We are delighted to be co-ordinating the Festival of Languages again this year, with so many free activities for schools, communities and professionals to get involved with, celebrating the diverse languages and cultures in the region and our connections to the world. We’ve had a great response so far, but there is still time to get involved up to the end of March, with lots on offer from our partners.
Visit the Festival What’s On page to see all the free activities and events on offer or read on to find out more and get links to opportunities below.
Things to get involved with right now
- Sing, sign and perform the festival song, Just One World, (in English or 17 other languages including BSL) for schools and groups
- Encourage children and young people to write creative pieces as part of the Mother Tongue Other Tongue celebration of their home languages or languages they are learning (ages 7-18 in the North East)
- Children and young people can create a compelling poster design for ‘Where can languages take you?’ poster competition for 7-18 year olds explaining how languages can have a positive influence on their lives and futures
- Take part in the free interactive games and challenges available now
- Join in free activities for young learners and register to access more free pre-recorded games, stories and songs in French, Arabic, Ukrainian, German, Spanish and Japanese in March
- Access a wide range of free language and culture resources available anytime.
Sign up now for live events in March
Registration is required for a range of events and activities that are happening in March. We recommend booking early, as some are already fully booked, others have unlimited places.
- For 7-18 year olds and schools, Durham, Newcastle and Northumbria universities are offering free live language taster sessions in a wide range of languages, language and culture workshops, as well as university activities for school language pupils, including visits to the campus to meet staff and language students
- Open to anyone to book is the Experience Yorùbá language and culture session online on 11th March
- A few places left for schools or groups to explore South East Asian languages and culture
- There are live professional development events for adults and professionals around communicating better in English, as well as in multi-lingual environments, including the benefits of multilingualism, multi-lingual classrooms and digital tools to improve learning and teaching
Your stories
You can read stories now of How Languages Changed my Life from people from the North East or who have come to live, work or study here – and you can share your own story with us to inspire others about the opportunities that learning languages can open up.
Free participatory events and competitions
- Wor Seahorse Spectacle puppetry parade: workshops up to the end of March and parade in Newcastle in April – for all ages and backgrounds
- LanguageNut North East competition: Special competition for schools and community schools, with access to a wealth of online language resources
- Celebrate Speaking: National celebration for all ages and background speaking in your mother tongue or languages you are learning
- French Pop Video Competition: Write and sing an original rap or song in French and submit videos or animations up to 30 April (for UK schools, ages 7-18)
- Anthea Bell prize for Young Translators: Submit entries up to 3rd April (KS3-5 learners of French, German, Italian, Mandarin and Spanish)
- Vive la Francophonie quiz: Register by 17th March and take part in the quiz up to 26th March testing your knowledge of the French speaking world
Click here to download a print version of the Festival poster or click here to download the poster image to share across your groups, schools and communities in the North East.
