North East Languages and Careers videos and classroom activities
A series of short videos and classroom activities have been produced in the North East to inspire pupils to progress with languages and understand the wealth of opportunities available to people who speak more than one language.
Registered schools can access these videos, showcasing young professionals who live in the North East talking about their own language learning journey, the languages they speak, the skills that learning languages can bring and how they use languages in their work – as well as tips for children and young people about learning languages.
A teacher resource pack and pupil booklets (age appropriate) accompany the videos to enable teachers to run multiple flexible sessions in schools.
Who is it for?
The videos and pupil booklets are available to schools in the North East Combined Authority area: Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Gateshead and Durham.
Children and young people aged 7-18 – pupil booklets are available adapted for primary and secondary levels with adaptations for SEND and EAL learners.
When will it happen?
- The videos, teacher resources and pupil booklets can be used any time from 6th January 2026
What is the activity?
These resources are designed to inspire young people to take up languages, progress with languages and choose languages as an option – those they use at home, those they are learning, or may want to learn.
Inspire your pupils to think about the importance of speaking other languages and where languages can take them in their lives and careers, with our short videos and accompanying pupil booklet (tailored for different age ranges).
There is a resource pack for teachers, which includes:
- an introduction to the activity
- a section on how to use the resources and classroom activities for KS2, KS3-5 and adaptations for SEND and EAL learners
- interview summaries for each speaker with their video links
- types of careers and skills linked to language learning and Gatsby Benchmark alignment with activities
- languages and careers events available during the Festival
- additional resources and links for languages and careers
Teachers can choose a selection of the videos and use them in a lesson with a group of students, alongside the relevant pupil booklet.
The videos are 2-5 minutes long with a range of young professionals working in the North East talking about their language journey. They each answer a series of questions:
- Who they are and where they are from
- What languages they speak and how they learned them
- What their job is and how they use languages in their work – as well as what they enjoy most about their job
- How speaking other languages opens opportunities
- Their plans and ambitions for the future
- Tips for children and young people about learning languages
- 3 words about what makes the North East international
The videos include young professionals who work in football, videography, TV production and broadcast journalism, education, IT recruitment, local and regional government and the community sector.
The pupil booklets are designed for use in conjunction with the videos, with discussions (pupils worksheets) before the videos about their perceptions of where languages can take you, as well as worksheets that can be used after the videos have been shown (about each speaker) and additional worksheets to support discussions around the types of jobs where languages are useful, the skills acquired and the opportunities that open up when you speak more than one language.
Additional links to supporting resources are available in the teacher pack provided to registered schools, for use in classroom activities around discussions relating to languages and careers.
How do I get involved?
Teachers should register by emailing info@expressyourselfne.com with the following information:
- the name of this activity (NE languages and careers videos)
- your school lead contact and email address
- your school name and address
- the number of pupils who will be participating and what key stage or year group they are in
This helps us to monitor who is taking part and our reach across the region.
The teacher resource pack and pupil booklet will be emailed to all who register.
Further information and links
- North East Ambition is a region-wide initiative dedicated to ensuring every young person has access to high-quality careers guidance, technical education, and meaningful pathways into employment. Click here to find out more and the tools for educators available
- Click here to register for the North East LinkUp portal to engage with employers around your career related activities
- Click here for more languages and careers webinars taking place in March and our Festival curated selection of Languages and Careers resources
- View the Festival’s Stories page for more stories from people of all ages and backgrounds, who are from, or came to live in the region, their language and cultural journeys and the impact it has had on their lives and careers.
Who is organising this?
The North East Combined Authority and North East Ambition have worked with International Newcastle, Newcastle City Council and the Association of Language Learning North East to develop these resources as part of the work to promote languages and careers in the region.
- Contact: Claire Frater
- Email: goodcareers@northeastca.gov.uk
This project is funded by the North East Combined Authority