Sport
2 June 2023 (SCILT)
Félicitations to Mearns Castle High, winners of this year’s edition of Le Foot et la Francophonie!
Following the pilot last year, Le Foot was rolled out nationally in 2022-23, engaging over forty schools, from Shetland to Stranraer, and attracting video entries from twenty-four teams across ten schools. Following a shortlisting process conducted by a panel at SCILT, the finalists invited to take part in the live event at the University of Strathclyde on Thursday 1 June came from Biggar High (two teams), Kinross High, Prestwick Academy, Kilmarnock Academy and Mearns Castle High.
As was the case during the pilot edition, Le Foot, an interdisciplinary project incorporating benchmarks, experiences and outcomes in Modern Languages, Physical Education and Health and Wellbeing, generated huge enthusiasm in the schools which integrated the project into their S2 and S3 programmes. Again, participation fired the creative imagination of the learners, some of whom had previously shown limited interest in French, while their teachers built on the legacy of the pilot project by creating and sharing a wealth of new resources covering the four key skills of reading, listening, talking and writing, focussing on the Francophone world and including strong anti-racism messages. The pupils who took part, numbering well over one thousand, were encouraged to consider the vital importance of additional languages to a broad range of careers associated with professional sports.
The six teams of pupils were joined at the final by their teachers and classmates who came along to support them. On the panel of judges were Cédric Moreau (Subject Leader for French, University of Strathclyde), Lisa Hanna (Depute Director of SCILT), Kandi Higgins (Course Leader for PGDE in Modern Languages, University of Strathclyde), Cara Lamb (Course Leader for PGDE in Physical Education, University of Strathclyde) and Mark Cunningham (graduate in Spanish and Education, and qualified football coach). After presenting their football-themed videos in French, the teams performed football drills, which included commands in French, and all pupils present were put through their paces in a range of drills designed and delivered by newly qualified PE teachers from the University’s School of Education. Those in attendance then heard a video message from former Scotland footballer John Collins, who learned French during his two-year spell at AS Monaco, before some closing remarks from Fhiona Mackay (Director of SCILT). The all important winner’s announcement saw Mearns Castle claim the trophy, together with a visit to Hampden Park, where the winning team will be given a French-focussed tour of the stadium and the Scottish Football Museum.
For more information on Le Foot et la Francophonie, including a range of football-themed resources for second and third level BGE French, see the page dedicated to the project on the SCILT website.
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27 May 2023 (Metro)
Welcome back to How I Made It, Metro.co.uk’s weekly career journey series.
This week we're chatting with Damaris Cooke, 39, who is the UK's first deaf football pundit.
The Londoner will provide British Sign Language (BSL) presentation around a range of BT Sport programming in 2023, including June’s UEFA Champions League Final, after being chosen by BT Sport and EE for the role.
Before this, Damaris played the game herself, and was a captain for the GB Deaf Women and England Deaf Women football teams.
Working as an accountant by day, Damaris works in football during her evenings and weekends - meaning life if pretty non-stop.
She's passionate about inclusion and footie, so this job marries the two.
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16 January 2023 (Goethe-Institut)
Are you between 16 and 17 years old and speak German with A1+ level or want to start learning German? Do you love playing football? The football camp in Germany combines both - daily training and German lessons. In addition you will make new friends from other countries and get to know Hamburg. Registration deadline is on 31.01.2023.
Visit the Goethe-Institut website for more information.
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26 November 2022 (The Guardian)
The Manchester City midfielder – currently leading Belgium’s golden generation in their last stab at World Cup glory – is football’s quiet genius. He gives a rare look at the family life of a Premier League superstar.
[..] I ask why so many European footballers seem better educated than their British counterparts. Perhaps the difference is languages, he says.
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30 September 2022 (SCILT)
We are delighted to announce the national roll-out of Le Foot et La Francophonie 2022-23! Following a successful pilot project with four Glasgow schools last session, we have now opened registrations for expressions of interest in Le Foot et La Francophonie 2022-23. This interdisciplinary project brings together French and professional football, opening learners’ eyes to the relevance of language learning in the world of international sports, focussing on the four core language skills and building awareness of cultures in French-speaking countries across the globe. To find out more and to register your interest in this competition, which is open to pupils in S2 and S3, please visit the SCILT website.
