Courage and her children, tried to follow Brechtian ideas of Epic Theatre. The small cast interchanged parts throughout, produced their own instrumentation to the songs, and created an atmosphere where you were not meant to have sympathy for Courage, even as she lost one child after another.
Future events
Autumn 2009
| Tuesday 22nd September | Briefing meeting for Russian exchange 4:00 p.m. |
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| Wednesday 23rd September | Into the Sixth Evening (find out about languages in the Sixth Form) |
| Friday 25th September | European Languages Day: Assembly, quizzes; a celebration of languages |
| Thursday 1st October | Briefing meeting for Spanish trip 6:00 |
| Tuesday 6th October | French lecture 4:00 |
| Friday 9th October | Russian exchange group arrives |
| Saturday 10th October | French Day for the Sixth Form |
| Friday 16th October | Russian Concert 10:45 |
| Monday 19th October | Russian exchange group departs |
| Thursday 22nd October | Open Evening |
| Friday 23rd – Tuesday 27th October |
Spanish trip to Madrid | Wednesday 18th November | Conversation Sinfonietta 2.30 & 7.00 |
| Monday 23rd November | GCSE Mock Oral exams begin |