Business Language Champions still going strong
March 2006
Although the Business Language Champions project in the South West has been completed, most of the businesses and schools continue to work together.
Here is an update on what the BLCs are doing.
- Paradise Park and Hayle Community College
- Centrax and Torquay Boys Grammar School
- South West Tourism and Oldfield School
- Reuters and Pilton Community College
- Flybe and Sidmouth Community College
- HSBC and John Cabot Technology College
- The Met Office and Honiton Community College
Paradise Park and Hayle Community College
The relationship between Hayle Community College and Paradise Park is going from strength to strength. The College have just launched their new CD Rom guide to Paradise Park, which has been recorded professionally in a studio using the voices of some of the GCSE language students.
It has been recorded in French, German and Spanish aiming to give their foreign visitors a richer experience upon visiting the park. The CD gives valuable information which may previously have been lost on foreign visitors without a good command of English.
Gwyneth Leonard, the RLN SW Manager, attended the launch and was very impressed with the CD. ‘The staff and students have worked really hard to produce this CD and the result is really impressive. I think other tourist destinations could learn a lot from Hayle’s example.’
The school has also run two one day Welcome International courses for people involved in the local tourist industry together with some of their pupils. The course gives three taster language sessions and provides cultural information on the chosen countries on the day.
The courses are run in conjunction with South West Tourism and have been very well received. They are hoping to be involved with more in the near future.
As a result of their link with Paradise Park the school also now has a group of Year 10 pupils studying an NVQ 1 in Animal Care at the park on one afternoon a week. This is run in partnership with Duchy College.
Read more about this partnership
Centrax and Torquay Boys Grammar School
The relationship between Centrax and the Boys Grammar School has proven to be a real success. A large group of students studying Applied French visited Centrax just before Christmas to be given a tour of the engineering company and were given a presentation by staff there. Some great photographs were taken and the boys got a lot from the visit.
One of the school’s pupils was also lucky enough to spend a week at Centrax on work experience and there are plans to continue to provide such opportunities for the boys in the near future.
Staff from Centrax manned a stand at the school’s International day, and Marisol Foster from the Languages department has started to use materials from the company in the GCSE vocational Spanish classes now as well as the French materials with the French group.
Marisol was also asked to speak at a CiLT National Conference in Birmingham recently, about their involvement in the Business Language Champions project.
Read more about this partnership
South West Tourism and Oldfield School
Marie France Perkins from Oldfield School has won a bid to work alongside two other schools in the Bath BANES authority to enable her to continue the good work achieved within the Business Language Champions pilot project. This will give those involved more opportunities to make the link between business language and language use in schools. Well done Marie France!
Read more about this partnership
Reuters and Pilton Community College
Reuters have received two students on a work experience placement since the BLC pilot ended last summer. One of the key activities the students were involved in at the company was sourcing company reports from the internet, documentation which is required for all European listed companies that Reuters provide financial information for. The students helped ensure that Reuters’ customers have the depth of information and documentation they need to execute informed financial investments.
The students worked alongside company data experts who are also linguists and can translate the reports from the local language. They were also set a challenge throughout the week, combining their new-found experience of our systems and workplace to find financial information for certain European companies.
It was a great opportunity for the students to gain a real insight into how languages can be used in the workplace and how Reuters use them as a vital tool for their European business.
Read more about this partnership
Flybe and Sidmouth Community College
Steve Parrott, HR Director from Flybe, has been flying the flag for languages in business all over the South West. Steve has recently given talks on how Flybe uses staff with languages skills to both Pilton Community College, and Chilton Trinity School in Somerset. This follows his inspiring talk to his own BLC partner, Sidmouth Community College, during the pilot phase last year.
Read more about this partnership
HSBC and John Cabot Technology College
Laura Brown from HSBC spoke to John Cabot’s year 10 dual linguists recently about the possibility of a work placement with HSBC at the end of May. Ideas for a possible mini project centred on buying a house in France are being discussed. HSBC provides its customers with this information on their website. Crista Hazell, one of the French teachers, is hoping to tie it this in with some written work the students will be doing later on in the year.
Read more about this partnership
The Met Office and Honiton Community College (new partnership)
Jane Varley from the Met Office has regularly been out and about in the local community talking to students who are choosing their options. She has been explaining to them why continuing with their language studies will benefit their future careers and been able demonstrate effectively how the Met Office makes use of languages.
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