South Street Primary School (Gateshead) and St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School (Jarrow) were treated to a special session exploring Afro-Ecuadorian Fairytales at the Multilingual Library in Gateshead, as part of our 2026 Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages series of world languages and cultures events.
Professor Katy Jenkins from Northumbria University’s Centre for Global Development ran the session. The event in Spanish and English shared fairytales from the RECLAMA project (‘Harnessing Afro-Ecuadorian Women’s Heritage’), which aim to develop young people’s appreciation of the importance of cultural diversity, and of valuing the traditions and knowledge of their own cultures and communities.
The event began with a short introduction to the fairytales and Esmeraldas, the place in Ecuador where the stories are from. Interactive activities brought the fairytales to life, exploring key Spanish vocabulary and learning the structure of the story. The group then read the story together in Spanish.
We had a great day at the fabulous Multilingual Library in Gateshead, as part of the Express Yourself NE Festival of Languages, working with children from South St Primary and St Joseph’s RC Primary and sharing learning from #ProyectoRECLAMA
Professor Kary Jenkins, Northumbria University
Further information and links
Click here for more Spanish related events and activities during the Festival and support for teaching and learning Spanish.
RECLAMA (Harnessing Afro-Ecuadorian women’s heritage) is a project is funded by the British Academy/GCRF Heritage, Dignity and Violence Fund and its purpose is to document the rich heritage of Afro-descendant-black women living in Esmeraldas Province, on the north coast of Ecuador. Through oral histories and art, community and peer researchers explored memories, experiences and knowledge with Afro-Ecuadorian women. The research is led by Professor Katy Jenkins working with Dr Inge Boudewijn at Northumbria University and a team of Ecuadorian academics and the Ecuadorian women’s collective Mujeres de Asfalto.
- Click here to visit the Reclama project website (in English and Spanish)
- Follow the Reclama project on social media: facebook | X
The resources are provided by the Centre for Global Development at Northumbria University in collaboration with the Colectivo Mujeres de Asfalto in Ecuador.
- Contact: Professor Katy Jenkins
- Email: katy.jenkins@northumbria.ac.uk
