Hard work translated into prizes for a group of dedicated language students

Inverclyde Academy S2 pupils Amanda Hunter, Sofia Ness, Rhygan Rosbotham, Kirsten MacLean and Andrea Crumlish enjoyed success in the Language Perfect competition recently.

The contest allows youngsters to hone their reading, writing and listening skills in the likes of French and Spanish, which are taught in school, and broaden their horizons into Latin, Mandarin, Turkish, Urdu and Russian.

They compete in a series of web-based challenges as they vie for gold, silver, bronze and credit accreditations.

Student Sofia, 13, said: "I did French and Spanish and it's helped with my learning of the languages."

Pupils take part in the contest above and beyond their classroom work during breaks, lunchtimes and at home.

Golden girl Kirsten, 13, said: "You get to do lots of different languages, which I really enjoyed. "I did Latin and Turkish."

Teacher Gioia Docherty says the competition is a useful tool for staff and students and praised the girls for their achievements.

Mrs Docherty, who is the school's principal of modern languages, said: "We've been doing it for a few years now.

"The pupils do it off their own backs in the mornings, at home or at lunchtime. "The good thing about it is they can choose to do it in any language. "They usually start out with French and Spanish because that's what we teach in the school and some get into the likes of Urdu and Mandarin. "It helps improve their skills in different languages and it's fun."

The Inverclyde Academy pupils were competing with youngsters around the world and earedn points for translating between their target language and English.

Mrs Docherty said: "They have done fantastically well.

"The competitive nature of it means the pupils get really into it. "It's great from a teacher's point of view, it really engages them in languages."