Language teacher Brett Jouny has hit on a novel way of getting his pupils to practise their skills – by talking to foreign-born sports stars.

Mr Jouny, the new head of languages at Malmesbury School, invited Bath Rugby players, Argentinian Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe and French Rugby Sevens player Jacques Boussuge to the school.

The players gave the pupils free rein on questions, so long as they spoke in either Spanish or French.

Mr Jouny said: “I thought about what would have motivated me when I was in school and it would have been meeting some famous sports personality.

“I’m also a big Bath Rugby fan so I was very excited too.”

He added: “It’s really good for the students to see two people who are using a foreign language day to day in their jobs.

“It shows that speaking a language can be really helpful.”

He said that he was delighted with the response of the rugby club.

“When I called up Bath I thought we’d just get a couple of low profile squad players but to get Lobbe in particular is amazing,” he said.

The players had been very keen to help the students, even coming on their day off.

“It’s also amazing how engaging the pupils have been, coming up with questions,” said Mr Jouny.

The visit follows that of French-speaking Swindon Town players Vincent Pericard and Thomas Dossevi, who dropped into a French lesson.

Mr Jouny said: “We’ve had Spanish and French speakers so now I’m hoping to bring in a German speaker.”