Putney teacher honoured in new memorial fund to help schools compete in national Junior Language Challenge

Organisers of the uTalk Junior Language Challenge have announced the launch of the Laetitia Collender Memorial Fund, a special bursary set up in memory of a popular teacher from Putney in West London who was a passionate supporter of the national language competition. The Junior Language Challenge (JLC) is an annual competition for primary school … Read more

Birmingham primary school student wins uTalk’s Junior Language Challenge 2016 during tense final

A 9-year-old girl from Birmingham has won the UK’s only primary school language challenge to be crowned 2016 winner and earn a family trip to Africa to see the work of charity onebillion in person. This year’s uTalk Junior Language Challenge for children aged 10 and under started in March and saw over 1,000 children representing more … Read more

uTalk Cockney launches in the East End

If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll know that last week uTalk became the world’s first Cockney language learning app! The traditional East London rhyming slang was launched at G Kelly pie shop on the Roman Road by the Pearly King of Forest Gate and Pearly Queen of Old Kent Road. The Pearly King and … Read more

Junior Language Challenge – 2016 here we come…

The Junior Language Challenge 2015 may be over, but we’re already thinking about next year’s competition. In 2016, we’d love to double the number of children taking part from 1,100 to 2,200, and raise even more money for our brilliant charity, onebillion. Every year, we’re blown away by the enthusiasm and commitment shown by children, parents … Read more

Junior Language Challenge: Aalaya’s story

Last week, we heard from Jackie Gliniecka, a teacher at The Hawthorns School in Surrey, about her experience of the Junior Language Challenge over the last ten years. But how does it feel to take part in the competition? Today we’re sharing runner-up Aalaya Sanjeeva’s story, which begins three years ago… Aalaya I started JLC … Read more

Junior Language Challenge 2015 – The Final!

On Friday 16th October, our 33 Junior Language Challenge finalists came to London to battle it out to win the trophy. The children have learnt three languages during the course of the competition, with Portuguese being the first language, moving onto Mandarin for the semi-finals and Arabic being chosen as the final language. All three heats at the … Read more

Junior Language Challenge: A Mum’s Perspective

by Anna Fawcett My children, Ben, Josh and Saskia, have all taken part in EuroTalk’s Junior Language Challenge. Ben was first – introduced to it by their language teacher, Mrs Susannah Stockton at their school, Oakwood Prep School in Chichester. Ben really embraced it and managed to win his semi-final… although this was bittersweet, as it … Read more

Learn Chinese? No problem for our Junior Language Challenge semi-finalists!

As a EuroTalk newbie, I had no idea what to expect when it came to the Junior Language Challenge. I have heard a lot of stories (all good, I promise) over the last couple of months on what to expect at the semi-finals. We did a few practice rounds here at the EuroTalk office and … Read more

Baby Crying? Try Sign Language

I recently discovered something fascinating. Here it is: there is such a thing as Baby Sign Language. And it’s a pretty big deal. The idea behind it is very clever: by teaching simple signs to your baby from a really young age, they will be able to identify and sign everyday items, as well as … Read more

5 reasons to join the Junior Language Challenge

If you’re a regular follower, you’ll have heard us talk in past years about the Junior Language Challenge, our annual competition for primary school children across the UK. This year’s challenge is now underway, and here’s why we want every child who’ll be aged 10 and under on 1st September 2015 to join in: 1. … Read more