Triumph in Translation: MFL Spelling Final Highlights Young Linguists

The event saw Year 7 students from eight of our Leicestershire secondary schools compete against one another as they translated a list of words into either French or Spanish.

In total, students had to learn 150 words, which consisted of joint curriculum topics and high frequency words. Then, in intense one-minute rounds, they had to translate random words from the list into their chosen language, ensuring they were spelled correctly.

The winners were as follows:

School Champions:

French – Sir Jonathan North Girls’ College

Spanish – Beauchamp College

Individual Champions:

French – Asiyah and Masirah (Sir Jonathan North Girls’ College)

Spanish – Paulo and Eric (Beauchamp College)

“[It was] a lovely positive event and as far as I'm concerned all the finalists were winners as it's a superb achievement to get that far,” said Vicki Loxley, Head of MFL at Judgemeadow.

“We had the fastest and greatest number of words spelled in a minute since the competitions started; it was a record 30 in Spanish.

“Amazing, especially as all staff said they couldn't do it that quickly either,” she added.

Participating schools: Beauchamp College, The Castle Rock School, The Cedars Academy, Martin High School, Judgemeadow Community College, The Newbridge School, Humphrey Perkins School and Sir Jonathan North Girls’ College.