School's On-line Spanish Lessons Net £5000 Prize

10.22.00pm GMT Fri 21st Dec 2007

A Milton Keynes School has won a major internet award for using video conferencing to reach out across the seas to bring innovation to Spanish language lessons.

St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School in Bletchley is to receive £5,000 for its use of video conferencing with the Felix Rodriguez de la Fuentea School in Spain to inspire pupils to learn a language.

The 2008 Peter Hemingway Award was made to the school by the East of England Broadband Network.

Video Conferencing allows the children in both schools to see and hear each other in real time. In addition to learning to say 'Hallo' and count in Spanish the St Thomas Aquinas children have also been taught to sing a traditional Spanish song. Being able to speak to native Spanish speakers has improved everyone's accent and pronunciation and the children find the video conferencing very exciting and motivating.

Liberal Democrat councillor Sandra Clark, cabinet member responsible for schools, said: "It is great to see one of our schools using new technology to add a new dimension to traditional language lessons."