Burgh Primary, South Lanarkshire

On Friday 6th October we celebrated European Day of Languages at Burgh Primary. Our P6 language ambassadors had organised lots of great language activities for the classes. They ran workshops in French and Spanish for all the other classes in the school and created a video all about the languages we speak in our school. There was also a quiz to test how much we knew about European Day of Languages! 

In the morning, our P1/2, P2/3 and P3/4 classes were learning French vocabulary and enjoyed a visit to our French cafe. Our P4/5, P5, P6 and P7 classes were learning Spanish and visited our Spanish cafe. There was also a chance to get a photo in our French/Spanish photo booth. 

Each class also took part in an arts/craft activity to learn more about Spanish and French culture. P4/5 were learning about La Tomatina festival and created posters. P6 were learning all about the artist Salvador Dali and drew self-portraits with a Dali inspired moustache. P3/4 learned about the Eiffel Tower and created their own versions out of paper straws. 

In the afternoon parents/carers and families joined us for a European cafe. Each class learned a song in Spanish or French to perform for parents at the cafe. Songs included La Bamba, Freres Jacques, un Poco Loco and Alouette. Our pupils, staff, friends and families had a wonderful day celebrating Spanish and French language, culture, and food. Une journée magnifique! ¡Un día magnífico!

Bacnchory-Devenick School

Our Rights Respecting Schools group asked if we could adapt European Day of Languages to include all the different countries that are represented in our school, and so our School Cultures Week was born. We kicked off the week with the children coming to school dressed in either their national costume or the colours of their flag.

During the week, parents came in and read traditional stories from their countries, sometimes in English and sometimes in their mother tongue.

One of the favourite events from the week was the food tasting. We got to sample delicacies from: France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Scotland, England, Portugal, Norway, Canada, Zambia and Hong Kong/China. 

Throughout the week, we learned greetings, and about the flags of the different countries. We ended the week with a fun scavenger hunt. 

This was a fab project as it enthused the children about language and also their own heritage. It was great for parental engagement, and we even managed to tie in to our bid to become a Gold Level Reading School.

Howden St Andrews Primary School, West Lothian

Our younger children learned about Ratoncito Perez during European Day of Languages. We thought about how Ratoncito looked and drew pictures using our imagination. Then we made up a song about him.

EDL 2023 - just one month away!

European Day of Languages 2023 is just over a month away! Send a description of your celebrations along with some colourful photos and we will add you to this blog.

For lots of celebration ideas visit the SCILT website or view our blogs from previous years to see activities from other schools in Scotland:

• EDL 2022 blog
• EDL 2021 blog
• EDL 2020 blog