Feedback 2010

Feedback from Schools (2010)

The following is a selection of messages from teachers who had entered their pupils for the Round 1 test:

• The Olympiad went really well this morning.  In the end we had 41 boys who took part and “battled” in earnest for 2 hours!  Will have to bring chocolates in tomorrow, I think.
  Thanks for giving us the opportunity.  I feel it is another way of encouraging languages as a whole, and especially in a boys’ school.
• Thanks and just sat in the middle of the test as we speak our younger students are all entering foundation as a group – and is really the first time that I’ve seen students actually get so involved in working out how languages work. It really is brilliant!! Thank you very much.
• Many thanks for the certificate template. Giving these out in assembly will certainly raise the profile of the activity, and I hope we shall have more entrants next year. Love the logo!
• [Replying to a message from Dick Hudson: “… I’m astonished that such young students did so well, and especially the three twelve-year olds.  ….”] I’ll tell them – I know the twelve year-olds were amazing! They practically got all the first three questions correct!! Very impressive – and they were telling me the answers so I can’t take any credit – it appears I’m rubbish at this sort of thing!! Thanks – and they’re all looking forward to the after school classes we’re going to hold once a term to prepare more for next year – is that sad!!??!!
• May I say how pleased I am that my old college friend, … , told me about the competition.  My school has never participated in anything like this before and it has been highly challenging and fun.  I only managed to complete the first three questions under timed conditions myself, and thoroughly enjoyed the ensuing brain-ache!  I think that my students would really benefit and enjoy other similar materials if there are any available and I think with hindsight, they may have benefitted from undertaking some practice exercises; they were rather thrown in at the deep-end!
• Just to say thank you for your hard work organising UKLO. Although our students didn’t make it to the next round (and frankly I should have been surprised if they had!) they – and I – enjoyed the experience, and we look forward to next year’s competition.
• [From a school newsletter] Can you speak Abma? Ever been lost in Armenia unable to read a map? Ever needed to converse with one of the 8,000 Pacific islanders who speak Abma? Probably not, but if you had you would have been glad to have the skills of the 20 Sixth Form students who tackled such problems in the first National Linguistics Olympiad. On 4th February, they sat an extremely challenging two and a half hour paper  testing analytical language skills, their logic and their perseverance. If successful, they will be invited to the training camp for the British Linguistics Team, and en route they’ve learnt how to write entire English sentences as one word in Tangkhul….
• The pupils who participated this year are all keen to have another crack next year. You have done a terrific job co-ordinating the whole event and I hope you enjoy Round 2 and Sweden.