British School Al Khubairat (BSAK)

British School Al Khubairat (BSAK) is one of a number of schools in the Gulf region using Vocab Express, having first signed up in 2014. In 2015 the school, became a Vocab Express ambassador school in the region, led by Head of MFL Charlie Davies. This involves spreading the word about Vocab Express to colleagues in schools throughout the region and sharing how they have incorporated the application into their MFL teaching.

The school competed in the Global Challenge 2015, finishing in a very respectable 8^th place in the Challenge Cup Medio and in 4^th place for French. The standout performer among the BSAK students was then Year 8 Christian, whose score for the week of 555,555 put him in the top 20 students globally. Christian described seeing the “lucky” points tally approaching as he entered the final day and feeling as though it would be a good place to stop!

Vocab Express founder Justin Sycamore travelled to the school late last year to chat to Charlie and students about the school’s performance in the Global Challenge, as well as the difference Vocab Express has made in their MFL department.

[Update: BSAK repeated their fantastic Global Challenge performance in 2016, finishing in third place in the French Genius Cup. Christian, now in Year 9, again led the way with an improved score of 62,445.]

If you are an existing Vocab Express customer and would be interested in being a case study, please contact us on support@toptrack.com. If you are not yet signed up and would like to find out more, please click her to register for a guest login.

Mandarin On the Up

Alex Marson, Product Manager at Toptrack Learning and Mandarin speaker, discusses the rise of Mandarin learning in the UK.

If you have been watching the news recently, you will have noticed that the UK and China are getting on ever so well, collaborating on trade and energy among other things. An interesting addition to that list is now language, with the UK government recently announcing an extra £10m in funding for the teaching of Mandarin Chinese in English schools. The plan is to increase the number of students taking the language at GCSE from the current modest total of 1000 to 5000 over a period of 5 years.

And this isn’t simply gesture politics. The recent Languages for the Future report commissioned by the British Council – well worth a read if you haven’t as yet – ranked Mandarin as the fourth most important language for the UK’s future, sandwiched between French and German. This took into account a number of factors, from strategic trade and business priorities to tourism and national security. Arguably another reason to add to this is common courtesy, since there are now more people learning English in China than there are native English speakers in the world. Perhaps the least we can do is to learn to count to ten!

There is another reason for learning Mandarin, less frequently cited than the sorts of strategic business interests hardly likely to resonate with young learners, which is that it is fascinating and fun. An increasing number of primary schools are now beginning to offer the language – and why not! How exciting for a young child to learn about Chinese characters and even learn to read some of them. And say it *very* quietly, but in many ways it isn’t as difficult as you might assume. Take away the characters and what you have is actually a language with a relatively simple structure and a set of grammar rules which don’t come close to the head-scratching exceptions and counter-exceptions of, say, French or German.

There are of course challenges involved in learning a language so far removed from our own. The first main challenge, already mentioned, is of course the characters. There is really no shortcut when it comes to building your vocabulary: it’s simply a case of continually plugging away, day after day. Incidentally it is far more important to be able to read than to write the characters, since recognition is enough to enable you to type in the language: typing is entirely phonetic.

The second challenge is with pronunciation. It will come as news to nobody that Chinese pronunciation has little in common with English. Learners first have to grasp the 21 ‘initials’ and 16 ‘finals’ – effectively consonants and vowels respectively – some of which do require some retraining (or re-educating!) of the mouth muscles. Then there is the small matter of the four tones, which can change the meaning of a particular sound beyond all recognition. From personal experience, this can make for some embarrassing situations…

The good news is that Vocab Express is here to help with both challenges. We have vocabulary lists for all levels, giving students the opportunity to learn the vocabulary they need in an engaging way, earning points in the process. We also have a new feature on the way which will allow students to input Chinese characters (using the pinyin input method) within the Vocab Express application, without having to enable additional languages on your computer or device. On the pronunciation front, we have native speaker audio to accompany all of our Chinese vocab lists, meaning that accurate pronunciation is being reinforced at all times. As students progress through their vocabulary learning, they are also honing their listening – and even speaking – skills without even knowing it.

The European Day of Languages Championship: Get ready, get registered, go!

Here at Vocab Express we’re pleased to announce that registration is open for our European Day of Languages Championship 2013 and this year we’ve got 50 – yes, 50 – free school places to give away! Each free school entry is for up to 150 students. What’s more, enrolment is free for subscribing schools; all they need to do is follow the instructions when they log in to their Vocab Express account.

Running from Thursday 26th September until Wednesday 2nd October 2013, the Championship is the perfect way to get students to brush up on their language skills at the start of a new academic year in an exciting and engaging way.

Don’t just take our word for it – last year’s winner Dartford Grammar School for Girls said: “The Championship appealed to a competitive side for languages we didn’t know [students] had! It created a great buzz; everyone was talking about it… we would definitely recommend it to other schools.”

We all know how hard it can be to get to students to settle back down into academia after the summer, but the challenge of a nationwide championship can be a great motivating tool and can encourage them to assist their classmates in language learning even after the competition finishes. To keep students on their toes and biting their nails, the real-time leader boards will enable staff and student to track the action as it happens, hopefully spurring you on to close the gap with your closest competitors!

