A REDDITCH student who could hardly speak English six months ago has won a European Day of Languages Contest for his hard work learning a new language.
Birchensale Middle School’s David Jakubowski spoke no English when he moved to Redditch from Poland in September 2016 making it very difficult for him to make friends and communicate with teachers and other pupils.
The youngster was soon introduced to Rosetta Stone, a computer-based language program, to help him learn English and 13 year-old David has just been awarded an iPad Air for coming first in a county wide competition that highlighted pupils who had spent the greatest amount of time using the online lessons.
“I have really enjoyed using Rosetta Stone since moving to England last year,” said David.
“When I first arrived in this country I found it difficult to speak to my teachers and other children in my class, but this has now changed.
“I worked hard at learning the English language and can now understand my teachers during lessons. I also have a number of friends now. I’m very excited that I’ve won this iPad and I look forward to using it to learn even more.”
Katarzyna Okonska, English as an Additional Language (EAL) lead at Birchensale, said: “When a non-English speaking child moves to the school, there’s always a challenging transition period as they attempt to settle in.
“We are very proud of David and how much he has progressed since using Rosetta Stone. Over the last six months, our teachers have seen significant improvements in David’s communication skills and confidence.”