An initial information session for teachers will take place on Thursday 3 November (3.45 - 4.45pm) and schools will be asked to confirm their participation by Friday 11 November.
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Le Foot et la Francophonie
31 May 2022 (SCILT)
Congratulations to Lourdes Secondary School, winners of SCILT’s inaugural edition of Le Foot et la Francophonie!
Le Foot has generated huge enthusiasm in the four Glasgow schools involved in the pilot project. During the autumn of 2021, teachers of French at Knightswood Secondary School, Lourdes Secondary School, Shawlands Academy and St. Roch’s Secondary School, supported by staff from SCILT, produced some high quality teaching materials based on football and the French-speaking world. To ensure that this project was truly interdisciplinary, all stakeholders collaborated on a guidance document outlining benchmarks, experiences and outcomes from Modern Languages, Physical Education and Health and Wellbeing curricular areas. They were supported in this endeavour by input from Physical Education staff in their respective schools, as well as by Cara Lamb, who leads the PGDE Secondary Physical Education course at the University of Strathclyde.
In January, Le Foot was rolled out in S2 classrooms and on school playing fields. Engagement among pupils who had previously shown limited interest in languages was particularly evident, with one of the teachers involved noting that this was “French disguised as football”! The outstanding resources produced and shared by each school cover the four core skills of reading, listening, talking and writing, encompassing the Francophone world and including strong anti-racism messages. Just as importantly, the 750 pupils who took part learned of the relevance of languages to a range of careers in professional sports – an area in which many have a keen interest.
The competitive final took place at the University of Strathclyde on 12 May. The event involved teams of pupils from each of the schools, together with classmates who came along to support them. On the panel of judges were Cédric Moreau (Subject Leader for French, University of Strathclyde), Lisa Hanna (Depute Director, SCILT), Jordan Allison (Head of Charity, Kilmarnock FC) and Mark Cunningham (final-year student in Spanish and Education, and qualified football coach). After presenting a football-themed video in French, the teams performed football drills, which included commands in French. They then heard video messages from John Collins, Christophe Berra and Ismaila Soro, before the winner’s announcement saw Lourdes Secondary School claim the trophy, together with a visit to Hampden Park, where the winning team will be given a French-focussed tour of the stadium and the Scottish Football Museum.
Watch this space for information on Le Foot et la Francophonie being rolled out nationally in 2022-23, together with further details on how your school can get involved.
26 March 2022 (The Times)
It was in Canada and New Zealand that Calum Ferguson was inspired to create a national football team to represent the Scottish Gaels.
The 27-year-old striker, who has been close friends with Ryan Christie since their childhood in Inverness, is now on a mission to forge opportunities for Gaelic speakers at all levels of the game in this country, having witnessed how other nations seek to cherish and maintain minority languages and cultures.
Ferguson’s first awakening came in the Canadian Premier League, where he spent a season with Winnipeg-based Valour FC. One of their rivals was Halifax Wanderers in Nova Scotia, who make a major play on connecting with the Scottish and Gaelic roots in the community. Their motto is in Gaelic and translates as: “our harbour, our home, our soul.”
Ferguson, a former Albion Rovers player who studied and spoke Gaelic all the way through school but fell out of using it when he went full-time with Inverness Caley Thistle, was immediately taken with the approach.
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14 February 2022 (Goethe-Institut)
Want to take part in a PASCH football camp with the St. Pauli Football Club in Hamburg with other young people from all over Europe?
Then register NOW!
Expect a fantastic coaching session with the St Pauli FC in Hamburg, where you will be working with other (PASCH) students to improve your football skills while also having the opportunity to enhance your German language skills. If you are between 16 and 17 years old and speak German an A2 or B1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and are interested in growing your football and German skills in a European camp then sign up fast as places are limited to 30 people only - 20 from PASCH schools, 10 places for non-PASCH schools.
