Anyone who has ever tried to learn a completely new language will know that it is a real challenge. At the International School of Moscow, this is exactly what the Modern Foreign Language Department helps our students to achieve in French, Spanish and Russian.
This year, one student’s incredible success story springs immediately to mind: Minami Suga, a Year 10 student who joined ISM with no previous knowledge of Spanish.
Minami began learning Spanish in January this year, attending after-school classes in order to build upon her basic skills. She also had her own GoogleClass folder with learning materials from previous years. Each week, she immersed herself into Spanish, asking multiple questions in the classroom, answering, writing everything down, in both English and Spanish. She diligently practised her pronunciation and participated in every lesson activity we had. Minami has been a truly remarkable student since day one.
Three months later and Minami has gone from beginner level Spanish to now being on par with her peers, many of whom have been attending Spanish classes for four years. As teachers, it is amazing to see how students grow within our subject. Miniami is driven to learn, has a positive mental attitude and is living proof that when you are determined to achieve your goals, no matter how hard they are, you can. Minami is now a top set Spanish student who has the potential to attain the very highest grade next year.
The ISM Modern Foreign Languages Department has a true passion for languages. We always do our best to promote the love of languages and to make sure that our students enjoy their learning and strive to become excellent linguists. The quote and philosophy we live by is from Carol Dweck:
“We can’t do it...yet!”
There is nothing that our students cannot achieve and learning languages is certainly no exception!
Written by Sarah Routledge and Marina Antoniou, MFL Teachers
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