EDL.ECML.AT/EVENTSUGGESTIONS

20 ideas for this year's European Day of Languages

Struggling to find ideas for an event for this year’s European Day of Languages? It can be challenging to organise events that are fun, inclusive, have an educational element and motivate a large number of people. Below are a few ideas to get your creative thoughts flowing, most of which are based on the principle of “starting small to go big”! 20 ideas for activities that can be carried in celebration of this year's EDL.

20 ideas for this year's European Day of Languages

Sjoch side

20 ideas for this year's European Day of Languages



Sjoch side

1. Multilingual tongue twister challenge

How many tongue twisters, in at least three different languages, can you master in one minute? Tongue twisters are challenging in any language, but managing to do three or more is certainly not for the faint-hearted! Show off your skills, either individually or as part of a group, by submitting a video.

Focus: whole-school/classroom activity

Resources: https://edl.ecml.at/tonguetwisterchallenge, https://edl.ecml.at/Fun/Tonguetwisters/tabid/3116/language/Default.aspx

2. Baking in a foreign language

For the 20th anniversary of the European Day of Languages we asked you to send us your best birthday cake recipes. We have chosen 20 amazing recipes and compiled them into a colorful booklet.
Celebrate with us by baking one of these truly European birthday cakes and practice your language skills in the process!

Resource: https://edl.ecml.at/Portals/33/documents/recipe-book.pdf

3. Language taster workshops

Organise a 30-60 minute workshop to introduce a new language to your class group. You can determine the maximum number of participants based on the available space.

The workshop could include:

  • unusual aspects of the language and similarities with the participants‘ first language
  • greetings and key phrases (such as counting 1-10)
  • interesting trivia facts, ‘false friends’ and famous speakers of the language
  • an introduction to a sign language including fingerspelling names and learning how to meet and greet a deaf person

    • The sessions do not necessarily have to be led by qualified teachers; students or colleagues from different linguistic backgrounds can present their home languages. As these are taster sessions, adding some samples of national cuisine might add some extra ‘spice’ or ‘sweetness’ to the event!

    Focus: organisation/ whole-school/classroom activity

    Resource pages: https://edl.ecml.at/languagetrivia, https://edl.ecml.at/signlanguage, https://edl.ecml.at/celebrities, an example

    4. Eurovision song/poetry/story-telling contest

    While waiting for next year’s Eurovision song contest, why not create your own mini competition? Of course, this could prove a huge endeavour, so first determine on what scale you would like it to be held: within a single class, involving several class groups or perhaps involving the entire school. Consider setting up an organisation committee to help prepare the event. Keep in mind that not everyone can sing like Celine Dion or Andrea Bocelli. To make it more inclusive—and to possibly save your ears—consider expanding it to a song or poetry contest. After all, the main focus is the language itself: can the performers use a foreign language and still sound impressive? Performances can either be live or recorded. If you wish to add a competitive edge, consider adding a voting system and judges, as in the real Eurovision!

    Focus: whole-school/classroom activity

    Resource sites: Youtube, Spotify etc.

    For inspiration: see Junior Eurovision: a minority language view

    5. Travel virtually

    Make a map of the places you want to visit and learn the most useful expressions in the language of your dream travel destination. This can be done as individually or in teams. If everyone wants to choose the same country (which can tend to happen), you can randomly assign a different country to each team or student by drawing lots or using an online tool like Wheeldecide.

    Create a list of elements which each poster should include, such as: reasons to visit, notable sights, activities to do, languages spoken there and what makes them unique, and important expressions for the trip.

    Focus: classroom activity/groups

    Resources: Discover the world through languages poster, https://edl.ecml.at/languagetrivia, https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours

    6. Set up your own treasure or scavenger hunt

    7. EDL secret agent’s language challenges handbook

    Here you have 51 challenges to choose from, which can be carried out over an agreed period, offering plenty of activity options! If you are short on time, you can even let the ‘wheel of fortune’ decide which challenge to take on. If you decide to take the 51st challenge, we invite you to create a short video clip, based on either one of the existing challenges or one of your own invention, and upload it to the EDL website.

    Some ideas for this final challenge are:

  • “Demonstrate how you cook your favourite national recipe”
  • “Recommend a foreign language movie from your country”
  • “Recreate a country you would like to visit in your home”

    • The Handbook of Language Challenges is currently available in 37+ languages. Don’t forget to reward yourself with a certificate upon completion of 10 or more challenges!

