Minority Languages in the UK

As you know, English is an official language of the UK, and it is spoken by more than 70 % of people in the UK. The population of the UK is over 61,000,000 ( estimated in 2009 ), so about 15,000,000 people speak other languages. Of course, there are many residents from overseas and they speak their mother tongues, but in fact, many minority languages are spoken in the UK, and the government promotes to protect and improve them. Among of all, Cornish ( in Cornwall ), Irish and Ulster Scots ( in Northern Ireland ), Scots and Scottish Gaelic ( in Scotland ) and Welsh ( in Wales ) are popular languages. A Language map of the UK

WELSH
Welsh is a language spoken in Wales ( to the west of central England ). It is classified into Indo-European, Celtic, Insular and Brythonic. Most Welsh speakers are residents of Wales, and some are in Argentina. The Welsh population is about 3,000,000. 19 % of the population speak Welsh, and 33 % understand it.

Welsh has been strongly associated with nationalism. ( Some are strongly against England. ) Wales has its capital city ( Cardiff ), national anthem,( click HERE to listen on youtube) national flag (the red dragon ) and the indigenous Welsh language. The Welsh language is officially protected by the government and some Acts ( 1993, 1998 ). Most documents, traffic signs, signboards, web-sites are provided in both languages Welsh and English. When I visited Cardiff in summer last year, I found many signs written in these two languages. In a cafeteria near the Cardiff castle, I was surprised to look at the menu book which has pages in Welsh and English, and it was a little confusing to read for Japanese. I also found flags of Wales throughout Cardiff, while the UK national flag ( union jack ) were found sometimes.

I got interesting information about Wales from a handout I read. It said that in 2001 an unofficial citizenship exam for English people who planning to move to Wales, was suggested to test their ability to pronounce this long place name: Llanfairpwllgwingyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllandysiliogogogoch
This is because one of the best known places in Wales claims to be the world's longest place name after one in New Zealand. This is read phonetically: Llan-vire-pooll-guin-gill-go-ger-u-queern-drob-ooll-llandus-ilio-gogo-goch. It translates as: St Mary’s Church by the white aspen over the whirlpool and St Tyllio’s Church by the red cave. The Welsh places names map on BBC is HERE.
I also found an useful webpage to know the Welsh alphabet and short conversation phrases for begginners. Croeso i Gymru! ( Welcome to Wales! )

REFERENCES:
Storry, M. and Childs, (2007) British Cultural Identities. (3rd Ed.) Routledge
Wales.com-Homepage http://www.wales.com/

Girls Only Schools

It entered to December! Christmas is coming!
Keep yourself warm:)

We researched girls only schools in UK last week. Now, as one of famous girls schools, I would like to introduce Benenden School and school life.

About Benenden School
Benenden is a beautiful village in the Kent ( a country town on the Southeast of England ). Benenden School is an independent school (a school which is not dependent on national or local government for its finance ) Benenden School was founded in 1923, and has been one of the leading boarding schools in Britain for over 80 years. There are 520 girls students aged 11-18, and all of them are boarders. At Benenden there are six boarding houses for 11-16 years old and four houses for Six Formers aged 17-18. School fees are ￡37,400 ( about 6 million yen) per year. Benenden School has a Christian foundation and a strong Christian ethos.

Pupil Behaviour Policy

This school has many policies like Anti-bullying Policy, Child Protection Policy and Pupil Behaviour Policy. Each policy is very important and necessary for a good school, but among of all if you read Pupil Behaviour Policy on the parents handbook, you will find something different from the school you graduated from. What I got interested in is that teachers use four different colored ( blue, yellow, orange and gray) peaces of paper to warn pupils' poor behaviour. ______________________________________________

Curriculum

According to Benenden School homepage-Welcome to Benenden School, Benenden School aims to give each pupil the chance to "develop her potential to the full within a happy and caring environment." Students must study English, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, a modern language ( from Spanish, Chinese, German and French ) and other three subjects at least for GCSE. Arts and Drama are popular subjects in Benenden.

School life
I will show you a sample plan of day, here
Monday to Friday
7.30am-8.15am Breakfast
8.30am Prayers/Form Order
9.00am-10.00am Period 1
10.00am-11.00am Period 2
11.00am-11.30am Break
11.30am-12.30pm Period 3
12.30am-1.00pm Lunch/Activities
1.00pm-1.30pm Lunch/Activities
1.30pm-2.00pm Lunch/Activities
2.00pm-3.00pm Period 4
3.00pm-4.00pm Period 5
4.00pm-4.30pm Break
4.30pm-5.30pm Period 6
5.30pm-9.30pm Clubs, Activitiesand Prep
6.30pm-7.20pm Supper
( refered to Benenden School Lower School Handbook )

If you read the Handbook, you can get information about boarding. When can pupils go home? What happens at weekend? Let's check it!

REFERENCES:

Benenden School homepage-Welcome to Benenden School http://www.benenden.kent.sch.uk/Pages/Index.aspx

Wikipedia (Benenden) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benenden