Comberton Village College with Routes into Languages East

Year 7 pupils at a successful mixed comprehensive school in Cambridgeshire were the first to benefit from this project, which is now reaching 30,000 learners nationwide.

The project encourages Year 7 students to learn key vocabulary in another language and to practice and improve their spelling and memory skills whilst having fun.  It also raises the profile of language learning within and beyond the school through class, school and regional competitions.

Originally devised in Spanish for schools in the Eastern region, the project has now been replicated across all nine English regions and in Wales, and has included Spanish, French, German and Welsh.

The Spelling Bee is run in three competitive stages.  The first stage is a class competition.  Year 7 pupils learn fifty words from the Year 7 curriculum, which they have to translate from English and spell correctly in the target language.  Words are presented in a random order, and pupils are given one minute to spell correctly as many words as possible.  A further fifty words are added at the subsequent whole school and regional stages.  The top two students from each class go forward to a whole school competition, and four representatives from each school take part in the regional final, at which the top four students in the region for each language, and their schools, all receive trophies.  Winners at each stage of the competition are rewarded with certificates.

The competition is supported by a teacher’s pack and a wiki. 

All 300 Year 7 learners of Spanish at Comberton Village College are involved in the class competition, with the winners joining others from schools across the Eastern region.  Now in its second year, the project has involved over 30,000 pupils from all regions of England and Wales.  

Our judges found that students enjoyed taking part and felt that it helped them to learn to memorise.  For one girl it was the key that opened the door to good grades.  Older pupils felt that mentoring gave them leadership skills, independence and the opportunity for creativity.

Project Coordinator Jane Driver said:

“We have been overwhelmed by the success of the Bee.  Designed as it is to fit easily into the curriculum without adding to workload, it seems to have struck a chord with busy teachers everywhere.  It also transcends school divisions, with Year 8 and 9 language leaders helping Year 7s.”

Comberton Village College is a large, successful mixed comprehensive school five miles from the centre of Cambridge.  It covers the age range 11-16, with a sixth form centre opening in September 2011.  The school encourages all pupils at KS4 to continue with languages through a variety of different courses. 

More information: A detailed write-up of the project with downloadable documentation is available on http://www.rachelhawkes.com/