    Focus: individually or in groups

    Resources: https://edl.ecml.at/languagechallenge

    8. The secret agent’s language challenges app

    The challenges and quizzes featured within this app encourage learners – future international agents – to take advantage of the plentiful opportunities available to practice or learn more about a language beyond the confines of a classroom. Progressing through a series of seven levels, users can rise from a lowly agent in training to become a master secret agent.

    Compete with friends to conquer challenges, identify countries and languages and complete quizzes. The challenges range from simple tasks like “count from 1-10 in 3 different languages within one minute” to ones that are a bit more demanding, such as collaborating with a friend to write the lyrics to a song or rap in a foreign language.

    The app, developed with the support of the European Commission, is available in 31+ languages.

    Focus: individually or in groups

    Resource: https://edl.ecml.at/app

    9. Language fair

    This can be as small- or large-scale as you wish. Divide the students into groups, each representing a different country. In case of multiple groups wanting to choose the same country, you can randomly assign countries to teams by drawing lots or using an online tool like Wheeldecide. The goal is for each group to organise an activity for the fair centred around their chosen country’s language. Some examples include cooking a traditional recipe, learning a typical dance or song, or even presenting a sketch or short play in a foreign language. The fair could be organized in a spacious indoor area or even outdoors. The objective of the language fair is to encourage students to explore the world around them and demonstrate that there are various ways to learn a new language.

    Focus: whole school/classroom activity

    Resources: Wheeldecide link

    For inspiration: https://languagesconnect.ie/thinklanguages/

    10. International online tandem

    11. Board games day

    Organise a ‘Board Games Day’ with your students to show them just how fun languages can be! Divide students and rotate them through various games. For added excitement, you can also split the class into groups but have them all play the same game to see who wins.

    The idea behind the activity is for students to practice the language they are learning in an engaging manner, possibly without even realising they are actually learning!

    For the 2024 European Day of Languages, the European Centre for Modern Languages is developing a brand-new board game centred around languages. The new game will be available to try from the second week in September. For further details, visit https://edl.ecml.at/EDLboardgame".

    Focus: classroom activity

    Resources: https://www.spanishplayground.net/spanish-board-games, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/teacherzone/try-these-classic-board-games-in-class/ (board game ideas that can easily be adapted to any other languages)

    12. EDL T-shirt contest

    Every year, the European Centre for Modern Languages organises a T-shirt competition on the occasion of the European Day of Languages. Why not encourage your students to take part?

    To enter the competition, students simply need to create a design, image or graphic that meets the requirements listed on our website and upload it to our platform: https://edl.ecml.at/tshirtcontest

    The winner will not only get to see their design displayed on all of our t-shirts, but he or she will also be featured on our website! Time to get your ideas flowing!

    Focus: whole school/classroom activity

    Resources: https://edl.ecml.at/tshirt (here you can check out our t-shirt store and read more about previous winners and their designs!)

    13. Foreign cinema festival

    Encourage your students to improve their listening skills by organizing an ‚International Film Festival‘. Whether at the class or school level, this event can span several days and feature films from various countries and languages. Choose subtitled versions according to students‘ language proficiency. This fun and engaging festival will enhance their skills and spark interest in different languages and cultures.

    You can also explore Eurimages, the Council of Europe’s fund that supports award-winning independent European films.

    Focus: whole school/classroom activity

    Resources: https://www.coe.int/en/web/eurimages/eurimages-prize-list, https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/best-international-films-for-kids, https://thelearningadventure.com/2020/04/language-films-students, https://www.negrabohemian.com/blog/2019/4/2/20-foreign-movies-to-watch-with-kids (some film ideas for language teachers)

    14. Start a book club

    Another easy and fun way to improve students' reading comprehension and vocabulary in a foreign language is to start a book club. This type of activity not only helps to promote a love of reading, but also improves language skills in many areas, such as writing and spelling. In addition, this activity can be used with different groups of students, regardless of age.

    To establish a successful online book club, don’t forget to consider the students' interests when selecting the books to ensure that they are motivated and enthusiastic about this activity. It is also important to choose books that correspond to the language level of the students in the respective foreign language.

    The link below provides some helpful tools for setting up an online book club. Happy reading!

    Focus: whole classroom activity

    Resource: https://bookclubz.com/,

    15. GeoGuessr challenge

    What better way to encourage your students to practise foreign languages than with a challenge? GeoGuessr is an online geographic discovery game that drops the player in a series of random locations around the globe and challenges them to find out where they are! To do so, players must pay close attention to their surroundings.

    Luckily for us, one of the best clues you can get while playing GeoGuessr relates to languages. Students will come across all sorts of signs, advertisements and so on during their game. Recognising these alphabets and languages and knowing where they are spoken will help them to find out which country, city or area they are in. They will need to pinpoint their location on the map, earning more points the closer they get to the spot chosen by GeoGuessr.

