Minister for Education and Employment Owen Bonnici together with the National Literacy Agency awarded the winners who participated in a competition to celebrate the European Day of Languages 2020.
Director of the Centre for Literacy within the University of Malta, Professor Charles Mifsud, was also present together with Ms Petya Stavreva, from the Balkan Chamber for Literacy Initiatives and Mr Mark Vella from the European Commission Representation in Malta.
Minister Owen Bonnici highlighted the importance of foreign languages in today’s modern world.
Minister Bonnici said that. “the European Day of Languages is organised by the Council of Europe to celebrate linguistic diversity. It has been celebrated on the 26th of September since 2001. This year’s motto is: ‘Discover the world through languages’. As Maltese people, we already have our own language which is different to other countries’ to be proud of, yet we still aim to learn other languages from our early years. Through languages, we are able to communicate with one another and this is the beauty of languages. This is why we feel the need for this day to be celebrated.”
Families, Skolasajf centres, and other summer clubs and schools were invited to organise activities to celebrate languages in Malta and beyond.
Mr David Muscat, the CEO for the National Literacy Agency, spoke about the agency’s commitment to the promotion of foreign languages: “children are to be encouraged to develop their communication skills in other languages in addition to their home languages. These difficult times have shown us that reading is one way to discover worlds beyond ours and reading in a different language can help us experience different cultures.”
Dr Lara Ann Vella, the National Representative for the European Day of Languages, provided the details of the competition entitled ‘What do you dare to do in a foreign language?’. This competition encouraged children and young people to showcase their knowledge of foreign languages.
Those who participated in the said competition were instructed to create a short video clip which exhibits their communication skills in a foreign language.
There was a total of four age groups:
- Ages 3-7;
- Ages 8-11;
- Ages 12-15;
Three winners from each category were chosen. Centres and schools with the most participants in each category also received a prize.
Participants sent their video clip by private message to the official Facebook page: ‘Language Policy Malta’.
Minister Bonnici thanked the agency for all the initiatives which are organised every year, and also congratulated all the children who participated in the competition. He emphasised the importance of not only learning the Maltese language, but also being able to speak other languages from different countries.
The winners in each category are:
3-7 year olds
First place: Julia Barbara
Second place: Fathi Aboujaafar
Third place: Julien Bouvier
8-11 year olds
First place: Lara and Lisa Giordmaina
Second place: Elly Cutajar
Third place: Sara Garcia Conrad
12-15 year olds
First place: Alexandra Bugeja
Second place: Amelie Calleja
Third place: David Attard and Mattea Micallef
