Languages celebrated at Worth

Worth pupils this week celebrated the European Day of Languages by taking part in a variety of activities and discussions during lessons.

The European Day of Languages is an annual event, celebrated on 26 September, which provides an opportunity to celebrate diversity and to highlight the importance of learning languages in today’s world.

At Worth, we are very fortunate to study, work and live alongside people whose native language is not English. Each member of the Worth community brings a life of different experiences and perspectives from which we can all learn.

Our pictures show pupils working on a quiz in groups, putting the 10 most spoken languages in the world in order.

Did you know the following facts, which were just some of those shared with pupils on the European Day of Languages?

• According to UNESCO, at least 43% of the estimated 6,000 languages in the world are endangered.
• Lithuanian is very similar to ancient Sanskrit and is the oldest spoken Indo-European language.
• Russian was the first language spoken in outer space.
• More than 200 fake languages have been created for literature and cinema, including Elvish in Lord of the Rings and Klingon in Star Trek.
• Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the world’s second largest French speaking city, after Paris and before Montreal and Brussels.
• There are about 225 indigenous languages in Europe – roughly 3% of the world’s total.