European Day of Languages (EDoL) activities take place annually in and around 26th September. Throughout Europe, 700 million Europeans from the Council of Europe’s 46 member states are encouraged to discover more languages at any age, as part of or alongside their studies. The 2025 European wide theme is ‘Languages open hearts and minds’. There are lots of ways to get involved – from UK school competitions to a wide range of activities and resources.
EDoL Annual Writing Competition for UK schools (deadline 9th October)
The Association of Language Learning North East and Network for Languages North East ‘s annual writing competition for UK schools is open to language learners in any key stage to create a piece of text in a language they are learning (other than English) on the theme of Hearts and Minds. Vouchers will be offered to winners for each key stage, up to and including KS5. There are always a great range of entries and we encourage schools to get involved with the competition as part of wider celebrations of EDoL and languages in your school.
- Click here to download the competition information, links to resources and the entry form
Ursa Lingua celebration resources for EYFS and primary schools
The Association for Language Learning (ALL) and Lightning Languages have collaborated on a series of freely accessible resources for Primary and Early Years Foundation Stage languages classrooms or for colleagues’ tutor time. Use the nursery rhymes, games and quizzes to raise the profile of languages and to celebrate EDoL and bring more joy into classrooms around this important date for languages and beyond. Meet Ursa Lingua and help her discover European Day of Languages in your schools and classrooms through a series of activities, missions and games which are fully resourced for French, German and Spanish. These resources are freely available on the Twinkl website to download and share with learners. We hope you enjoy using them.
- Click here to access the resources, meet Ursa and celebrate EDoL with her here.
Multilingual verses submissions – UK schools (deadline 20th October)
ALL and Sheffield, City of Languages invites UK school teachers with bilingual and multilingual pupils in their classes to collect verses/texts in languages representing all of our communities, such as counting rhymes, nursery rhymes, cautionary tales, rhymes to support play. The Multilingual Verses project encourages intergenerational learning, with family members helping children learn how to perform and write the texts. Teachers should submit these with a title and indication of language, a short written version in the original language, an English version to help others understand and an audio or video recording (lasting no more than 60-90 seconds) of a recitation of the text, ideally featuring children’s voices. The first deadline is 20th October 2025.
These resources will be posted on this webpage as an anthology for other children, classes and teachers to enjoy and learn from. The invitation is ongoing and will have regular deadlines until at least 2027
- Click here for project and submission details
- Contact: Dr Sabine Little s.little@sheffield.ac.uk
Council of Europe EDoL resources and activities
The Council of Europe provides a wide range of resources and activities to celebrate it’s annual European Day of Languages. Follow the link to get free posters, get involved in a multilingual anthem, the T-shirt competition, or download the EDoL activity kit which includes lots of activities and resources for all ages.
- Click here to find out more and access the resources and activities