Ysgol y Gwendraeth
Drefach
Llanelli
Carmarthenshire

Person in charge of project: Jane Roe

Ysgol y Gwendraeth is a semi-rural comprehensive for pupils aged 11-18 with approximately 500 pupils. It is situated in a farming and former mining area of South Wales.

The Eurovillage project is based on a permanent modern languages simulation village which has been constructed within the school. The 'village' contains a café, bank, hotel, tourist office, clothes shop and market which are used to stimulate pupils' speaking skills through a wide range of activities. The project formed part of a wider project throughout Wales aimed at improving pupils' speaking skills and involving the then Welsh Office Education Department, OHMCI, CILT and the National Comenius Centre of Wales.

Objectives of the project

• The aim is to raise standards and promote greater use of the target language by creating a more realistic setting and thereby giving students more motivation to speak in the target language
• To develop pupils' confidence to use target language more spontaneously and more fluently
• To develop a more creative and imaginative use of the target language
• To encourage pupils to interact

• The school is not aware of any similar initiative in the region
• The Eurovillage has been a permanent feature in the school since October 1996

• The Eurovillage has succeeded in motivating even the most reluctant of learners
• All MFL students are able to use the facility
• Confidence and motivation have improved
• Progress has been made in extending responses in the target language
• The project has promoted greater use of the target language

• The school now hires this facility to other schools and it is hoped to develop this
• The school is also seeking to develop its links with the University of Wales, Swansea so that MFL PGCE students can help to keep the facility staffed
• It is hoped that the Eurovillage will be used as the base for a European Day