We are delighted to share the Mother Tongue Other Tongue e-book, a digital anthology of children’s writing from across the North East. The anthology includes pieces from children writing in 37 different languages spoken in the region.
Click here to read the 2024 Mother Tongue Other Tongue Digital Anthology
The languages which feature in the 2024 anthology are:
Arabic, Cantonese, Chinese Mandarin, Czech, Dari, Esan, English, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Hungarian, Igbo, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Kurdish Sorani, Malayalam, Norwegian, Pashto, Persian Farsi, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh and Yoruba.
Children aged 7-18 years old in North East schools submitted poems, song lyrics or remembered pieces in their home language (Mother Tongue) and those learning a new language submit original pieces of poetic writing (Other Tongue). The anthology includes examples from schools across the region and every child received a certificate. It celebrates creativity and showcases the cultural and linguistic diversity across the region. Children and young people were able to express themselves and share their languages and heritage within schools and with their families and communities.
The submissions of writing from children for Mother Tongue Other Tongue and the selection shared in the digital anthology, demonstrates their creativity and reflects their memories, new experiences, as well as things that matter to them: nature, emotions, identity, friendship, community, family, resilience, life lessons, hopes and dreams, school and reflections on their home countries.
They include original pieces, remembered poems and songs. The children explain why they chose to write the pieces and some accompany them with drawings. They are a joy to read, many are moving and thought provoking, others will make you smile.
Mother Tongue Other Tongue was hosted by International Newcastle, led by Project Coordinator Crista Hazell and supported by the Association of Language Learning North East and staff and Student Language Ambassadors from Newcastle University’s Language Resource Centre.
It was one of three creative projects running from January to March, as part of our fourth, annual Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages. This year an estimated 1,200 children across the region were involved in Mother Tongue Other Tongue, with 37,633 children and young people taking part across all Festival activities this year.
It has been wonderful again to receive such beautiful written pieces from learners and speakers of 37 languages for Mother Tongue Other Tongue as part of the Express Yourself North East Festival of Languages.
It warms my heart that such an array of languages are cherished in communities, school and families and that schools are celebrating them proudly.
Thank you to the teachers, teaching assistants and community leaders who created time and space for this important project. Enjoy reading the Digital Anthology, it was a pleasure to create.
Crista Hazell, Mother Tongue Other Tongue Project Coordinator
Well done to all the young writers who took part in the Mother Tongue, Other Tongue celebration 2024 as part of the North-East Festival of Languages, It’s great to see the range of languages we have in the region, to be proud of, and to see how young people express themselves in such diverse and creative ways!
A word of thanks, of course, to all of the families and teachers who support the young people to explore the cultural wealth of all of these languages!
Steven Fawkes, Chair of Association of Language Learning North East and Volunteer for Association of Language Learning
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all the children who participated and shared their thoughts, feelings and passions. Thank you to all the schools, teachers, families, communities and groups that made their involvement possible and for giving them this opportunity.
We would also like to acknowledge:
- Project Co-ordinator Crista Hazell who did an amazing job running this project for the fourth time.
- Andrew Grenfell and the staff and students at Newcastle University’s Language Resource Centre, who checked all the submissions.
- Steven Fawkes of the Association of Language Learning North East for financing this project and providing ongoing support and expertise. The project was funded in memory of Stella Marsh, who steered the original regional language festivals in the 1908s and 1990s.
- The national network of partners promoting Mother Tongue Other Tongue across the UK, led by Manchester Metropolitan University, which originated the Mother Tongue Other Tongue project.
