We are encouraging Newcastle schools to enable their pupils to get involved in one or more of the national language competitions happening from Autumn 2024. Participating in a range of different activities is a wonderful way to bring excitement and fun into the languages curriculum. They also spark conversations and discussions within schools about the importance of language learning and the rich diversity of languages and cultures across our school communities.
Read on to find out more and follow the links for further information about each. You can also find out more about support for language teaching and learning as part of Newcastle City of Languages and the next annual Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages (January to March 2025), which we host and co-ordinate.
European Day of Languages writing competition for UK schools (open until 9 Oct 2024)
The annual European Day of Languages writing competition is run annually by our partners, Association of Language Learning North East and Network for Languages North East. It is open to learners of any language (other than English), in any key stage anywhere in the UK.
This is a great opportunity to raise the profile of languages in schools and celebrate the diversity of languages and cultures.
- The theme this year is ‘Together’ and full details, guidance and links to resources, as well as how to enter and where to send entries are provided in this document: European Day of Languages UK Schools Competition 2024.
- Entries must be submitted by 9th October. There are certificates for entries and prizes for winners at each Key Stage.
- The competition can be used as part of language activities in schools.
Click here to find out more about European Day of Languages and the free resources available for everyone to have fun with languages – challenges, quizzes, competitions and other language activities, as well as posters, apps and booklets in multiple languages. These are for people of any age to get involved with, in schools, communities, groups and families.
Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators (Launches 19 Sept 2024, competition 3 Feb-28 Mar)
The Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators is a UK-wide creative translation competition for students aged 11-18 studying French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish. Last year, over 16,000 students from across the UK participated in the prize.
The 2024-25 prize will launch on 19 September. The first set of creative translation teaching packs will be shared with registered teachers in time for European Day of Languages on 26 September and International Translation Day on 30 September. Teaching packs are designed to help teachers bring creative translation into the MFL classroom as well as to help students prepare for the competition task.
- Teaching packs for poetry translation will be circulated to registered teachers on 19 September. Fiction resources will follow after October half term, and non-fiction will be released in early January 2025. To receive these resources, register for the prize here.
- The competition will run over several weeks from 3 February to 28 March 2025. Area and national winners will be announced in May or June 2025. All winners will receive certificates and national winners will receive book prizes. You can see the list of 2024 winners and commendations here.
- There are a number of related activities run by the Queen’s Translation Exchange that teachers and pupils can participate in, details of which can be found here.
- If you have any queries regarding the competition, please contact the Translation Exchange team at translation.exchange@queens.ox.ac.uk.
GCHQ National Language Competition 2024 (18-22 Nov 2024)
This is the annual competition from GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence, security and cyber agency. The National Language Competition (NLC) is a v irtual competition where teams from around the UK compete against each other to solve language-based puzzles and score points. The overall winners are then invited to GCHQ’s headquarters in Cheltenham to receive their trophy.
With the NLC, GCHQ aims to inspire language learning by encouraging students to discover their aptitude for learning languages.
- Teachers (or representatives for home educated children) can register their interest in the NLC 2024 by contacting nlc@gchq.gov.uk
- Find out more at the 2024 GCHQ competition website here
Newcastle City of Languages support for schools
Newcastle City of Languages is a partnership approach led by International Newcastle, working with the City Council School Effectiveness team and a wide range of partners locally, regionally and nationally to support language teaching, learning, take up and progression in Newcastle. Click here to find out more about the support available for teachers and schools in Newcastle.
Teachers can also sign up to join the Primary or Secondary MFL Networks of languages teachers in the city by contacting sarah.edgar@newcastle.gov.uk, which share information, opportunities, learning and good practice across the city.
Coming soon: Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages 2025
37,633 children and young people participated in our 2024 Festival from January to March. International Newcastle co-ordinates the festival on behalf of the region, working with a wide range of local, regional and national partners to offer free, fun and engaging activities.
We will be publicising some details of the 2025 Festival programme in the Autumn for schools, groups and community schools in Northumberland, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Durham, Gateshead and Sunderland. The 2025 Festival website will be available and activities open for registration on 8th January 2025.
In 2025, there will be large scale creative projects (singing, art, writing) for 7-18 year olds running from January, with free events, activities and resources available in the Festival month of March 2025. This includes in person events and online activities around diverse languages and cultures, languages and careers events and fun activities, games and challenges. Follow on social media for updates: twitter/X, facebook and instagram
We are grateful to the support of the North East Combined Authority for supporting Festival 2025.
