‘Just One World’ is a song especially written for this year’s Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages, which is hosted and co-ordinated annually by International Newcastle. The song represents the ethos and spirit of the Festival. It celebrates how we stand together, united and celebrating the richness in diversity and caring for our world.
We invited children and young people across the North East to sing, sign, play and perform the song and film their versions, in as many languages as possible. This year, 100 schools and 6,000 children and young people participated and we are delighted to be able to share a compilation video of them performing this song of hope and peace.
Some images from the video of children across the region singing in different languages, signing and performing the song are below. Read on to find out more about the song, the Festival, plans for 2024 and how to stay in touch, as well as our partnership work in Newcastle to support languages, international links and intercultural awareness for children and young people in the city.
About the Festival song project
Just One World, the 2023 Festival of Languages song, was written and arranged by Gareth Miller from Music Partnership North Newcastle and the project was led by Georgina Biddle, Senior Specialist Music Service, Music Partnership North. They worked with Newcastle City Council’s Schools’ Effectiveness team, International Newcastle and the other Music Education Hubs and Music Services in the region to roll out this exciting and creative project.
We are very grateful to the students and staff at Newcastle and Durham Universities and people from our diverse language communities who have provided translations of the song into 15 languages. There were translations and video recordings of people performing the song available in British Sign Language (BSL), Bengali, French, Greek, German, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romani, Spanish, Yoruba, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian. Not all schools who performed the song or those who sang in these languages sent in videos, so the compilation includes those who did submit their performances.
This is the second Festival song. Last year was the launch of this project and we were thrilled that 59 schools and 2,070 children took part. Click here to watch the performances of I am a small part of the world
We intend to run the Festival Song project again, launching in January 2024 for schools and youth and community groups.
Our Festival of Languages
Since its launch in 2021, the Festival has involved lots of partners from Newcastle, the region and nationally providing a range of free activities for schools and communities. It aims to give opportunities for children and young people to express themselves in their own languages and languages they are learning and to celebrate diverse cultures across the region.
We have been overwhelmed by the response this year, which has seen more activities and participation than any time in our three year history.
We have received national profile for the Festival, which was home grown in the region. We have shared our approach and activities through webinars and directly with cities and regions interested in doing something similar. The Festival seeks to put the fun back into learning languages and encourage children to share their languages and experiences through creative activities. It also seeks to inspire them to continue or start learning languages. We believe this is a key way to enhance their experiences, interpersonal and communications skills and to help widen opportunities for their future education and career choices.
Preparing for the 2024 Festival of Languages
International Newcastle is working with the Festival Steering Group to prepare the 2024 Express Yourself Festival of Languages and we hope to share information about this by December 2023. The Festival will launch with the large scale participation projects in January and will have lots of live events and activities in March 2024. For news and updates about the Festival:
- Visit the Festival website here
- follow the Festival on twitter @EYFOLNE
- ioin us on facebook here
- follow us on Instagram eyfolne
- #EYFOLNE
Supporting languages, links and intercultural awareness in Newcastle
International Newcastle works with a wide range of partners to build on the engagement of the city’s schools in the Festival. We support the development of language teaching and learning through partnerships, help schools to develop international links and a whole school approach to internationalism, which includes building intercultural awareness of diverse languages, cultures and communities. Click here to find out more about our work with Newcastle City Council (School Effectiveness) to support educators in the city. This includes information on our three strands of work: Connecting Internationally, Newcastle City of Languages and Internationalism in the City.