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BUSINESS LANGUAGE CHAMPIONS NEWS
BLC NORTH WEST ACTIVITY
TUNE IN TO SALFORD CITY RADIO 94.4 FM TUESDAY 8 DECEMBER 10AM
and listen to interview with Cristina Sousa and Delphine Greenhalgh who will share their experience of using languages in business. They will also talk about their recent Business Language Champion activity which involved a visit to St Patrick's RC High School...
Languages for Export Consultancy Services
Salford's DG Consultancy's director, Delphine Greenhalgh, shared her expertise with Year 9 pupils at St Patrick's RC High School and Arts College in Eccles during her visit on 17th November.
Pupils at St Patrick's learnt about the comprehensive services provided to exporters, including international market research, language support at international trade fairs, intercultural expertise for dealing with overseas markets and the role of business interpreting and translation for export purposes.
Delphine Greenhalgh says: 'St Patrick's pupils were very enthusiastic on the day and it was so refreshing. I hope I gave them an insight into the real world of business as well as showing them how important languages have been throughout my career and in my current business. I look forward to working with St Patrick's RC High School over the new year and take the task further into a concrete case study!'
Following Delphine's visit, they participated in a brainstorming session with RLN NW's director, Dr Cristina Sousa, during wich they prepared for an international market research task they will complete as part of their BLC activity.
Languages for Tourism and Hospitality
The benefit of languages in a restaurant chain is shared with students at Christ The King Catholic High School by Operations Director of Il Forno and Sapporo Teppanyaki Restaurants in Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow, and Il Forno's General Manager, Attilio.
Vince Margiotta was keen for his company to join the BLC programme and share his experience with pupils in his local school. So, together with his General Manager at Il Forno, he joined Cristina Sousa from RLN NW to deliver a series of lively presentations to pupils at Christ The King Catholic High School in Southport last September.
Vince and Attilio explained the benefit of languages and cultural skills in such cosmopolitan restaurants as Il Forno and Sapporo Teppanyaki. In total, the restaurant chain employs people from 15 nationalities, and serve visitors who come from all over the world to visit Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow.
Pupils and teachers enjoyed the presentations and said: 'It was brilliant!' and 'I didn't realise how many jobs you need a language for!'
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Students from Archbishop Beck Catholic Sports College visit The Holiday Inn, John Lennon Liverpool Airport to meet the staff and learn how benefitial languages can be for an international hotel from General Manager Helen Purnell.
The visit followed a presentation at the school about the variety of careers using languages in the hospitality sector, such as management, reception, as well as in other sectors.
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Students from Higherside Community Comprehensive School visit The Holiday Inn, Albert Dock in Liverpool, where they met the staff and learnt how benefitial languages can be for an international hotel, with the opportunity to engage in roleplay at reception.
The visit followed a presentation at the school about the variety of careers using languages in the hospitality sector, such as management, reception, as well as in other sectors.
Languages for the Manufacturing Industry
Slater Harrison's sales director, Brian Bogie, shows students from Altrincham Grammar School for Girls how colourful the role of languages can be when working for a manufacturer of speciality paper and card.
Following a visit to the school, where Brian talked about his vast work experience in export and his use of languages over the years, a group of students toured the factory and learnt about the different stages of paper manufacture.
Languages for Marketing and Public Relations
The benefit of languages in Marketing and PR is illustrated to students from Flixton Girls High School by experts from Manchester's Smith & Smith PR.
For the second year running, with the support of RLN NW, they have a Business Language Champion Day with a hands-on approach to languages and Marketing. The day starts with a visit from PR Account Director Susan Tongue who shares her experience and passion for Marketing/PR and how languages play a role in her job on a daily basis. Then a group of students visit the company and meet the company directors Nathan and Jane Smith and the rest of the team, and share the enthusiasm of the whole team who show them some of the assignments they are working on, including the use of languages.
Being part of the Business Language Champions scheme has had a hugely positive impact on our team. As well as enabling us to give something back to the community we work in, we're able to help pass on the languages legacy to empower and encourage the young linguists who are so vital to the future of our business. As passionate linguists ourselves, we've embraced the opportunity to share our entusiasm and experience with young people. It's been extremely gratifying to show how languages can be the springboard to a stimulating career in PR and marketing.', says Alison Dwyer, PR Director
Languages for Export in the Chemical Industry
Students from St Aldred's Catholic Technology College take a tour of Skelmerdale's Turtle Wax, led by the company's director Khalid Bostan, and learn all about the company and the role languages play in their export strategy.
The company employs staff with language skills and also uses the services of translators for product labels, as they are exported to a variety of world markets.
Languages and the Sport Industry
Students from Wade Deacon High School had an unusual French class when players from the Widnes Vikings Rugby Club joined them to share their language skills.
Following the visit to the school, pupils from Wade Deacon returned the favour by using their French skills to make the announcements at the game for the benefit of French visitors.
The announcements were live and pupils were up to the challenge, with the support from their teacher Carine Whitfield.
Languages for Logistics
Les Wright, director of logistics company Supply Chain Solutions, welcomes pupils from St Peter and Paul Catholic College and shows them what logistics is all about in world trade and how benefiicial languages are for the industry and for his company.
The visit took place following Les's talk at the college, where he set a challenge to pupils to find suitable transport for specific products, as he has to do on a dialy basis. And teacher Marie Taylor was pleased to confirm that pupils rose to the challenge!
Celebration Event 2009
Business Language Champions celebrated the year's achievements with a friendly networking event in Manchester on 26th May, at which they were awarded their Certificates of Participation..
OTHER BUSINESS LANGUAGE CHAMPIONS NEWS
Languages Employer Engagement Project
CILT, the National Centre for Languages has won a bid to run a million pound programme to encourage teenagers to learn languages to help them compete more successfully in an increasingly globalised job market. The Languages Employer Engagement project will see employers working with schools in England to demonstrate the relevance of languages and intercultural skills to business.
The new programme comes in response to feedback from high-profile business organisations that shows that without language skills UK risk falling behind in the international job market.
A recent survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) showed that the importance of languages to UK firms is set to grow as companies operate in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. Seventy two per cent of UK international trade is with non-English speaking countries – but it is estimated that only one in ten British workers can speak a foreign language.
The announcement of the project which aims to tackle a decline in language take-up at GCSE, follows news that the study of language at University is at an all time low.
CILT’s Chief Executive Kathryn Board said ‘In the current economic climate, being able to speak more than one language will give school leavers a competitive advantage in the job market over monolingual English speakers, as well as the chance to take advantage of job opportunities in the EU and elsewhere in the world.
‘We’re delighted to be leading the new Employer Engagement programme which we hope will demonstrate to young people that language skills open doors in the business world and that languages are a smart choice both at GCSE and beyond.’
The two-year programme, funded by the government’s Department for Schools, Children and Families (DCSF), will build on the success of CILT’s Business Language Champions scheme, which has seen 150 businesses supporting languages in schools since 2004. Business Language Champions have come from a wide range of industries including engineering, retail, transport, sports, media and the charity sector.
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