Abingdonian 2020

54 The Abingdonian Languages in Lower School Modern Languages is an essential subject. You can learn new dialects, discover new cultures and communicate with people all over the world. You have to start learning a language at some point. Abingdon Lower School is where some begin this journey. Learning languages in Lower School is enjoyable and always fun. In the first year, you do half a year of French and half a year of German and in the second year you choose which one you would like to study for that year. I am in the first year and so have had time learning two different Modern Languages this year. German is a really enjoyable language which poses quite a few challenges for the learner (spellings, pronunciations etc). For a beginner, it is difficult to get the hang of but when you do it is really fun. In German, there are lots of funny words (Kartoffel, Überschlange), while German sentence structure is similar to English and French. The most tricky thing about German for me are the articles and when to use the accusative and nominative cases and whether it is a neuter or masculine word. German is a challenging language which some people may not enjoy but personally I do. French is also a beautiful language, correctly titled as the language of love. All the words in French flow whereas German words are quite guttural and onomatopoeic. I had done some French before in primary school so I knew a little bit about the language and this helped me a lot. In French, I really struggle with accents but I overcame the struggle by finding similar sounding words with accents and, knowing which words they are, I can work out whether it is grave or acute. For example, cheminée and l’ècole sound the same so I know that their accent is different to régle and trés. In my opinion, the language is really smooth and delicate. As a linguist, I find learning languages challenging, different and fun. Languages are all different and that is what I really enjoy about them. My parents met in their year abroad in France so I know learning languages opens up a myriad of opportunities, We also have lots of fun in lessons, especially when we watch the Angry Family (Mr Angry Potato Head and Mrs Mildly Angry Carrot are my personal favourites). We also watched Tintin and Asterix and learnt the origins of the characters which was fun. Sometimes, we have class quizzes on the last lesson which are always competitive between the teams. Sweets are the prizes which make everyone try really hard. Finally, I want to just say how Modern Languages worked after the school was closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Normally, we logged on and registered. Then, we looked at Firefly to see what we had to do. Most classes required independent learning but ten minutes before the end, we would check in and talk through our work. I think that being independent is good as you can test your own knowledge. The teacher could take questions and help if needed. I am sure the lessons vary from teacher to teacher but that is how my lessons worked online. Nathan Shestopal, 1RHH