The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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Vol/54 No/1 2015 FEBRUARY/MARCH The Linguist 9 AWARD WINNERS about what they do. Those analysts who take part in the outreach programme therefore enjoy getting out into the community to engage with the young people they meet in schools, share their love of languages, and hopefully inspire them to continue their language studies. They also gain great satisfaction from giving students the chance to try languages other than the French, German or Spanish usually taught in schools, and from opening their eyes to the huge range of exciting language opportunities available. All GCHQ Language Analysts have a degree in their specialist language, native- speaker capability or have been trained to degree level in a required language on one of GCHQ's own language training programmes. Competition In 2014, GCHQ teamed up with the West of England branch of the Association for Language Learning (ALL), the professional body for language teachers, to run a language competition for Year 9 pupils: the GCHQ-ALL Schools Language Challenge. Pupils were tasked to work in small teams to research a town, region or country where the language they were studying is spoken, and then to put together and deliver a PowerPoint presentation to showcase their findings – entirely in the foreign language. The best 10 entries were invited to GCHQ for Finals Day, where the pupils delivered their presentations to the joint GCHQ-ALL judging panel. The finalists learnt more about the vital importance of languages to GCHQ's mission and attended taster sessions in Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Russian, Somali and Urdu. 'There was a real buzz around Finals Day and such enthusiasm from the young people attending,' says the Outreach Coordinator. Sir Thomas Rich's School in Gloucester was declared the winner. Teachers were effusive in their praise for the event, welcoming the 'real-life context it gave for using language skills'. They reported improvements in students' language skills, especially pronunciation, and said the challenge stretched students' ability to speak spontaneously, undertake research and present to an audience. It also fostered greater interest in the country chosen and gave students 'a chance to see how exciting speaking a language can be'. The pupils attending the final were equally enthusiastic: 'Languages are fun. I want to learn more,' said one. 'The experience has really opened my eyes to how influential languages are,' said another. Others reported that the day had made them reconsider their GCSE and A-level options. GCHQ received IoLET's Threlford Memorial Cup 2014 for fostering the study of languages. When they hear how languages are essential to GCHQ's mission it really makes them sit up Evaluations carried out before and after GCHQ visits invariably indicate an increase in the number of students considering studying at least one language at GCSE (on one occasion an increment of 25%), at A-level or at university. Where language tasters have been given, the level of interest in a degree in a non-Western European language has also been raised. Feedback from pupils attending GCHQ outreach events speaks for itself: • I hadn't considered non-European languages until today. • It makes me want to learn Chinese and Russian. • At the beginning of the day, I wasn't sure if I was going to do languages as a GCSE, but now I think I will. Getting results One GCHQ Language Analyst reveals his experience of school visits. 'Pupils are usually extremely excited about receiving a visit from a GCHQ spy at their school, and curious to know what it is we do, so it isn't difficult to grab their attention, particularly when visiting the Year 9s. Although we explain at any early stage that we are not James Bond with a licence to kill, they are fascinated to learn that our work as Language Analysts makes a real difference in the fight against threats to UK national security, such as terrorism, organised crime and military attacks. Many pupils don't see the point of studying languages, as they are unaware of the vast range of careers where languages can be a real asset. So it's great to be able to widen their horizons by opening their eyes to some of the options available to them. Providing a taster in a language the pupils would not normally have a chance to try is really rewarding. We try to give a flavour of the background to the language, such as its origins and the countries where it is spoken, and introduce simple phrases, such as greetings and introductions, so that the students can go away from the session able to say at least something in the language. A session in Chinese usually ends with a game of Chinese character bingo (with fortune cookie prizes). A favourite in an Arabic or Persian lesson is to see your name written in the foreign script.' FROM THE ANALYST IMAGES: © SHUTTERSTOCK