Mother Tongue Other Tongue Poetry Competition

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!