Pictured: West Newcastle Academy show off their Arabic calligraphy
231 children from eight North East schools had a fantastic time exploring the Arab World, learning to speak some Arabic and write Arabic calligraphy in workshops held at Newcastle Civic Centre on 10th March, as part of Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages. This is one of a series of free world languages and cultures events taking place in March for North East schools.
Children and teachers participated enthusiastically from: English Martyrs Catholic Primary School, Gosforth Central Middle School, St Paul’s CE Primary School, Central Walker CE Primary School, West Newcastle Academy (Newcastle); Christ Church Primary School (North Tyneside); Blaydon West Primary School (Gateshead); and Easington Academy (County Durham)
Welcome to the Arab World
Pictured: Pupils from English Martyrs Catholic Primary School and St Paul’s CE Primary School enjoying a question and answer session about Egypt
Jonathan Featherstone introduced children to the breadth of the Arab World, which stretches from Western Africa to the Middle East. He talked to the children and asked questions about what they knew about the variety of different cultures and traditions, ethnic and linguistic groups, religions, architectural styles, foods, music and famous footballers!
Children were fascinated and were enthusiastic in their responses and had many questions of their own.
I was particularly impressed by the thoughtful questions the children asked about the Arab World on a wide range of topics.
Jonathan Featherstone, Honorary Fellow, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Edinburgh and Arabic Teacher at the University of Cambridge
Learning to speak Arabic
Pictured: Arabic teacher, Saleh Patel, with children from Central Walker CE Primary School, English Martyrs Catholic Primary School and St Paul’s CE Primary School
Saleh Patel, an outstanding Arabic teacher from Bradford, engaged children in a brilliant interactive session, where they learned Arabic greetings and phrases and were able to talk to each other in Arabic very quickly. They were enthusiastic in their responses and clearly enjoyed being able to communicate in Arabic with each other. They were even confident enough to stand at the lectern and present what they had learned to the audience of children. They also learned the Arabic alphabet and got creative with playdoh to make Arabic letters.
The children were so engaged, so well behaved and so confident, it was a pleasure to introduce some Arabic language to them and I hope are inspired to continue their learning.
Saleh Patel, Arabic Teacher, Horton Park Academy (Bradford)
Arabic calligraphy workshop
Pictured: Abu Yahyaz, calligraphy artist, with children from Central Walker CE Primary School and Easington Academy
Children enjoyed an engaging Arabic calligraphy session with Abu Yahyaz, an outstanding calligraphy artist who has featured on the BBC and has residencies teaching calligraphy, has delivered multiple exhibitions.
Children learned how to use calligraphy pens to create the shapes and letters in Arabic and produced their own Arabic calligraphy, which they took home with them.
Our children are the architects of our future, it was wonderful to be able to equip these children with new skills.
Abu Yahyaz, Calligraphy Artist
The significance of learning about the Arab World
“It was an absolute pleasure to welcome back three outstanding educators for the Arab World Day at Newcastle Civic Centre. Abu Yahyaz, Saleh Patel and Jonathan Featherstone (pictured L-R) inspired all the children who came and broadened their knowledge, introduced new skills and enthusiasm to learn more about the Arab world and also the different languages and cultures of others in their schools and communities.
This is our third Welcome to the Arab World day and our second in Newcastle Civic Centre, which was really special, with children impressed with the grand staircase, chandeliers and the Council Chamber, where decisions are made.
At a time of such conflict around the world, this event felt very important as a means to show that our differences are what make the world interesting and that learning about different cultures, languages and traditions help us understand and engage with others and broaden our horizons.“
Declan Baharini, CEO of International Newcastle, Festival Co-ordinator and Arab World Day event organiser
“The teachers and the children who took part were all incredibly enthusiastic about the experience and it was another fantastic event, delivered free to schools as part of our unique North East Festival.
It is so important to enable children to learn about the world and see the richness of cultural and linguistic diversity and that it is not alien, but it is all around them in our multicultural and multilingual schools and to embrace this.”
Sarah Edgar, Education Consultant, School Effectiveness, Newcastle City Council, Festival Steering Group member and Arab World Day organiser
Filmed case study
Welcome to the Arab World Day is one of a series of filmed case studies which have been commissioned by the Festival, with funding support from the North East Combined Authority, as part of the evaluation of Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages.
Journalist Simon Rushmore and videographers from local company, B7, talked to the presenters, teachers and children on the day and filmed parts of all the sessions. They will create a case study which demonstrates the importance and impact of the event for children in the North East.
They have also been filming other events about languages and careers and are compiling another video about the multilingual creative projects which have been running from January to March as part of the Festival. They will produce an overarching video about the Festival in April.
All of the videos and the evaluation will be publicly available to demonstrate the impact of the Festival, the importance of making these activities freely available to schools and community schools and the impact it has on children and young people.
Acknowledgements
- Huge thanks to Jonathan Featherstone, Abu Yahyaz and Saleh Patel for coming back to Newcastle and delivering such engaging and inspiring sessions for children in the North East
- The event was made possible through the partnership of International Newcastle and Qatar Foundation International (QFI) and we would like to thank the team – Tony Calderbank and Jillian Lomanno for enabling us to deliver this event again in Newcastle
- Special thanks to all the schools, teachers and pupils who participated in Welcome to the Arab World – all the children were incredibly well behaved and very engaged and the teachers looking after them on the day did a wonderful job: English Martyrs Catholic Primary School, Gosforth Central Middle School, St Paul’s CE Primary School, Central Walker CE Primary School, West Newcastle Academy (Newcastle); Christ Church Primary School (North Tyneside); Blaydon West Primary School (Gateshead); and Easington Academy (County Durham)
- Thank you to Declan Baharini (International Newcastle) and Sarah Edgar (School Effectiveness, Newcastle City Council) from the Festival team for hosting and organising the event and working with QFI, the presenters and schools to ensure it ran smoothly
- Thank you to all the staff at Newcastle Civic Centre who helped make the day such a success – from providing the Council Chamber and workshop room, parking and reception, to technical support, those who helped prepare the workshop rooms and those welcoming the schools to the Civic Centre and helping them navigate the building
This project was part-funded by the North East Combined Authority
