Pupils from Hove Park School tried on traditional Chinese dress during their visit.

Experienced tutors were on hand to teach pupils words and phrases in different languages.

The Sussex Centre for Language Studies (SCLS) recently hosted two language taster days to give pupils from three local schools the opportunity to try new languages and learn more about different cultures.

On Monday 2 July, pupils from Hove Park School attended a morning of Chinese language learning and cultural discovery. As well as spending time learning some Mandarin, the 12-year-olds were also given a tour of the campus, tried on traditional Chinese dress and spent time learning about Chinese dragon boats.

Felicity, a pupil at Hove Park School, said: “I really enjoyed the day, especially the tour of campus. The student who showed us around inspired me to go to university.”

The pupils also met some of Sussex’s Chinese students who are currently completing a pre-sessional English language course before starting their degrees.

Min Qiao, Chinese teacher at Hove Park School, commented: “My students really had a great experience at Sussex. Thank you to SCLS for taking time to prepare and organise such an incredibly fun, culturally rich activity.”

SCLS also ran another languages taster day on Wednesday 11 July for pupils from two local schools, Dorothy Stringer School in Brighton and Priory School in Lewes.

‘The Secret Life of Languages’ day gave Year 8 and 9 pupils the opportunity to sample eight different languages taught at Sussex: Arabic, British Sign Language, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish

After trying different languages, the children then spent time in small groups developing an idea, such as a poster or video, to promote a particular language and its associated cultures. The day concluded with each group presenting their product to the whole group.

Nadine Waeber, Modern Foreign Languages teacher at Priory, wrote afterwards: “Thank you so much for having us on campus this week. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and we had lovely feedback from parents too.”

The SCLS are planning to run similar days in the future, and you can read more about the SCLS on their webpages.