TY Student Language Competition Winners Announced!
In an increasingly interconnected and multicultural world, advanced language skills and intercultural competencies equip students for a wide variety of careers as well as giving them a distinct competitive advantage. Furthermore, language competence is one of the biggest skills gaps in the Irish labour market and language graduates are highly sought after in a variety of sectors. This is recognised in Ireland’s Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education: ‘Languages Connect’.
With this in mind, Trinity College’s School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies (SLLCS) launched a competition for TY students in 2019/20. The aim of this competition was to encourage creative and critical thinking amongst TY students about why they would like to become fluent in a particular language as well as why they would like to learn about the culture and literature associated with the language. Students were asked to record a podcast and design a poster. The competition attracted an enthusiastic response from a large number of secondary schools and the judges had the difficult task of shortlisting and picking the winning projects.
The Head of School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, Dr Anne Fitzpatrick, commented on how impressed the School and College has been by all the entries and commended our second level colleagues for their dedication and commitment to their students during this exceptionally challenging time.
'... competence in languages is a key asset'
Trinity College Vice-Provost/ Chief Academic Officer and Chair of German Professor Juergen Barkhoff warmly congratulated the winners of the SLLCS Modern Languages Transition prize and commended this great initiative: “Gaining fluency in another language while getting to understand the people who speak it and their cultures is a one of the best ways of opening the mind and the heart and to see the world with different eyes. In today’s globalised world and the post-Brexit times we live in competence in languages is a key asset for rewarding international careers and for Ireland to stay connected, prosper and maximise its opportunities as an economy, society and culture.”
[Above: A snapshot of the French section winners entry]
Finally, the judging panel member and School alumnus Gavin Radford spoke of the importance of language knowledge and intercultural communications: ‘Studying another language, and its literature and culture, not only leads to fluency in the language, it also opens your mind to different ways of working, and improves your overall communication skills. Bilingual people are used to switching between two languages and being able to adapt to different /cultural scenarios - skills which are transferable across many sectors and can be particularly useful if you are managing a role with competing priorities! From my own perspective, I make practical use of my degree in French and Spanish from Trinity every day. After my degree I worked abroad for a couple of years, and I am headed to Paris in the summer to take up a post at the Irish Embassy.’
We want to thank all the pupils, their TY coordinators, and secondary schools that took part in the competition. The panel was delighted with the enthusiasm and the creativity!
School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies TY Prize in Modern Languages 2019-2020 winning entries are…
| Joint winners | Les Baguettes from Le Chéile Secondary School, Tyrrelstown, Dublin (French) and The 3 Amigas from Scoil pol, Kilfinane, Co. Limerick (Spanish) |
| Joint runners up | Zudritt from Lucan Community College, Lucan, Co. Dublin (German) and Group 5 from St Josephs's College Lucan, Co. Dublin (Polish) |
| 3rd place | Call Me Irish from Presentation Secondary School, Thurles, Co. Tipperary (Irish) |
See the announcement on YouTube
Full list of winning teams by Language
Language winners |
Team name |
School |
Arabic |
Na hIománaithe Ilteangacha |
Coláiste Eoin, Booterstown, Co. Dublin |
Italian |
Spaghetti |
Le Chéile Secondary School, Tyrrelstown, Dublin |
French |
Les Baguettes |
Le Chéile Secondary School, Tyrrelstown, Dublin |
German |
Zudritt |
Lucan Community College, Lucan, co. Dublin |
Irish |
Call Me Irish |
Presentation Secondary School, Thurles, co. Tipperary |
Spanish |
The 3 Amigas |
Scoil pol, Kilfinane, Co. Limerick |
Russian |
The Language Ladies |
St Joseph's, Castlebar, co. Mayo |
Polish |
Group 5 |
St Josephs's College Lucan, Co Dublin |