The football camp takes place 30 April – 8 May 2022.
In addition to the "working aspect" of the football camp with daily training and German lessons, there will of course also be an additional activities, some of which will be exclusive, such as the opportunity to tour around the Millerntor Stadium, to play black-light mini-golf or to visit Hamburg harbour and climb aboard one of city’s former sailing ships and enjoy a view of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall.
Visit the Goethe-Institut website for more information and to apply.
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5 June 2021 (Essentially Sports)
Most of the sporting personalities in Europe are accustomed to multiple languages. Coming to tennis, all the top, well-established players are familiar with a number of languages. Especially, when it comes to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the Serb speaks 11 different languages and one can easily term him a ‘polyglot’.
One of the most interesting qualities of Novak Djokovic is his desire to learn a few sentences, well enough to converse with locals belonging to that particular region. For instance, when the 34-year-old player travels to various tournament destinations on Tour, he has a will to pick up a few local lines, such are his liking for languages.
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24 April 2021 (FC Sonas/CnaG)
FC Sonas, the bilingual football service, is delighted to be working in partnership with CnaG to offer 4 online sessions to pupils in Gaelic medium education (primary and secondary) across the country to celebrate Cuach na Cloinne 2021.
FC Sonas will speak to some of the Gaelic speakers to be found in the world of football, both players and experts. There will be debates, questions, challenges and much more.
Visit the website for more information and to register your child/class by 5 May 2021.
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Gaelic Sports Leader SCQF Level 4 Award
14 February 2020 (Highland Council)
A Gaelic sports leader’s level 4 will be running in Plockton High School for pupils aged 13+ between Monday 30 March and Thursday 2 April (3 overnight stays).
The feedback from previous courses has been positive and this gives participants a great chance to enhance their leadership whilst also using Gaelic as the tool to do this.
There are up to 16 places available (8 Highland 8 Western Isles to begin with but this could be flexible depending on demand).
The course is free of charge and all accommodation and hot food is provided - breakfast, lunch and dinner all served at the hostel which is on site at Plockton High School.
See the attached flyer for more information and the booking form.
3 February 2020 (The Independent)
Frustrated in her desire to learn the piano and unable to find anyone in her small Czech village to teach her English, Martina Navratilova sought out French and German lessons instead. Here, in an extract from a new book, the tennis superstar says the sport that made her name is a language too.
Two “passports” expanded my horizons, transformed my life and opened up the world: the game of tennis and languages. To learn a different language is to encounter a different logic, a different cadence, a different sequence of words. It prepares you to think differently and to adapt, and tennis is all about adapting, every point, every shot. You have to figure things out fast and react to instantly changing circumstances.
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1 February 2020 (The Scotsman)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club (ICTFC) is introducing Gaelic Tannoy announcements at games.
The move celebrates both the National Mod coming to Inverness this year and the wider movement of promoting the Gaelic language. Alasdair Barnett, convenor of the National Mod 2020 and also a Caley Thistle fan, approached the club – which is managed by John Robertson – last year about it being involved in promoting the National Mod on its return to the town.
Mr Barnett said: “I know several people at the club and spoke with them about ICTFC possibly hosting some fund raising events at the stadium. The club invited myself and some others from the Gaelic community in to a meeting and several projects around the Gaelic language have emerged from that. The first initiative to take place is the Gaelic announcements at home games."
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9 October 2019 (The Courier)
Twice the Kirkcaldy-born winger has become the most expensive Scottish player in history with big money transfers, costing Red Bull Leipzig and West Brom a combined total of £28 million.
And, after his recent loan move to Alaves, Burke can also tell the grandchildren he has played in the top leagues in England, Scotland, Germany and Spain.
Still only 22, he certainly couldn’t be accused of being reluctant to take himself out of a comfort zone.
“I was keen for another adventure,” admitted Burke, who moved to Alaves on a season-long loan.
“I’m really enjoying it. We’ve started off well and I feel really comfortable there.
