In spring every year, our annual competition for 11-18 year olds becomes a major listening exercise. The hundreds of teachers who submit entries also feed back on the experience, and through this we learn a great deal about what works in their classrooms, and what they perceive to be missing from the current curriculum.
The quantitative figures are compelling, with over three-quarters of participating teachers telling us that the prize raises the profile of languages in their school. A growing number also report that it has a palpable impact on uptake at GCSE and A Level. Take, for example, The Sandon School in Essex:
This competition has made a significant difference to our Spanish department. We have seen a clear increase in the number of students choosing Spanish at GCSE, as well as more students opting for the higher tier. Some of those who take part in the competition go on to pursue Spanish at A level, often citing their experience with the Anthea Bell Prize as something that sparked or strengthened their passion for the subject.
What is the Anthea Bell Prize?
Named for the renowned Astérix translator, the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators supports teachers to work together with their pupils on reading, discussing and translating literary texts – poetry, extracts from novels, graphic novels and works of non-fiction – from six languages into English. The scaffolding provided to pupils, including a full glossary, makes the activity accessible to all learners and conveys an important point about what it means to be a linguist: we are not walking dictionaries, but creative individuals with open, critical minds, who know which questions to ask and where to find answers.
Confidence, creativity, critical thinking
Teachers’ responses to the prize return repeatedly to confidence, creativity and critical thinking, alongside reflections on its relevant and inclusive content. These tell us as much about the prize as they do about the teachers’ views on the existing curriculum – comments that the Anthea Bell teaching resources differ greatly from the curriculum abound:
Brilliant competition! The best for MFL in my opinion – my students always look forward to taking part. It’s a pleasure to see them working hard to use translation skills in a way that’s different from normal tasks set in the classroom.
Here we share a selection of quotes from participating teachers, drawing out the themes that recur throughout our teacher surveys.
Motivating learners
Thank you for running this competition. It’s motivational as not only does it provide students with practice in translation skills, but it also allows them to savour some beautiful literature and furthermore it provides a great opportunity for students without the funds to travel abroad to develop their language skills beyond the four walls of the classroom.
Motivating parents
We also showcase the competition during our open evenings, where it serves as a fantastic way to promote the value, enjoyment, and creativity of language learning. Parents and prospective students are always impressed by the high-quality work produced, and it helps us demonstrate the vibrant culture of language teaching at our school.
Confidence
It has given some real confidence to our linguists who took part, in the context of a school where language enthusiasm is low!
We only introduced German to our curriculum last year. The students have all very much enjoyed the change from our usual language lessons and it has also boosted a lot of their confidence in the subject.
Creativity
The pupils really enjoyed the competition. It was fantastic for me to be able to show that translation is a skill and that an ability in language goes beyond what Google translate and Deep L can produce. Non linguists underestimate the importance of creativity in MFL. Competitions like this enable us to show how useful and importance ability in MFL actually is.
Home, Heritage, Community Languages
The competition has raised the profile and given more opportunity to students who have a Home Heritage or Community Language.
Careers
Really enjoyed this competition – it tied in well with National Careers Week so we used it to promote employment opportunities and career paths related to languages.