Pamplona to Peru

This week, King’s celebrated the Spanish-speaking world across both the Junior and Senior Schools.

Our Junior School pupils tested their knowledge of Hispanic food, locations, music, festivals, and inspirational figures – from the sounds of Mariachi and Tango, to Barcelona and Easter Island (Rapa Nui), delicious paella and tacos, the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, the Festival of the Sun in Peru and so much more. Well done to all who contributed to the assembly – it was wonderful to see this rainbow of cultures being embraced by our pupils.

Lower 5th pupils took part in a Linguistics Workshop, decoding a language puzzle in Waorani – a language spoken by about 600 Indigenous people in Ecuador. King’s pupils are first introduced to Waorani culture in Remove Spanish lessons, when they learn about environmental activists such as Nemonte Nenquimo, a member of the Waorani community. The workshop saw pupils tackling the challenge of maths in the Waorani language – a particularly tricky puzzle set by the UK Linguistics Olympiad. Congratulations to our winners: Josephine HR, Charlotte J, Neha N and Heidi P.

For those wishing to challenge themselves further and learn about Indigenous Latin American languages such as Waorani or Arhuaco, please visit the UKLO website: https://www.uklo.org.

A Chapel address in the Senior School centred on a reflection about the consequences of the colonisation of Central and Latin America by Spain from the 15th to the 19th century. A huge thank you goes to Mauricio GP, a boarding pupil from Monterrey, Mexico, who offered a personal perspective on the impact of Spanish influence on his country’s language, religion and people.