HULL City's German football player is backing moves to encourage more pupils to tackle modern foreign languages.
Striker Nick Proschwitz, who joined The Tigers from a German club in July, met students on a visit to Wolfreton School and Sixth Form College, Kirk Ella.
The £2.6m former SC Paderborn player was invited to the secondary as part of an initiative to encourage more students to study languages at GCSE and A level.
He said: "I believe it is important for everyone to speak a few languages.
"It helps you understand other cultures and helps you develop as a person.
"German is my mother tongue but I have learned English for more than seven years and I hope to improve it even more while I'm here. It's going well so far."
Proschwitz took a question and answer session in German from the Year 9 and Year 13 language students.
Sixth former Lucy Everett, 17, said: "Studying languages opens a lot of doors and this has been a great opportunity to see that in action.
"I am planning on studying French and German at university."
Pupils had the chance to ask the 26-year-old sportsman questions about football, his family and friends and the differences between life in Germany and Hull.
Year 9 pupil Tommy Robinson, 13, said: "It has been good to learn what it's like to come from another country and live and work abroad."
Josh Corlett, 14, said the chance to talk with a native German speaker had helped improve is knowledge of the language.
He said: "It's great to meet a German player as I study German and I'm really into sport, especially football.
"Listening to him will help me improve my German language skills."
Maddie Shore, 13, said: 'This is a really good opportunity to learn about the German way of life and improve our language skills.'
Charlotte Atkinson, languages teacher at Wolfreton, said the South Ella Lane secondary was delighted to welcome Proschwitz to the school.
She said: "Our students were so excited to meet the Hull City star.
"Modern foreign languages are a core strand of our curriculum and Nick has been able to demonstrate to our students the importance of learning another language, particularly German."
