Join in our Language Calligrams Celebration (6th January to 31st March): Create calligrams in different languages (ages 7-9 and 9-11)
Children aged 7-11 from schools in the North East are invited to take part in the ALLNE Language Calligrams Celebration. Primary teachers of languages (any language) can encourage pupils to create a Calligram based on words they have already been taught.
Schools submitting entries will receive a School certificate and an e-book of selected calligrams will be shared widely. Schools can also create their own exhibition of the calligrams celebrating pupils’ work.
REGISTER to receive entry form and activity information
Who is it for?
This project is for children and young people (aged 7-9 and 9-11) in primary and middle schools in Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, Durham and Sunderland.
Each school may send their five chosen calligrams in each age-group category.
When will it happen?
- Schools can run the project from 6th January to 31st March 2026
- The creations should be submitted by 31st March with a completed entry form
What is the activity?
Just over a hundred years ago, at the end of the First World War, the French poet Guillaume Appollinaire published a set of poems called Calligrammes in which he used ink and fonts to draw recognisable shapes with connected words.
We are now inviting Primary children to make their own calligrams, using words and/or phrases they have learnt in any language other than English.
The words might draw the outline of the image, or fill in the silhouette of the image. The key things are that they should be related to the image, they should be easy to read (neat and not over-elaborate), and they should be spelled correctly. They can be created by hand or with a computer. We value children’s ideas, and so do not encourage AI creations (unless the use of AI gives access which would not be possible otherwise.).
This project is open from January until the 31st March 2026,
We offer 2 categories – 7-9 years old and 9-11 years old, and invite teachers to select a theme that fits in with their schemes.
How can we use calligrams to enhance teaching and learning a language? Pupils are introduced to them in Y3 Literacy in England and so it’s a concept with which they may are already be familiar. In Y3 they look at examples of calligrams and then have a go at making their own using ICT.
Examples of Primary Calligrams from Association of Language Learning North East’s 2025 Festival Calligrams Celebration:
How do I get involved?
Teachers should register by emailing info@expressyourselfne.com and include the following information:
- the name of the activity (Calligrams Celebration)
- the number of pupils who will be participating in the school and what key stage or year group they are in
- your school name and address
- your school lead contact and email address (to receive resources)
- your Headteacher name and email address (to receive the school’s certificate of participation)
The Calligrams entry form will be emailed to all who register, with a summary of the Language Calligrams Celebration, examples and suggestions.
We can accept a maximum of five entries in each age category per school delivered by email with a completed entry form to eyfolnecalligrams@gmail.com by 31st March 2026.
ENTRIES: Please send digital images, photographs as jpg or scans as pdf of the calligrams you think are most original or striking. Please save the image with a tile or insert showing the school’s name, pupil’s first name, age group and calligram language e.g. St Mark’s Primary, Elsa, 7-9, French. This helps in compiling the e-publication.
Certificates and e-book: Each school that enters will receive an ALLNE certificate. We are planning to compile a digital collection of some of the most striking calligrams, which will be shared with all schools who enter and publicised through the Festival website and social media.
Further information and links
This project has been developed specifically for Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages. There are other multilingual creative projects running from 6th January to 31st March which schools, community schools and groups can participate in:
- Together we fly! World Friendship art project (5-18 year-olds). Schools, community schools and colleges can create and submit colourful origami butterflies with drawings and/or messages of friendship written in different languages as part of a celebratory public art installation in Newcastle Civic Centre.
- Festival Song – Love is the only River (7-18 year-olds) We invite children and young people across the North East to sing, sign, play and perform ‘Love is the only river’ in the languages that children speak at home, in the community or are learning. Videos of performances will be combined to produce a regional multilingual version of the song.
- Mother Tongue Other Tongue (7-18 yrs) children’s writing activity, expressing themselves by reproducing a poem in their own language or writing a piece in a language they are learning. Certificates for entries, which will also be part of a digital anthology.
- World Recipe Book: exploring food and cultural heritage NE schools, youth and community groups: Share recipes in languages (other than English) and why these are important to different cultures. Digital recipe book will include selected entries.
Who is organising this?
- The activity has been developed and is being delivered by the Association of Language Learning North East (ALLNE).
- Contact: Steven Fawkes
- Email: eyfolnecalligrams@gmail.com
