A series of short videos, teaching resources and classroom activities are available to North East schools to inspire pupils (Key Stages 2-5, ages 7-18) to progress with languages and understand the wealth of opportunities available to people who speak more than one language.
Launched during the 2026 Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages, 41 schools registered for 7,968 pupils from primary and secondary schools to access these videos, showcasing young professionals who live in the North East talking about their own language learning journey, the languages they speak, the skills that learning languages can bring and how they use languages in their work – as well as tips for children and young people about learning languages. The videos, teacher resource pack and pupil booklets are now available for anyone to access (links below).
International Newcastle’s CEO, Declan Baharini, Sarah Edgar (Newcastle City Council- School Effectiveness) and Steven Fawkes (Association for Language Learning North East) worked with the schools, careers and skills teams and North East Ambition on the project and to identify young professionals to take part. The videos were filmed and edited by The Bigger Picture and funded by the North East Combined Authority, with accompanying resources produced by International Newcastle.
Resources for schools
These resources are designed to inspire young people to take up languages, progress with languages and choose languages as an option – those they use at home, those they are learning, or may want to learn. Nine videos are available to inspire children and young people to think about the importance of speaking other languages and where languages can take them in their lives and careers – in conjunction with teaching resource pack and accompanying pupil booklets (tailored for different age ranges, SEND and EAL), produced by International Newcastle.
Click on the links below to access the videos, resource pack and pupil booklets:
- Click here to access the selection of 9 videos on vimeo
- Click here to download the teacher resource pack
- Click here to download the KS2 Pupil Booklet (word document)
- Click here to download the KS3-5 Pupil Booklet (word document)
The resource pack for teachers includes:
- an introduction to the activity
- a section on how to use the resources and classroom activities for KS2, KS3-5 and adaptations for SEND and EAL learners
- interview summaries for each speaker with their video links
- types of careers and skills linked to language learning and Gatsby Benchmark alignment with activities
- languages and careers events available during the Festival
- additional resources and links for languages and careers
Teachers can choose a selection of the videos and use them in a lesson with a group of students, alongside the relevant pupil booklet.
The videos are 2-5 minutes long with a range of young professionals working in the North East talking about their language journey. They each answer a series of questions:
- Who they are and where they are from
- What languages they speak and how they learned them
- What their job is and how they use languages in their work – as well as what they enjoy most about their job
- How speaking other languages opens opportunities
- Their plans and ambitions for the future
- Tips for children and young people about learning languages
- 3 words about what makes the North East international
The videos include young professionals who work in football, videography, TV production and broadcast journalism, education, IT recruitment, local and regional government and the community sector.
The pupil booklets are designed for use in conjunction with the videos, with discussions (pupils worksheets) before the videos about their perceptions of where languages can take you, as well as worksheets that can be used after the videos have been shown (about each speaker) and additional worksheets to support discussions around the types of jobs where languages are useful, the skills acquired and the opportunities that open up when you speak more than one language.
Additional links to supporting resources are available in the teacher pack provided to registered schools, for use in classroom activities around discussions relating to languages and careers.
Further information and links
- North East Ambition is a region-wide initiative dedicated to ensuring every young person has access to high-quality careers guidance, technical education, and meaningful pathways into employment. Click here to find out more and the tools for educators available
- Click here to register for the North East LinkUp portal to engage with employers around your career related activities
- Click here to see our 2026 Festival curated selection of Languages and Careers resources
- View the Festival’s Stories page for more stories from people of all ages and backgrounds, who are from, or came to live in the region, their language and cultural journeys and the impact it has had on their lives and careers.
The North East Combined Authority and North East Ambition have worked with International Newcastle, Newcastle City Council and the Association of Language Learning North East to develop these resources as part of the work to promote languages and careers in the region.
- Contact: Claire Frater
- Email: goodcareers@northeastca.gov.uk
This project is funded by the North East Combined Authority
