Five filmed case studies have been produced as part of the evaluation of the 2025 Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages, which was hosted and co-ordinated by International Newcastle for the fifth year running. This annual celebration of the region’s diverse languages and cultures and our connections to the world delivered between January and March 2025:
- provided a comprehensive programme of free language and culture activities designed to enrich the educational experiences of children and young people aged 3–18
- offered live and online events, pre-recorded workshops, creative projects, competitions and multimedia resources, aligned with curriculum priorities and inclusion objectives
- inspired engagement with languages, promoted cultural awareness, raised aspirations, promoted inclusion and widened perspectives of future education and career opportunities
As well as one overarching case study about the Festival, the case studies were chosen to profile a range of events and activities, including examples of world languages and cultures, languages and careers and creative multilingual projects. These films showcase Festival content, aims and impact on children and young people and teachers.
Click on the images below to watch the short films, which last between 2 and 3 minutes each.
Watch this short film, which provides an overview of Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages, its evolution and development, the aims and objectives of the Festival, the types of activities and reach of the Festival to schools across the North East and the UK, as well as its impact on children and young people.
Languages and Careers in Football workshops (26th March at Sport Central)
148 young people from 8 North East schools took part in motivational football themed workshops with Futbol Lingo’s Pierce Kiembi and Jake Butler at Northumbria University Sport Central.
Pupils learned about the wide range of careers in the football sector (including players, coachers and managers, travel and logistics, personal assistants, sports scientists, medical and physio, media and more). They competed as country teams in different languages bidding to host the world cup and also did a practical football session in Spanish.
Spanish Apprentice Y10 Tourism Challenge (5th March, Bishop Auckland)
This short film highlights another of the languages and careers in person events for secondary pupils. Hosted by The Auckland Project, teams of Year 10 pupils from 8 schools across the North East visited Bishop Auckland, researched the cultural offer and developed presentations with Durham University language students.
The teams made a pitch to an expert panel of judges in Spanish to market Bishop Auckland as a tourism destination for the Spanish market. The winning team was given a prize.
Welcome to the Arab World events 10th March at Newcastle Civic Centre
This short film shows highlights of the Welcome to the Arab World events held at Newcastle Civic Centre on 10th March. 231 children from eight North East schools attended two half day events, with expert presenters funded by QFI and hosts International Newcastle and Newcastle City Council.
Pupils enjoyed learning about the Arab World, learning to speak some Arabic and write Arabic calligraphy in workshops. Presenters and children provide feedback in this film.
Creative Multilingual Projects for NE schools January to end March 2025
This short film highlights the four creative multilingual projects which were delivered as part of Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages 2025 celebrating cultural and linguistic diversity. These projects ran from January to March 2025 and were designed to give young people a voice in their home languages and languages they are learning.
Embracing music, art and writing, these free multilingual activities engaged more than 18,000 children and young people aged seven to 18 in schools, community schools and groups across the region, as well as in schools abroad. All schools received a certificate for participating in the different projects.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all involved in funding and producing these films and a special thank you to all the teachers, children and young people who took part. Schools were asked to provide permissions from parents and carers for pupils to be filmed.
The filming was funded by the North East Combined Authority, as part of a grant to Newcastle City Council for co-ordination, communications and commissioned projects. Festival communications partners, Allies Group PR and B7 videographers worked with the Festival Coordinator (IN’s CEO Declan Baharini) and Newcastle City Council (Sarah Edgar) to identify the case study subjects and liaise with delivery partners to arrange filming.
The Festival was part-funded by the North East Combined Authority
