North West

Mother Tongue Other Tongue is a national Laureate Education Project, led by the Poet Laureate, Dame Carol Ann Duffy and launched by British Boxer, Amir Khan.  The competition is co-ordinated by Routes into Languages.

There are two separate parts to the poetry competition. Children from Year 5 to Year 13 can enter one or both parts of the competition. 

The Mother Tongue part of the competition requires children who do not have English as a first language, or who speak a different language at home, to share a lullaby, poem or song from their Mother Tongue. They then write a short piece in English to explain the poem’s significance to them.  

The Other Tongue part of the competition encourages children learning another language in school to use that language creatively to write a poem.

The closing date to enter the competition in the North West is 1st June 2015.  For further details see:  www.mmu.ac.uk/mothertongueothertongue

The National Mother Tongue Other Tongue Celebration Event will take place on Monday 29th June 2015 at Manchester Metropolitan University.  There will be exciting cultural activities such as Arabic Dancing and Asian Drumming, some tasty food, and all the winners will be invited to perform their poems.  We will also have some very special guests to present the prizes!

Language Enrichment Event for Year 8 Pupils

University of Liverpool

Tuesday 19th May 2015

10am - 2.15pm

The Language Enrichment Events for year 8 pupils is an interactive, exciting event that encourage pupils to continue with their language studies at school and to think about the advantages of learning a new language or gaining a qualification in a language they may speak at home. These events have proved extremely popular with pupils and language teachers over the years and our research has shown a 24% increase in pupils taking language GCSEs after they attended the events. 

The events use language tasters and cultural activities to encourage the learning of languages generally.

Cost per pupil: £5

Subsidised by Routes into Languages NW.

The events are only open to schools where languages are not compulsory. Priority will be given to schools that have not attended a Language Enrichment Event in previous years.

Places will be allocated after the closing date of Friday 1st May 2015

Urdu Launch and Celebration Day’ at Manchester Metropolitan University for Year 10 – 13 pupils on Wednesday 25th  March, 10am - 2pm.

The Department of Languages, Information and Communications at Manchester Metropolitan University is delighted to announce the launch of a suite of undergraduate programmes that comprise the study of Urdu, starting in September 2015

To celebrate this we have organised an ‘Urdu Launch and Celebration Day’ at Manchester Metropolitan University for Year 10 – 13 pupils on Wednesday 25th  March, 10am - 2pm. The day will comprise of pupil workshops in the morning ran by Qaisra Shahraz, who is a British-Pakistani novelist and scriptwriter and Sheraz Ali (Lecturer at the University of Manchester) with live performances in the afternoon.

This new development will make MMU the first Higher Education Institution in the UK to offer students the possibility to study Urdu to degree level, and to have Urdu acknowledged in their degree title.  It will enable students to get an academic qualification in a language spoken by close to 100 million people around the world, and in countries that are important trade partners of the United Kingdom. 

Urdu, which is the official language of Pakistan alongside English, is also spoken in India, in the Middle East, in Canada, and in the USA.  In the UK, the Urdu-speaking community numbers about four hundred thousand people, not only in the North West (particularly in and around Manchester, Leeds and Bradford), but also in the West Midlands, in various areas of London, and in parts of Scotland.   Urdu is offered in UK schools at GCSE and A level,  and there are on an average of 5000  pupils taking GCSE and 500 taking A level exams every year.  Up to now there was no opportunity to take the study of Urdu higher than secondary school. 

Routes NW is delighted to announce this event to launch Urdu.

There is a small charge of £5 per pupil (accompanying teachers are free).

Places are limited; please return booking forms by no later than by Monday 16th March.

A language student ‘adopts’ a  Year 9 class and regularly communicates with them while they are on their year abroad, usually by writing a blog or by providing regular powerpoint presentations.  The student remains in contact with the teacher who may ask them to focus on certain topics that fit into the curriculum.

The student also visits the class in the summer term before they go on their year abroad (when the  students are still in Year 8), and again in September when they return from their year abroad (when the students have progressed to Year 10). This contact with the country brings the language alive for the pupils and shows them the relevance of learning a language.

If you would like to take part in the North West scheme, please complete and return the registration form by Tuesday 19th May 2015. Routes will be subsidising the major cost to run the project in the North West but we have to ask schools to make a small contribution of £200 per language cohort.  The £200 contribution will provide support towards student ambassador training and travel costs (for 2 years).

Spanish Essay Writing for Film (Pan's Labyrinth)

Friday 5th December

Manchester Metropolitan University

The event focuses on a popular film studied by A2 students. The workshop will include the following elements: structuring an essay, arguing and illustrating a point, focusing on characters, themes and director’s style, building a phrase-bank to discuss films, learning film terminology.

This event has a charge of £5 per pupil to cover some of the costs.

Subsidised by Routes into Languages NW.

Friday 9th January 2015, Lancaster University

The event focuses on a popular film studied by A2 students. The workshop will include the following elements: structuring an essay, arguing and illustrating a point, focusing on characters, themes and director’s style, building a phrase-bank to discuss films, learning film terminology.

This event has a charge of £5 per pupil to cover some of the costs.

Subsidised by Routes into Languages NW.

Tuesday 24th March 2015, 1.00pm - 4.00 pm - German Essay Writing for Film (Goodbye Lenin)

The event focuses on a popular film studied by A2 students. The workshop will include the following elements: structuring an essay, arguing and illustrating a point, focusing on characters, themes and director’s style, building a phrase-bank to discuss films, learning film terminology.

This event has a charge of £5 per pupil to cover some of the costs.

Subsidised by Routes into Languages North West.