East of England

GCSE Urdu Conference looking at ways to teach Urdu, understand key skills, conduct a speaking test and more. Sharon Czudak will act as keynote speaker.Sharon Czudak is the Qualifications Product Developer responsible for MFL at Pearson Edexcel and was one of the lead developers of all 14 new GCSEs and A levels in MFL, including Urdu. She has a degree in French and German and spent 10 years as a teacher and curriculum manager of languages in Further Education.

The event will take place at Jack Hunt school, Bradwell Road, Peterborough, PE3 9PY.

THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE PRIMARY BEE

Following the National Final for the Routes into Languages MFL Primary Bee 2025, we're delighted to announce the following winners:

Huge congratulations to them and all concerned in their success!

The competition continues and the 2026 quest for winners launches officially on the European Day of Languages (26th September 2025).

The Primary Bee is for students in Years 5 & 6 who have started learning a foreign language ab initio in KS2 to practise and improve their vocabulary, pronunciation and memory skills in the target language (French, Spanish and German)

Words and phrases have been selected according to the work of NCELP (National Centre for Excellence in Language Pedagogy) which highlights the importance of word frequency in informing vocabulary learning, particularly during the early stages of language development. The list includes many high-frequency words (e.g., some numbers, some colours, some verbs, days of the week, question words and a number of common verbs to help early learners to acquire a robust knowledge of verb vocabulary. 

The cost is £25 for state schools and £55 for non-state schools. Please use this link to pay for your school's entry fee before registering for this year's competition https://languageprojects.github.io/

Then register as instructed in Autumn Term 2025 and you will receive the Primary Bee Teacher's Pack, with the word lists and all the info needed to run the Primary Bee in your school.

Please note that refunds will not be possible - it is the school's responsibility to ensure that having registered the school participates in the competition.

For GCSE & 'A' Level

Run by Jack Hunt School

Click here for more details

An initial training day for some of this year's Language Leader Award students

Presented by Slam Poet Champion, Joelle Taylor, who'll also be performing some of her own poems, and featuring a Slam Poetry competition, the Mother Tongue Other Tongue Event will once again run as part of the Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

It will be an opportunity to celebrate the wonderful poetry created by the secondary school poets who've been shortlisted for the Mother Tongue Other Tongue poetry competition, and as such booking is open to the general public as well as family and friends.

Tickets can be booked here: (end of August onwards)

We look forward to seeing you there.

The National Translation Bee continues into its tenth year.

Great for your year 8s and 9s with a toolkit of sentences to learn (present in stage 1, future in stage 2 and past in stage 3) in French, German, Spanish and now Mandarin too!

It's actually a continuation of the Spelling Bee, ie the principle's the same, but with the Translation Bee the year 8s and 9s have one minute to translate as many sentences (from a toolkit: I/we eat icecream/pizza/etc; I/we go to school/the cinema etc; I/we wear trousers/a skirt etc)as possible into the target language - term 1 present, term 2 future, term 3 past and a regional final where the minute includes randomly selected sentences from all 3 tenses (with 5 winners per language qualifying for the National Final).
You can see a student in action at the regional final here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g__rOeaDHSQ

Compete in school, then regionally, with the national finalists battling it out in the National Final at Cambridge University (dates tbc)

Email ss2431@cam.ac.uk for more information

The National Translation Bee continues into its fourth year.

Great for your year 8s and 9s with a toolkit of sentences to learn (present in stage 1, future in stage 2 and past in stage 3).

Compete in school, then regionally, with the national finalists battling it out in the National Final at Cambridge University (dates tbc)

- still enjoying the sponsorship of Vocab Express for the practice of key words

Go to www.fltb.co.uk to register or email ss2431@cam.ac.uk for more information

With continuing sponsorship from Vocab Express (including free access to Vocab Express for practice of the Spelling Bee words) and a National Final at Cambridge University (dates tbc)

To register go to www.flsb.co.uk or email ss2431@cam.ac.uk for more information

The National Translation Bee continues into its fourth year.

Great for your year 8s and 9s with a toolkit of sentences to learn (present in stage 1, future in stage 2 and past in stage 3).

Compete in school, then regionally, with the national finalists battling it out in the National Final at Cambridge University (dates tbc)

- still enjoying the sponsorship of Vocab Express for the practice of core vocabulary for each stage

Go to www.fltb.co.uk to register and for payment details (unfortunately now that government funding has ended we're having to charge schools) or email ss2431@cam.ac.uk for more information

The National Spelling Bee continues for Year 7s (French, German and Spanish)!

4 stages with 50/100 words to learn at each stage (300 altogether) FOLLOWING THE LATEST SLA RESEARCH - a fun, motivating way of getting your Year 7s to learn all that vocab they need to know. 

The Spelling Bee words have been reviewed each year since the competition began. In line with changes to the GCSE examinations (to be examined for the first time in 2026) we have updated the list to reflect vocabulary choices made by all three awarding organisations. All words on the Spelling Bee word lists also appear on all three GCSE wordlists*.

To register (and for payment details - unfortunately now that government funding has ended, we're having to charge schools) email ss2431@cam.ac.uk for more information

It is the teacher's responsibility to ensure that having paid and registered the school will participate in the competition. 

For a promotional video of the Spelling Bee made a few years ago click here

This is what Shan from Hazelwick school, who won the 2026 Spanish National Final, wrote about the Spelling Bee:

My Exciting Experience, (By: Shanmukh Dhulipala 7PWE)

The Spanish Spelling Bee has changed my life completely. Going to University of Cambridge was a distant wish that never in my wildest dreams would've come true without the support of Ms García and Mrs Fernández.

This experience not only improved my Spanish skills but also taught me that determination and resilience can lead to great achievements. Please convey my special thanks to all the people who supported and encouraged me during the Spelling bee lunch club. I am very delighted and looking forward to the translation bee next year and hope to conquer another achievement along with my fellow mates.

Special shoutout to Sathvik Dhulipala who, as an older brother, has been very supportive all the way throughout this journey, hoping for the best and always keeping me positive. Also, another shoutout to Nayonika Sujitkumar, who has given me all the courage, inspiration and motivation. Thank you to all the other students who just came to the lunch club and cheered me on!

For the future Spanish Bee's -

Stepping up to the microphone takes immense courage and dedication. When the pressure builds, Just keep calm and trust yourself, always tell yourself - "I have done enough practice, and I know that I will succeed."

Trust the Process, Embrace the Rules, Never Stop Exploring, Stay Calm, and most importantly, Have Fun!

To see a national finalist from a previous year in action click on the ppt link below: