Space Competition 2016

Year 10 Gifted and Talented French students visited Nottingham girls' High School on Wednesday, 10th February, to take part in a language-business competition against other girls' teams from the East Midlands. Held in the language of their choice, the challenge was to design and build a model of a hotel to go up into space, and then present these ideas in both English and said chosen language later on. Taking place over the course of the day, the team of 6 ordered materials, constructed a model and prepared their ideas before presenting both the engineering choices and marketing of their hotel, however the preparation had begun months before the event.

In weekly meetings beforehand, pupils produced initial ideas and learnt vocab of potential use to them, although specific details of what the day would entail were left out. Considering obstacles of low-Earth orbit and space travel, the students developed their ideas and moulded them to deal with issues arising from things such as the sun, space debris, energy, temperature difference and the cost of their hotel in order to be most prepared for the competition itself.

Following a challenging presentation, wherein pupils marketed their space hotels and were questioned on their choices - all in French-, the team justified their decisions on shape and material in front of a panel of engineering students and an astrophysicist, before returning to their base to wait for the results.

Despite tough competition from other schools, Spalding High School were awarded 1st Prize for Language Skills and came 3rd place overall, with just one point between them and the winners. Overall, the experience was a positive and enriching opportunity for the girls to discover the many doors that languages open and the uses of them in other career sectors, such as engineering or business. Not only did it push their creative and mathematical skills, but the day was important in challenging the students to develop their French speaking abilities and confidence in the area as well.