“The team is good and have made me feel welcome and I’m playing football which is the main thing. It doesn’t really faze me moving to another country. Because I’ve already done it it’s a lot easier.
“I want to enjoy it because you only live one life so why not live it to the extreme and do everything you can?
“The main focus was to go there get and get game time. That has happened and everything is going well which is good.”
He added: “We train at 11 in the morning and then of course there is a siesta and shops close at certain times, which is weird.
“It’s pretty normal other than the siesta part of thing where they all go to sleep for two hours and it’s a ghost town.
“I’ll go back and sleep after training and do what they’re doing so I can keep up.
“I’ve got to start having Spanish lessons three times a week. I’ve got a teacher already organised.
“Just now it’s only a short loan until the end of the season, but who knows what will happen after that, but it will be nice to learn the language.
“My team-mates are good. I go out for meals with them and stuff.
“I think a few of the players did some research into me before I went but the rest of them don’t really know anything about me. It is difficult to speak to some of them, because they don’t speak English. Sometimes you need somebody to translate. It’s like ‘tell him that’. So it is quite funny. I see their reaction about a minute later!
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23 August 2019 (The Courier)
For the first time, the Dunfermline arts festival, which runs from September 3 to 8, is launching a new strand of Gaelic and Scots events.
The main event is on the ball for Gaelic and non-Gaelic speakers alike.
With regular appearances on BBC Scotland and BBC Alba the Gaelic voice of shinty and football, Hugh Dan MacLennan, is presenting an event in partnership with Dunfermline Athletic FC.
The two-hour interactive workshop at East End Park is for anyone who watched football on Gaelic TV channel, BBC Alba and wondered what on earth was going on.
The session will be delivered in English, and will give the participants the opportunity to learn key phrases used in commentating as well as some they can use at their next match.
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10 October 2018 (BBC)
There has been a further drop in the number of students from Wales taking language courses at university, according to admissions service Ucas.
The numbers starting foreign language courses was down by a third on the same time last year, in latest figures.
Cardiff University has been working with schools to encourage more pupils to take up subjects such as French.
Helping them is former student Callum Davies, now a player liaison officer at Cardiff City FC. He learnt modern foreign languages at school and spent a year in the south of France as part of the Erasmus programme while doing his degree course at Cardiff University.
He works helping French-speaking players and their families settle in the city.
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1 October 2018 (Highland Council)
Iomain Cholmcille – the Gaelic Shinty Project – has worked in partnership with The Highland Council’s Gaelic Team to organise a six aside national Shinty event for P4 to P7 Gaelic Medium pupils from schools across Scotland.
In August Iomain Cholmchille announced funding of £8000, from Bord na Gàidhlig in order to help develop the use of Gaelic in youth Shinty. The project was launched at Bun- Sgoil Ghàidhlig Phort Rìgh and pupils were presented with new Gaelic strips for the school Shinty team. The funding for community projects aims to build on Iomain Cholmcille’s successful work, in partnership with the Highland Council’s Gaelic Team running Cupa Iomain na h-Òige.
Cupa Iomain na h-Òige – Youth Shinty Cup - is in its third year and although based in the Highlands, the competition, which is held entirely through the medium of Gaelic, is open to schools from across Scotland. This year the competition took place at the Bught Park in Inverness which is a national stadium and 14 teams have entered with approximately 100 pupils participating in the event.
Schools from across Scotland entered which include Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dingwall, this is the first time that the smaller schools in Skye have taken part.
Iomain Cholmcille is a project dedicated to encouraging the use of Gaelic in the Shinty world and regularly organises international exchanges with Irish-speaking hurling teams for both men and women.
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2 July 2018 (BBC)
Language is an essential part of playing football. Coaches give instructions to players and teammates talk to each other on the pitch.
How, one may wonder, does Belgium's multilingual team communicate?
Sources say the players speak neither Dutch nor French but English in the changing room, to avoid the perception of favouring one language over another.
They also speak English on the pitch, much to the surprise of many in the UK press during their game with England on Thursday night.
