International Ambassadors
Stockport School’s International Ambassadors comprise 15 Year 7 pupils whose role is to support the MFL department and wider school with international-themed activities such as European Languages Week and the Languages and the Arts evening (see our International Schools Award page for more information on some of the international activities that take place in school).
For the first time this year, they will also be preparing content for the school website to give you information about the culture, events and traditions in the countries where the languages they study are spoken. Find out more below!
Spanish
There are many Spanish-speaking countries in the world, as Spanish is the official language of the following 20 countries, as well as Puerto Rico: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Although it’s not an official language, Spanish is commonly spoken in the United States, Belize, Andorra and Gibraltar.
Our Spanish International Ambassadors are Phoebe A (7Pi), Taylor D (7Pi), Katie J (7Va), Isabella P (7Da) and Elliott S (7Pi).
December 2019
Hispanic Music (Phoebe)
Spanish Festivals (Elliott)
Spanish Politics (Isabella)
Sport in Spain (Katie)
German
German is the only official language of both Germany and Austria, and it’s one of the official languages of Switzerland, along with French and Italian. There are also a number of German speakers in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Namibia, Paraguay, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, the United States and Uruguay.
Our German International Ambassadors are Erin B (7Tu), Connor J (7Go), Fletcher N (7Ri) and Erin-Lily T (7Mo).
December 2019
Christmas Food in Germany (Fletcher)
Bundesliga Football League (Connor)
French
French is the official language in 29 countries, which puts it in second place behind English. The 29 countries are, in alphabetical order: Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, the Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo and Vanuatu.
French is also the procedural language for the EU, the only language used for deliberations at the Court of Justice for the EU, and one of the recognized working languages of the United Nations.
Our French International Ambassadors are Mia F (7Go), Jake J (7Mo), Aiden S (7Go) and Layla W (7Lo).
December 2019
French Music (Layla and Mia)
French Sports (Aiden)
Mandarin
Numbers vary widely — Ethnologue puts the number of native speakers at 1.3 billion native speakers, roughly 917 million of whom speak Mandarin — but there’s no doubt it’s the most spoken language in the world. If you wish to learn a language that one in six people in the world speak, this is the one for you. Seeing as Chinese is a tonal language that uses thousands of logograms, it will certainly keep you busy.
Harriet D (7Go) and Lucas V (7Es) both study French in school, but also attend Miss Thompson’s weekly Mandarin club and so have become our Mandarin International Ambassadors.
December 2019
Top Books and Films in China (Lucas)
Mandarin and French Mélange (Harriet)
Language Information Source: Babbel (2019) https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/