Newcastle City of Languages and the Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages, that International Newcastle hosts annually featured in the national webinar for Home Heritage and Community Languages (HHCL) on 29th March. The webinar engaged speakers and educators from across the country and was hosted by the National Advisory Group for Heritage and Community Languages, led by British Council and the Association for language learning.
This webinar shared good practice from different parts of the UK, with a range of speakers presenting how they are supporting speakers of Home Heritage and Community Languages and wider communities, to increase the ability to get qualifications in their own languages, as well as celebrating diverse cultures and communities across the UK. International Newcastle Director and Festival Co-ordinator, Declan Baharini, presented information about Newcastle City of Languages, as well as the Festival, its origins, the partnership that makes it possible and the types of activities, events and resources that we have been offering and how these could be adapted elsewhere. There were also presentations from:
- Jignasha Patel, BAPS Shri Swaninarayan Mandir on supporting Gujarati language learning and culture
- Clarinda Calma, Embassy of the Republic of Poland on supporting the learning of Polish and celebrating Polish culture in the UK
- Anna Grainger, Coventry City of Languages about their initiative across the city to support language learning, take up and teaching
Webinar outcomes and links
HHCL Advisory Group and speakers
- Click here to view the recording of the session online – Passcode: 9kUL#+?9
- Click here to download a summary of the presentations
- The Association of Language Learning also hosts an HHCL zone on their website, which shares news, events and research relating to this important topic. Click here to find out more.
- Click here to download the Home, Heritage and Community Languages Advisory Group: Vision and Goals document with the plans for the short, medium and longer term up to 2030.
Supporting HHCL in Newcastle
Newcastle has an increasingly diverse population, with a wide range of international communities, students and workers living here. We celebrate this diversity and the benefits this brings to our multicultural city.
There are many community and faith based organisations across the city, which support our diverse language and cultural communities. Click here to visit our directory to find out more. There are also many organisations providing support for language learning across Newcastle. You can find out about some of these here and others are listed in our Directory.
We know from a Newcastle City Council survey in 2019, that 151 languages are spoken by children attending Newcastle schools. As part of our Newcastle City of Languages work to promote language learning and teaching, progression and skills for the future, we work with partners in promoting the teaching of and qualifications in children and young people’s Home, Heritage and Community Languages.
We connect schools with native speakers to support language exams, through Newcastle University Language Resource Centre and community partners.
There are also specific initiatives, such as the service offered by our partners at Success4ALL and The Language Centre in Newcastle. They have come together to provide an offer for schools who have pupils from diverse backgrounds and cultures and who speak, or want to learn a wide range of languages and gain qualifications in these subjects as a means to improve skills, attainment and employment opportunities. Click here to find out more.
There is a new Arabic Teaching Council in the North East, led by Success4ALL which is supporting the teaching and learning of Arabic across the region. Click here to find out more.
International Newcastle also co-ordinates the annual Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages (running until the end of March), which includes free activities promoting and celebrating diverse languages, cultures and communities.
We are always happy to hear from any organisations supporting language learning and the promotion of our diverse cultures. Do get in touch if you have information to share.