A majority of Belgians are Dutch-speakers who live in the Flemish north. Most of the rest speak French, and there is a small German-speaking community.
This divide can be seen in the mother tongues of the Belgian national team's star players.
Manchester City's playmaker Kevin De Bruyne is a Dutch-speaker from Ghent in the Flemish region, while Chelsea attacker Eden Hazard is a French-speaker from the Walloon region.
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27 May 2018 (BBC )
Category six referee Jason Taylor will become the Scottish Football Association’s first representative at the Deaf Champions League finals, which takes place in Milan from 28 May – 2 June.
Having started refereeing in 2005, Jason hopes to inspire other deaf people to "realise there are no barriers to stop you from doing what you want to do".
From Dunfermline, he says his refereeing idol is Hugh Dallas.
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20 March 2018 (Arsenal Double Club)
Calling all modern language teachers! As we look forward to this summer’s 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Arsenal Double Club are back with yet another FREE languages competition – open to all UK secondary schools – for boys and girls in Year 7 or 8 (S1 or S2 in Scotland).
In small groups, pupils must organise and run a language-themed football match or activity.
Visit the Double Club website for more information and to enter your school by 29 March 2018.
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22 February 2018 (The Conversation)
Big-ticket sporting events are an opportunity for countries to showcase their cultures. TV broadcasts show stories about the cultural, historical and social aspects of the host country – which, for this year’s Winter Olympics, is South Korea.
We hear other languages at global sporting events, too. Almost 80 million people speak Korean; it’s the world’s 13th-most-widely spoken language.
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21 December 2017 (Daily Record)
Marvin Compper speaks six languages. Now the new Celtic defender hopes to speak the language of football in Glasgow.
Compper signed a two-and-a-half year deal with the Scottish Premiership champions.
The international reeled off his impressive linguistic skills which include speaking German, French, Italian and English fluently with a touch of Dutch and Russian thrown in for good measure. However he insisted that he much prefers to do all his talking on the pitch.
Compper said: “I speak four languages fluently and one if I was to spend a week in Holland I would also speak that fluently.
“I also speak a bit of Russian so it is five-and-a-half. I am half-French half-German, so I speak those languages and I did English at school and developed it from there watching television shows and then my team mates.
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22 February 2017 (The Mirror)
The Premier League receives a whole host of talent from many different countries every year.
Massive stars from France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Chile, Belgium, Uruguay, Portugal and South Korea have all, at one time or another, played in the English top tier.
But how many of England's biggest stars can we say have made the leap to play abroad? A handful or so?
Naturally one of the biggest obstacles for footballers moving abroad is the language barrier, something which Wayne Rooney may have to conquer should his potential move to China go through next week.
In the video, we've taken a look at the five funniest times English stars made the brave choice to ply their trade in another country... and speak the language.
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7 February 2017 (BBC)
English rugby referees are taking French lessons in order to improve their communication skills during games, says top official Wayne Barnes.
There has been criticism by players of some Six Nations referees only being able to speak in English.
However, Barnes, 37, says RFU officials "want to be better communicators".
"We are not just training and reviewing, we are actually doing some French lessons as a group," he told the BBC Rugby Union Weekly podcast.
One of the world's leading referees, Barnes has been taking charge of international matches since 2006.
And while he argues that speaking a range of languages fluently is unfeasible for a referee, he feels steps can be taken to improve communication.
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13 January 2017 (The Sentinel)
BBC's new football programme The Premier League Show sent Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker to Stoke to catch up with his old teammate Mark Hughes.
The pair had played together under Terry Venables at Barcelona, with Hughes admitting he wished he had bought into the culture.
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14 November 2016 (Arsenal Football Club)
With a total of seven languages in his armoury, Petr Cech is by far the most lingual member of Arsenal’s squad, now that Mikel Arteta, conversant in nine tongues, has left the club. Earlier this year, Steve Eadon, Languages coordinator for the Arsenal Double Club, interviewed Cech about his experience with languages.
