Spanish cookery helps pupils learn

Students brought a taste of the Mediterranean to the classroom when they were asked to cook Spanish themed dishes.

In preparation for Spanish GCSE, The Ripley Academy pupils translated Spanish recipes presented to them by teacher Robin Pardo Roques.

Mr Pardo Roques, curriculum area leader for modern foreign languages, said the students thoroughly enjoyed the task.

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He said: “They were asked to research and translate the recipes which were all in Spanish.

“There were rice dishes with chicken and traditional spices like turmeric and salads with strawberries.

“They had to use their language skills to unpick the recipe - I didn’t have any input other than checking their ingredients and the equipment they were using.

“It’s great for them to use Spanish in a real-life situation and it shows them the value of learning a language.”

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Molly Stone, 14, prepared a typical pasta dish while Alice North, 13, made a dish using chicken, turmeric and rice.

Alice said: “We worked in pairs and had to translate the recipe which was quite difficult.

“I really enjoyed doing it though and the dish tasted really nice. It was definitely something I would make again.”

Tyler Spencer, 14, cooked a pasta dish and Dylan Farnworth, 14, made a chicken salad with strawberries.

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Tyler said: “It was good to use our language in a practical way and I think you can learn more that way.

“It wasn’t too hard to translate the recipe although there were some bits that I didn’t understand at first.

“The food that we cooked was really nice.”

Students from years eight, nine and ten will soon be embarking on trips to France and Spain.

Whilst in France the students will visit Paris where they will tour the major landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe and the Palace of Versailles as well as taking a boat trip down the river Seine.

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Later in the year, another group will travel to Barcelona and visit the underground wine caves of Codorníu, the Montserrat Monastery, the medieval town of Girona, the open air market of Tordera, the Nou Camp stadium, La Sagrada Familia and Las Ramblas.

The academy also has a link with the Collège André Bauchant in France, in the town of Château-Renault which is twinned with Ripley - pupils from the two schools communicate by letter.

For more on The Ripley Academy, visit www.ripleyacademy.org

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