In the language news this week, studies have shown there is a severe lack of multilingual graduates. An article in the Guardian claims that language learning needs to be addressed if the UK wants to compete with its multilingual counterparts overseas. By raising the profile of your language department within your secondary school through Vocab Express’ European Day of Languages Championship, we hope students will work harder in language lessons, and some may even be convinced to continue their language studies at college or university.

The Championship will feature language competitions in a wide selection of languages, namely German, Italian, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Russian, Urdu, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin. So, if you think your students would relish the chance to flaunt their French or show off their Spanish, sign up today to obtain one of the 50 free school places available to non-subscribers, each for up to 150 pupils!

Places go quick so make sure you hurry!

For more information, visit http://www.vocabexpress.com/championships.

The world is one giant classroom

St Augustine of Hippo once said ‘The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page’. He is right; the world is one big classroom when you think about it, full of new opportunities to explore, discover and learn. What could be better for grounding learning than seeing the mountains discussed in geography, or hearing the language you’ve twisted your tongue around all year in school spoken fluently for making you appreciate learning?

In the modern age with the convenience of travel, the ability to experience these rich educational opportunities is easier than ever. We are recognising this too; a survey from Tripadvisor earlier this year found that the majority of people questioned see travel as part and parcel of holistic learning. A clear majority 97 per cent said they consider travel to be important for their children’s education, with 70 per cent among these claiming it to be very important.

Perhaps this is why a recent news story that caught my eye reported that Brits are getting better at learning and speaking languages. It’s encouraging to see that more than half of us are now trying to speak another language when abroad, as well as experiencing the wonder of the world around them. As primary languages become compulsory too, children who are often far less self-conscious than their adult counterparts, are likely to become more willing to put their knowledge into practice as they grow.

Brushing up on some essential knowledge or key terms before you leave for your adventure can help make it all the more enjoyable or beneficial; understanding how to have a basic conversation in Spanish, or how a desert or jungle was formed and survives before you visit can inspire you to take more interest and take more from it.

For instance, the Middle East is an increasing tourist destination for many families, and knowledge of Arabic is fast becoming a desirable skill for tourism or work. More than this, being able to say hello, please and thank you at the very least shows the local community you are making an effort to understand their language and culture, and is seen as a sign of respect.

For the really adventurous out there, a trip to the Amazon might be the ultimate geography challenge! Learning about how the jungle ecosystem operates, how the Amazon River forms the vital life source, and understanding the issues for deforestation are all essential for enhancing the trip.

There is a learning experience around every corner and at the end of every journey if we open our eyes to them. And taking the time to prepare to make the most of them only makes these even richer.

Happy travels!

¿Habla Español? The benefits of being bilingual

With a bilingual English-Spanish speaking father, and a set of grandparents who can impressively speak fluent Croatian, Spanish and Italian, I can certainly appreciate the benefits of speaking more than one language. Growing up hearing my father speak to his relatives on the phone, long holidays to Argentina throughout my childhood, not to mention three years of study at university, has equipped me with a good grasp of Spanish and in turn (I hope!) has helped me to develop a number of skills, the most obvious being communication, improved memory and the ability to multi task.

In fact, you may be interested to know that today more of the world’s population is bilingual or multilingual than monolingual. So why does there seem to be an aversion to learning languages in this country, with most Brits happy to just ‘get by’ on a few stock French phrases on their trip to the South of France? ‘Je ne comprends pas’ anyone? Let’s take a look at the educational benefits to speaking more than one language…

Intellectual growth: Individuals who are bilingual/multilingual generally perform better in exams and many believe they fare better at IQ tests. Being fluent in two or more languages enhances a person’s mental development and awareness, they have cognitive flexibility and are able to scrutinise various arguments to derive a suitable conclusion.

Picking up another language is easier: Ever wondered how your bilingual peers make learning a third, fourth or even a fifth language seem like a breeze? This is because studies show that different languages reinforce one another, and provide tools to ‘strengthen phonologic, morphologic and syntactic skills.’ Applying language skills from one language to another is a critical cognitive function that makes it easier for an individual to learn successfully.

Greater self esteem and confidence: Confident students believe in their abilities and feel hopeful they can achieve their goals. They are also able to comfortably interact with other people to form relationships and are more willing to try new things. Generally speaking, bilinguals are able to express emotion better and adapt more easily to change than monolinguals.

Cultural advantage: Living in a multicultural UK, it is incredibly important young people develop greater tolerance and are open-minded about other cultures. Bilingualism offers greater exposure to different cultures and an insight into another country’s history, folk stories, music and literature.
Employability: With recent government figures stating that one in five 16-25 year olds are not able to find work in the UK, a broad range of skills can increase chances of finding a job at the end of formal education.An additional language is not only beneficial in jobs that require extensive travel and communication with other offices in other countries, but in the business world in general; through their language skills, bilinguals and multilinguals are able to bring in new clientele from around the world.

For more information on the benefits of being bilingual, check out this link to Voxy’s infographic on the topic which can also be used an engaging learning tool in the classroom.