Minister for Education Norma Foley TD this week congratulated students from Our Lady of Mercy, Waterford, on their performance in the #ThinkLanguages competition.
#ThinkLanguages is an annual event for Transition Year (TY) students, celebrating languages inside and outside of the classroom and thinking about how languages can enhance life’s opportunities.
Around 15,000 TY students in 180 different schools entered the competition, which took place during #ThinkLanguages week (27th November -1st December 2023).
Students from three schools were shortlisted for the final - Killarney Community College, Our Lady of Mercy in Waterford and Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone.
Minister Foley congratulated all the three schools for making the final shortlist at the awards ceremony in the Clock Tower building in the Department of Education this week.
L-R: Oliwia Kowalik, Sophie O’Neill, Marianna Possante, Minister for Education Norma Foley TD, Amelia Bankowska, Zoe Murphy, Kamile Ziliute.
Minister Foley said: "To make it here into the last three out of 15,000 TY students and 180 schools is a phenomenal achievement. You should reflect on that and say: 'Wow, we're pretty good'.”
Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone, were announced as winners of the competition for a trip to Brussels.
The competition is a joint collaboration between Post Primary Languages Ireland (PPLI) and the Department of Foreign Affairs under Languages Connect and the Career for EU strategy.
Minister Foley said: “All the schools involved have shown great creativity, teamwork and enthusiasm for languages and the competition was fierce. I really want to thank the school staff for mentoring, encouraging and minding their students through this process.”
Minister Foley added: “The Department is committed to increasing and diversifying the foreign languages taught and learnt in our schools and I know that through participation in the #ThinkLanguages event, TY students will gain an appreciation of the benefits of learning languages, not only for future career options in a globalised world, but for social and cultural interactions”
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