Now, what talking to Lucy Jenkins, the force of nature who leads the MFL student mentoring project, has done is made me better understand what my own experience actually was all those years ago. And those two examples show what that was, and that was being given the facility to play with languages, to see the connections and to be able to guess what something means, to take some risks and make as many mistakes as you like. And unlike maths, where the certainties are what makes it so satisfying, it's the anomalies with language that are the joyful surprises. And I'm sure that my WJEC examiner had an absolute ball reading my short piece on hunting, when I repeatedly confused the German for 'to shoot' with the German for 'to defecate'. And, okay, with me, it's just happy flirting with Italic and Germanic languages, but I can indulge in that because of my school experience. Today's learners have to try and replicate this creativity and exploration through semi-immersion techniques in lessons once a week, or maybe even once a fortnight, in schools that, by and large, have been trying to raise their science base for the last two decades. So, can we actually say hand on heart that we have a national narrative that says that we value international languages? Can we do that? And I suppose I would add here, if I should, that, if anything, much of the underlying mood music of our recent relationship with the EU has actually contributed to us valuing them less. 

And while we do tend to talk about a lack of physics teachers—you know, they're in single figures—how often do we lament the lack of our modern foreign languages teachers? I mean, they're pretty much in single figures too. And what have we done to introduce other globally important languages? Adoro l’italiano ma forse dovrei pensare di piú a imparare l'arabo o il mandarino. And this is another reason for my enthusiasm about this mentoring project: they talk about languages that we aren't learning too.

Now, working across Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea universities, this project, funded through Global Futures, focuses on changing attitudes and perceptions of languages by training students to mentor years eight and nine—those learners in secondary school—to appreciate the value and benefits of language learning. And it's not just in Wales—this team has delivered this initiative, or a very similar initiative, created in England, a blended mentoring project, which they ran in Yorkshire for two years, following funding awarded by the Department for Education. And the most fully trialled model is a once a week face-to-face mentoring system over a six-week period, followed by an award ceremony at the host university. However, they've also got a blended version and a fully digital pilot being delivered through Hwb, which, of course, is very timely.

The group has also devised an online post-16 recovery programme to help overcome the effects of COVID. And the primary key performance indicator of the project has been to get more learners to choose to study a modern foreign language at GCSE, and its target learners are the 'probably not's and the 'no's, the learners who are pretty sure that this is not for them. This is not about the low-hanging fruit. And its success—well, I am summarising a lot of evidence when I say this, but it's effectively doubled the uptake of modern foreign languages in those schools where the scheme operates. So, in just those six weeks, it's converted some of the least interested into GCSE language students, as well as lighting the fire for those who really weren't sure at all. And while this does wonders for the morale of the language teachers in these schools, guess what? Above all, it has been the learners from economically disadvantaged areas who have benefitted the most from this direct personal contact with university students who've had a recent experience of living in a foreign country and, I suppose, who embody a wider range of experiences and options.

Now, Minister, I'm sure you'll want to talk about Erasmus+ in your response to this debate, but I really want you to talk about this scheme, which is every bit as compatible with Turing as it is with Erasmus+, and that really plays to that primary goal of Turing, which is about reaching the most economically disadvantaged areas. Can we please do Erasmus versus Turing another day, and today relish the success of the mentoring project, accepting that one of the main reasons this scheme is so successful is that connection between our year eight and nines and our domestic university students who have that recent experience of living abroad, which I'm sure we both still want to happen?

But the great news is there's no shortage of students wanting to be mentors. More apply than are taken on. There are 100 new mentors this year, chosen after a rigorous recruitment process, working with eight pupils, and, actually, it's a bit more than that, when it's offering the work online. Part of their work is overcoming the challenges we know about and that we've heard from the British Council often enough: 'These languages are hard'; 'It's boring'; 'Learners start too late compared to other subjects'; 'There's too little space on the timetable'; 'Parental attitudes'; and, I would say, this lack of national celebration. And they focus on what I started to talk about a little earlier, and that's the philosophy of languages, how do we communicate, language as being key to being curious, feeling comfortable playing with and experiencing other languages, and the safe space to get it wrong. And while I still say there's a place for using languages to sell careers and sell Wales, Wales, of course, is a part of the UK where we can demonstrate that we are not afraid of languages that aren't English.

I think this project does something very interesting. It asks our young people to—it asks them to think about who and what they are. So, are they kind? Do they want to make people feel welcome by offering them the chance to use their own language, to feel less vulnerable when trying to communicate with each other? Just think of the way we all feel when we're abroad and someone is kind enough to speak English to us. Language and how we use it is very personal and it's very exposing, and helping learners function in a world that's much bigger than the world they live in is one of the wonders of language. But another is the ability of languages to form intimate connections—small and human, yet vast and expansive at the same time. So, Minister, I hope, when we've both left this place, that the future of this project is confirmed as a permanent feature of our education offer.

Before I go, I'd like to just mention two things: first, is to recommend a Facebook page to you. Please, please, please look up Steve the vagabond and silly linguist—he's got a website too. But if you want to rediscover playing with languages, then I'd pay him a visit. And then, secondly, and for another day—this is one for the sixth Senedd and another Government altogether, including the UK Government—I wonder why we seem to be unable to deliver even one foreign language channel through Freeview. Grazie.