“Before I do these interviews, I have a little time with the players off camera,” explains Steve, who has also interviewed Hector Bellerin and Gabriel on the same subject. “I asked Petr how many of these languages he is actually fluent in. He said that he was fluent in all of them. So we tested him and, needless to say, he was telling the truth!”
Cech voluntarily learned Spanish and Portuguese when he arrived at Chelsea due to the proliferation of Spanish and Portuguese speaking players in the Blues’ defence. Cech revealed earlier this year that he uses three different languages to communicate with the Arsenal defence.
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13 October 2016 (TES)
I have the privilege to work with one of the best PE teachers I know. Her name is Charlotte and we’ve been sharing not only the same office this year, but the same ideas, sometimes, and the same passion for teaching.
[..] But the event I have enjoyed the most was sports week, at the end of the summer term. It was a great chance for me to familiarise myself with one of the new methods in teaching a foreign language: Content and Language Integrated Learning. Shortly- CLIL.
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22 September 2016 (Liverpool Echo)
The Premier League is more cosmopolitan than ever before - and Everton have the top flight's most multi-lingual player.
A study based on which teams speak the most languages, puts the Blues in mid-table but in Romelu Lukaku they have a player who sits top of the pile.
Lukaku, 23, speaks Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, English and also understands German.
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16 September 2016 (Sky Sports)
Joe Hart says he is ready to embrace the Italian culture after moving to Torino on a season-long loan from Manchester City.
[..] Hart has emphasised the importance of getting to grips with a new culture, and even opened Friday's press conference by speaking in Italian.
"I don't speak very good Italian (yet). I think that's obvious but I am doing my best to learn and buy into the culture because this really is a beautiful part of the world," said Hart.
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1 April 2016 (El País)
Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale met with the media ahead of Saturday’s clásico with Barcelona at the Camp Nou. The Welsh international, who joined Madrid in 2014, says he is adapting well to his side’s style of play and life in Spain.
“I feel a greater sense of involvement with the country, with the language, with Madrid. I feel very comfortable at Real Madrid, I have a contract until 2019 and hope to win as much silverware as possible,” the former Tottenham Hotspur player told reporters in an interview at Real Madrid’s Valdebebas training ground.
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24 March 2016 (Alliance Française / Goethe-Institut)
The Goethe-Institut and the Alliance Française in Glasgow together with the Scottish Football Museum present a free month-long celebration of football and community across Glasgow this April.
From 1-30 April pop in to your local library or arts centre to experience a series of free film installations about how communities around the world react to the beautiful game.
Cinemas across the city will play host to some fantastic free football-themed movies.
On 27 and 28 April, join us at Hampden Park for a free and informative two-day symposium on Football and Social Inclusion.
For full details visit the Goal! Tor! But! website.
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1 March 2016 (Fusion)
During this season’s Champions League group stage, a photo circulated online of Italian club AS Roma’s “Player Languages” sheet. The list denoted the languages in which each player was comfortable giving an interview. And though most players are conversational in more languages than the ones they are comfortable using in media settings, I was surprised by both the polyglotism of some players, and the lack of overlap in many cases.
Midfielder Miralem Pjanic, for example, was born in Bosnia, spent most of his childhood and teenage years in Luxembourg, and has played professionally in France and Italy. His listed languages were Bosnian, English, French, Italian, and German. He’s also fluent in Luxembourgish, though that could be arguably classified as a dialect of German. Salih Uçan, in contrast, only listed Turkish, a language none of his teammates listed.
This got me thinking. Big European clubs tend to hire players from all over the globe, and it is certainly a common occurrence that there is no lingua franca, no common language between everyone on the field, or on the bench. So how do they communicate? There must be some common way of understanding each other.
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7 April 2014 (Language Pie's blog)
In today’s top flight football, teams are typically made up of players from many different countries. For that reason it is assumed that football managers that can communicate with their squads in more than one language have an advantage. The extent of that advantage, however, has never been measured.
Andrew Finan, owner of KLOO, a language games company, loves football and languages and he decided to dig deeper and see if there was any correlation between multilingualism and team performance. The outcome was startling.
