Unless they hop on a plane, there are few opportunities for UK students to practise their language skills outside the language lab. But British Airways has developed a programme that will allow at least some language students to talk another lingo without ever having to leave home.

BA’s Language Flights take students on a journey to encourage them to use the French, German, Spanish or Italian they have been practising at school.

I join 32 pupils and three teachers from Shene School (a west London comprehensive which recently achieved Language College status) to see how the airline convinces students that learning another language is both useful and relevant. On arrival at a long low prefab on a site adjacent to Heathrow Airport, we are checked in by a tall, elegantly uniformed member of the BA staff. We sit in a large, comfortable training room and wait for take-off. By the time we land we should be more confident in our use of spoken German.

Herzlich Willkommen, says the screen as the students arrange themselves in groups. Kath Curry, our trainer for the day, addresses us in friendly but crisp-sounding German, interspersing her announcement with just enough English to keep us on board. She lays down a few rules first: Rauchen verboten, Keine Kagummis, Handys ausschalten. Everyone looks as if they had never even contemplated nicotine, gum or a mobile.

To warm up we play Lotto Totto - no, not a Daily Star headline, but a sort of German bingo. As aircraft throb in the distance the pupils listen: sieben, neunzehn, elfI They cross the figures off on their cards until at last a slightly hesitant voice pipes up “Lotto”. After three games of this the students are calling out their numbers quite confidently: fuenf und vierzig, sieben und fuenfzig.

Lotto is followed by the British Airways quiz. Was is die kuerzeste flueg...? To everyone’s astonishment the shortest flight turns out to be a two-minute island-hop in Scotland. The key question comes at the end. How many BA passengers have English as their mother tongue? Answer: 60 per cent. Conclusion: BA staff, and the nation as a whole, need to be as competent as possible in foreign languages.

Next we are led through a mysterious curtain into a mock-up aircraft cabin. We belt-up in seats which have implausible amounts of leg-room. We learn some of the secrets of making a good announcement - in German it is important to understand how different the emphasis can be from English.

Then in comes one of those familiar trolleys and out come the BA uniforms. Circular hats, blue blazers and even a cabin-crew tie and skirt are donned. Role-plays are hatched and with the help of some crib-cards the students seize the spacious centre of the cabin for a stage. With gusto they play kindly attendants dealing with stroppy passengers demanding Tee, Kaffee, Coca-Cola, Bier und Wein simultaneously. Kath Curry helps the would-be BA staff acquire an apologetic Es tut mir leid.

A guided tour of the Waterside centre, the BA headquarters, is also included as part of the trip. Waterside is an architectural masterpiece - a strikingly imaginative mixture of air, light, water and space. As they wander around the centre, the students suddenly begin to swap phrases in German, and one girl comes up and spontaneously tells her teacher how much she has enjoyed the day. “It makes you think about your education and what you are going to do in life”, says Tendai Sakela, one of the Year 9s. Loren Kennedy has gained confidence from the role-playing: “I liked dressing up in the uniform, and the vocabulary on the cabin walls made it easier.”

Kath Curry is pleased with the pupils’ enthusiasm. “The day is designed to help motivation and confidence. We try not to pick them up on every single mistake in the role-play and we often hear students say how much they enjoyed it here because they found they were able to speak in a way that they had found difficult before.”

Our flight over, we touch-down with a feedback session. There is satisfaction all round. As almost everyone put it:“We learned more things to say in German.”

Amid the euphoric mood of the homeward journey, Lyn Comley, acting head of languages at Shene, sums up the benefits of the experience: “It was positive, motivating and fun. All the students took part keenly and nobody refused. It increased their desire to use language - and to work for British Airways.”

Undoubtedly by offering free “language-flights” like this one, BA increases its chances of finding talented and motivated staff. But the day really has a broader purpose - to score some victories in the battle against British blind-eye laziness over foreign language learning.

As Kath Curry puts it: “We’re only a small team but we’re passionate about what we do. We want to show as many people as possible the benefits of language learning and the new worlds it can open up.”

BA language workshops in French, German, Spanish and Italian are available free to schools. Most language courses are run for schools in the Heathrow-Gatwick catchment areas but schools from further afield are also welcome. Tel: 020 8738 9599Email: kath.1.curry@britishairways.com

MORE CURRICULUM LINKS

The British Airways Community Learning Centre offers a range of free curriculum-linked programmes to schools. Its main programmes for secondary and college students revolve around ICT, the environment and customer service. It also offers occasional programmes on marketing and leisure and tourism for GNVQ students.

Tel: 020 8738 9599 for further details on the options available for schools.