The Soccerlingua project has launched its brand new website: www.soccerlingua.net. This site is now a fully interactive platform to promote and teach languages through the theme of football. As a European Union LINGUA funded project this web resource is free-of-charge.

The target languages are English, French, Swedish, Portuguese and Turkish.

The main feature of the new website is a range of interactive games and language activities for kids and teenagers. The games are all vocabulary based (no grammar) and can be played in each of the five target languages. These activities are designed to offer a variety of language content to appeal across different abilities, ages and attention spans! As with the original Soccerlingua book and DVD the website is aimed primarily at motivation and fun. However, the entertainment value is provided within a strong educational context.

The cutting-edge interactivity and web animation will appeal to the younger generation and is ideal for use in class with an interactive whiteboard. While the games were designed with 8-12 year olds in mind, testing has shown that the site also appeals to older teenage learners. It seems the universal language of football helps cut across any age barriers!

For more information contact: info@soccerlingua.net

Southern Region 10 Year Celebration Event

The Brit Oval, home to  Cricket Club, provided a spectacular backdrop for a day of innovative and exciting learning opportunities to over 300 young people aged between 9 – 14 years.  The young people were selected to attend by their local Playing for Success (PfS) Centres, where they are currently attending sessions after school.

There were 21 centres attending on the day, including: Arsenal FC; All England Lawn Tennis Club; Brentford FC; Brighton & Hove Albion; Chelsea FC; Colchester United FC; Crystal Palace FC; Essex County Cricket Club (Essex Eagles Learning Centre),East London Gymnastics Centre; Kent County Cricket Club; Leyton Orient FC; Millwall FC; Southend United FC; Surrey County Cricket Club; Tooting & Mitcham FC; Tottenham Hotspur FC; Watford FC; Wembley and West Ham United FC.  The young people wore club strips or centre shirts, making for a very bright display of colours.

Playing for Success is a successful partnership between sporting clubs, Local Education Authorities, and The Department for Children, Schools and Families.  Proven to motivate learners to perform better in literacy, numeracy and ICT, this event showcased how well this mix of education and sport has continued to evolve and grow, for over 10 years.

Club mascots were on hand to welcome young people, and ensure a happy and warm atmosphere.  Activities on the day included a task to create a fashion outfit in just under an hour; a tour around the fantastic host venue; Literacy Buzz words; dance workshops; cricket coaching; and video and image manipulation.

The Grande Finale saw Mark Butcher comparing a Nintendo WII tennis tournament, everyone had the opportunity to cheer on their favourite teams whilst watching the action on large screens.  Damien Francis from Watford FC, Lewis Spence, from Crystal Palace FC, and Jonathan Batty from Surrey County Cricket Club played with their young partners to provide a thrilling end to an exciting day.

Every child went home a winner, with a bag full of goodies provided by Nexus Lexus and a day to remember forever….

Learning at it’s most inspired!