>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3532003.stm
>
> Last Updated: Thursday, 4 March, 2004, 12:21 GMT
>
> Do you speak Elf?
> By Justin Parkinson
> BBC News Online education staff
>
> It's a hard life being an elf.
> As if murderous orcs and magic spells weren't enough to contend with,
> are two languages to learn - loosely based on Welsh and Finnish.
> Undeterred by the challenge, a group of schoolboys has volunteered for
> lessons in Sindarin, the "conversational" form of Elvish, invented by Lord
> of the Rings author JRR Tolkien.
> Zainab Thorp, a special needs co-ordinator at Turves Green Boys'
Technology
> College in Birmingham, is offering after-hours classes, where pupils
plough
> through vocabulary and verb tables.
> She said: "The recent success of the Lord of the Rings films has increased
> the interest in learning Elvish.
> "The children really enjoy it. It breaks the idea that education should
> simply be aimed at getting a job."
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