On Thursday 9th February 2017 the faculty held its first Year 9 Modern Languages Open Day, attended by 90 pupils from 11 Oxfordshire schools.

The programme included a very entertaining talk on the question, "What is language?"; an opportunity to learn Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese or Russian in 30 minutes; a session devoted to subtitling a short horror film in French, German or Spanish; and a talk on where a degree in Modern Languages might take you. The aim was to present the subject in all its vibrant, creative variety, to reflect on the social, cultural and individual benefits of speaking more than one language, and to encourage students to consider studying Modern Languages to GCSE, A-level and beyond.

Apart from a recommendation to provide more biscuits, the feedback we received from both pupils and teachers – for which we would like to say a big thank you – suggests this inaugural event was a great success!