PPLI Annual Report (2019) - Flipbook - Page 55
#ThinkLanguages
The expanded #ThinkLanguages event this year saw 3000 TY students from all over Ireland come to the
Convention Centre Dublin to learn more about the benefits that foreign language skills can add to their lives.
Students attending were encouraged to think about the global work opportunities, the wider circle of friends,
the richer life experiences and the greater travel opportunities that foreign language skills can offer them. At
a practical level, it was hoped to encourage students to keep up their foreign languages and maybe even
take on another language for the Leaving Certificate.
The event kicked off in the main auditorium with a spectacular performance by the Experience Japan Taiko
Drum team. Karen Ruddock, PPLI Director welcomed everyone and this was followed by interesting and
insightful talks from Orlaith Tunney and Silvia Bertoni from Trinity College where they have first-hand
experience of hearing from employers on their increasing needs for multilingual workers. Heather Murphy,
an engineering student from Trinity and former BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp ‘Best Individual
Student, spoke about how her French skills have helped her gain valuable international experience and
opened doors for her. After this came a fast-paced Italian interpretation session where everyone could
understand Salvo Cacciato & Lily Lee, with the help of European Commission interpreters who sent six
interpreters from Brussels to provide workshops.
The Keynote on the day came from Radio and TV broadcaster Hector Ó’Heochagáin, who got the whole
auditorium speaking and even singing in Spanish! He enthused about the enriching experiences he has had
as a result of learning Spanish and of the 20 Spanish speaking countries he was able to travel to because of
the opportunities that speaking the language opened up to him. He spoke about the key that languages are
to our humanity and of the benefits of communication with real people over smart devices and of the many
doors that have been opened for him to whole new worlds because he spoke a foreign language.
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