    Moreover, there are different game modes. In some, your students will have a time limit to find out their location. In other modes, you can choose whether you want your students to play worldwide, or whether you want GeoGuessr to place them in a specific country or area to focus on a particular language or culture. A fun time is guaranteed!

    Focus: whole classroom activity

    Resources: https://www.geoguessr.com

    For inspiration: https://srtaspanish.com/2018/05/04/geoguessr-lets-explore-the-world/

    16. Organise a ‘special edition’ newspaper for the Day of Languages

    Whether for your class or the entire school, your newspaper project can be as small- or large-scale as you desire.

    To get started, you will need an editorial team consisting of journalists and a photographer to develop your very own Language Tribune, Herald, Bugle, Times, or whichever title you choose for your newspaper, to be published on 26th September!

    What might your newspaper include? Like any typical newspaper, it can feature a variety of interesting articles and features: an editorial, interviews - perhaps with the school principal on the importance of languages, with pupils who are interested in a particular language, with teachers on what first attracted them to the language they teach, or with any polyglots you know! You can emphasise the resources that are easily accessible within your school or community, conduct online research about local place names with foreign origins and their significance, or research some interesting language facts in a ‘Did you know’? format. You could also include the lyrics of a popular song in a foreign language (perhaps with a translation). Consider developing a crossword or quiz on languages. Almost every newspaper has a sports section or a gossip column, so why not profile a local sports ‘celebrity’ or other notable person who has a different language background?

    If you wish to make it more challenging, how about producing a bilingual version?

    Focus: whole-school/classroom activity

    Resource pages: https://edl.ecml.at/downloads, an example

    17. Learn how to say "Hello" in several languages

    Students collaborate in small groups to design posters featuring greetings like "Hello" or "How are you?" in various languages. The pupils presenting the posters or vocalising the greeting are recorded on video, for example using a mobile phone. The clips can be combined into a single video presenting the results of the activity, or a competition can be organised to see how many languages the students can use to make the greeting within a limited time period (for example, one minute).

    The aim of this activity is to teach pupils about language diversity and further inspire them to study foreign languages.

    Focus: classroom activity

    Resource pages: https://edl.ecml.at/downloads, an example

    18. The great multilingual joke book (or Make me laugh!)

    In how many languages can you make someone laugh? A sense of humour and what someone finds amusing are often considered to be influenced by the language(s) they speak and their cultural background. In order to test out whether this is really the case, and during a time where there has not been much to laugh about, we are inviting you to send us your best jokes. The jokes can be in your native language(s) or a language you are learning. The most important thing is that they are funny! They can of course be related to language or adaptable to different languages, but the primary criteria is that they are amusng! Submit your favourite joke, and if your joke makes it past a very strict jury (comprised of individuals who don’t laugh much!) your joke may be selected to feature in a second edition of the Multilingual Joke Book (developed in 2022).

    Focus: classroom activity

    Resources: https://edl.ecml.at/jokebook

    19. New: Lara’s next journey - through Europe’s Regional and Minority Languages

    Lara sets off on a new language journey! In this chapter of her journey, she explores the fascinating world of regional and minority languages, uncovering numerous linguistic treasures along the way, fuelled by her curiosity!

    Having explored some 46 of Europe’s more prominent languages on her first journey, this trip sees Lara dig deeper to discover lesser-known languages, often specific to certain areas. In some cases, the languages she encounters have several dialects, lack a standardised written form or can be transcribed in different scripts. Additionally, many of these languages are experiencing a decline in native speakers. Despite these challenges, each language has a proud tradition and is supported by dedicated and active communities of speakers seeking to preserve their linguistic heritage for generations to come .

    Focus: classroom activity

    Resources: https://edl.ecml.at/languagejourney, https://edl.ecml.at/Activities/languagejourney/guideforteachers/tabid/3227/Default.aspx

    20. Test out your knowledge of Europe’s languages

    There is a wealth of information on the EDL website relating to Europe’s languages, including language facts, trivia, famous quotes, quizzes (with a Kahoot quiz in the works!), as well as languages games. Why not organise a language contest for your class based on one or more of these activities?

    Focus: classroom activity

    Resources: https://edl.ecml.at/quiz, https://edl.ecml.at/languagetrivia, https://edl.ecml.at/languagefacts, https://edl.ecml.at/braingame, https://edl.ecml.at/Activities/languagejourney/guideforteachers/tabid/3227/Default.aspx, https://edl.ecml.at/signlanguage, https://edl.ecml.at/quotes