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10 December 2013 (The Guardian)
Football clubs across the country are using sport to cultivate children's interest in learning other languages.
"If I could say anything to Santi Cazorla? I don't know the Spanish words yet, but I'd say: 'You're a wicked footballer.'" Suraiya Farah, a year-five pupil at Primrose Hill primary school in north London, has just finished a taster Spanish session with the Arsenal Double Club and she is eager to put her new skills to use.
Arsenal is one of a number of clubs, including Newcastle United and Hull City, that runs a language Double Club, a cross-curricular course that uses football to teach students a foreign language.
The after-school sessions are made up of two halves: the first takes place in a classroom, where students are taught football-related vocabulary, and the second encourages children to practise their language skills out on the pitch.
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27 September 2013 (Arsenal Football Club)
Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta has spoken about the importance of learning language skills ahead of the European Day of Languages, which encourages more people to learn a foreign tongue both in and out of school.
Arsenal in the Community has long championed language learning through its successful Double Club model – an innovative education and football programme which aims to fuse football and education to form a fun and enjoyable way for young people to engage with their academic studies and football at the same time.
In addition to Arsenal-themed language learning materials for German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, a DVD of one of Arsenal’s players speaking in their native language is provided as an exciting classroom resource.
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Related Links
Double Club German – new resources for 2013-14 season! (UK-German Connection, 24 September 2013) Double Club: German is a joint project by Arsenal FC, the Goethe-Institut London and UK-German Connection. It is an innovative education and football programme which aims to show pupils that German can be fun, improving their knowledge of the German language and culture in a joint football / German club. Pupils attend one session per week, which can take place after school, in lesson time or during holidays, and is split up into two 45-minute sessions. Available as a module for primary or secondary level pupils, new materials for the 2013-14 season are now available. Follow the link above to find out more about the programme and how to sign up.
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26 September 2013 (Reuters)
Manchester City and Liverpool announced an expansion of their social media presence on Thursday with more local language websites and Twitter accounts to cater for a growing international fan base.
Abu Dhabi-owned City launched 10 new Twitter accounts in addition to existing feeds in English and Arabic to engage with supporters in Chinese, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.
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26 September 2013 (Education Scotland/SCILT)
Learning ideas around the context of the Commonwealth Games are available at the Game On! website.
SCILT and Education Scotland have developed a learning journey designed to support the learning and teaching of modern languages at primary level.
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2 September 2013 (ESPN)
New Real Madrid signing Gareth Bale showed how he had spent his summer months by speaking in Spanish during the Bernabeu unveiling to mark his world record £86 million transfer.
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Related Links
Gareth Bale must put heart and soul into Real move - Gary Lineker (BBC Sport, 1 September 2013) Lineker, who played for Barca between 1986-1989, feels that learning the language and immersing himself in the culture will be key to Bale's chances of succeeding in La Liga.
29 August 2013 (The Guardian)
Speaking French has been central to the success of former round-the-world sailor Ellen MacArthur.
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8 March 2013 (TES)
Pupils get a kick out of a visit from Manchester United players. "So," Ruth Dunleavy says to her Spanish class. "Working in groups of four, two of you pretend to be futbolistas and two periodistas. Think of questions to ask at a press conference." So far, so routine role play. But then the two Spanish-speaking international footballers who have dropped in for the lesson start walking around the class to see how the pupils are doing. All pretence of cool is lost.
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6 January 2013 (Daily Record)
Football has become global. And Scotland’s managers are about to follow suit. The latest candidates for the SFA’s UEFA Pro Licence will gather at Hampden today to kick off the two-year course they now need to boss at the elite level of European football. But for the first time since the course began in 1999, candidates must learn a second language as part of their studies.
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6 January 2013 (Daily Record)
Football has become global. And Scotland’s managers are about to follow suit.
The latest candidates for the SFA’s UEFA Pro Licence will gather at Hampden today to kick off the two-year course they now need to boss at the elite level of European football.
But for the first time since the course began in 1999, candidates must learn a second language as part of their studies.
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