Children celebrate multiculturalism at Portsmouth High School's Festival of Languages

The Festival provides an opportunity for the Languages Department to share their passion for languages and to celebrate some of the languages spoken by pupils in the school.

Senior School pupils joined specialist teachers in leading the sessions to teach 10 taster lessons ranging from Urdu, Russian and Mandarin to Bengali, Japanese and Dutch.

Head of modern languages Mme Jane Arthers said: ‘Learning languages enriches our lives and brings us closer together. Through language we can appreciate the uniqueness of other cultures around the world.

‘In Portsmouth we live in a multicultural society so we feel it is important to celebrate the diversity that we encounter every day.’

The event, which has been running for eight years, saw Year 5 and 6 pupils from 10 primary schools take part in the sessions.

Year 8 pupil, Sophia Xue, ran a taster session in Mandarin.

Sophia said: ‘The girls have enjoyed their morning and I have really enjoyed teaching them. Their writing was so neat and they thought it was a little like art because of the symbols we use.’

Teacher Jane Best from St Jude’s Primary School, added: ‘I’ve come to this event for many years. Every time the pupils thoroughly enjoy themselves and are very interested in other languages spoken.’