Bringing languages to life through art

A new competition launched by the University of Essex encourages school and college students to express their love of languages through art.

The competition, called “Painting my language journey: a creative challenge”, hopes to inspire the language graduates of the future.

Launched by the Department of Language and Linguistics, it invites students from Year 10 to Year 13 across the country to pick up a paintbrush or pencil and express their language journey.

Organisers are looking for unique interpretations of the language learning experience. It could be about anything from the joy of learning a new language, through to mastering a new grammar rule, or something about the culture of the language they are studying.

Dr Antonio De Silva, Director of Admissions and Recruitment for the Department, hopes the use of art will inspire young people to take part.

“We started to think about a different way to engage with students and to get them to express their love of languages – painting was the first thing that came to mind,” he said. “I used to work as a teacher in schools and saw that the way children love to express themselves is through art and creativity.”

Dr Da Silva hopes the competition will also help to raise awareness of the thriving languages and linguistics department at Essex and will open people’s eyes to the opportunities available.

“The Department at Essex has so much to offer, and we want to let people know about that. If a student loves languages, they can come here and end up learning up to three different languages on their course. Linguistics can not only help you learn about languages, and how to learn them, but there are so many different career paths it can take you on.”

The deadline for entry to the competition is Friday 23 June.

Out of the entries received, 30 finalists will be chosen, and their artwork will be displayed at the University in July. One overall winner will also receive an iPad.

For more information, visit the webpage or search for #PaintingLanguages.