The Express Yourself festival is set to celebrate its fifth birthday.

More than 37,500 young people, aged three to 18, participated in the North East Festival of Languages earlier this year.

The Tynedale festival ran over three months, from January to March, and will return in 2025 with a range of free events, activities, and resources celebrating diverse languages and cultures across the region.

Express Yourself was created to engage with children during the pandemic and has reached more than 89,000 young people across the North East since its inception.

Gosforth Central Middle School pupils at the Welcome to China Event in March 2024 (Image: Supplied) The festival encourages language learning, skill-building, and 'preparing for life in a global society'.

Declan Baharini, the chief executive officer of International Newcastle and festival coordinator, said: "Registration for 2025’s North East Festival of Languages is open now.

"We’re all about promoting the value of languages and inspiring a future generation of linguists.

"Our packed three-month programme encourages children across Tynedale and beyond to build their skills and confidence, and we aim to nurture curiosity about the wider world."

The first Express Yourself festival was held in 2021 in response to the pandemic and to counteract the decline in language teaching and learning.

Arab World Day in March 2024 with St Paul’s Primary pupils and Abu Yahya, calligraphy artist (Image: Supplied) Newcastle City of Languages, a partnership of local, regional, and national organisations led by International Newcastle, provided online activities for more than 11,000 children and young people.

The festival has grown significantly since then, with 37,633 pupils engaging with the 2024 programme.

Ms Baharini added: "There’s a chance to dive into multilingual creative projects and enjoy engaging pre-recorded workshops across three months from January to March.

"There’s an amazing choice of in-person and online live events in March, based around world cultures and languages, as well as languages and careers."

All activities and resources are free, and schools and colleges across the region are encouraged to sign up and provide their students with the opportunity to learn through languages.

Sarah Edgar, education consultant at Newcastle City Council, said: "The Festival of Languages is a unique opportunity for schools to instil a love of language learning.

"It gives children and young people a reason and inspiration for studying languages at school while celebrating the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of our region."

The 2025 festival will urge children to express themselves in both their home languages and the ones they are learning.

It will introduce children and young people to a range of multilingual activities focused on languages from Bangla, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, German, Spanish, French, and African-speaking countries.

Ms Baharini said: "I’d urge teachers to start registering through our new website as soon as possible.

"Participating schools automatically receive the British Council’s International School Award (ISA) Foundation Certificate.

"In 2024, 169 North East schools were awarded certificates — festival activities contribute to schools progressing through the ISA levels which, in turn, provide a framework to embed internationalism across the curriculum."

To learn more about the 2025 festival and to register for activities from January, go to www.expressyourselfne.com.

You can follow the festival on Instagram, Facebook, and X.