In 2025 the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Warwick marked the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII with a year-long project in collaboration with Coventry Cathedral to bring people together to see the world differently. Learning a language allows you to see through others’ eyes, which is a concept at the heart of conflict resolution and peace making. The resources created are freely available for other HE language departments to use with cathedrals in their vicinity or as stand-alone outreach activities.
- Peace poetry: primary school pupils were invited to explore what peace means and then build an illustrated poem in French or Spanish using glossaries and guided poetic frameworks. The powerpoint and glossaries can be accessed here: Mother Tongue Other Tongue Poetry Competition
- Multilingual activities online and in Coventry Cathedral: we created a scavenger hunt and activities connected to the idea of peace for families visiting the cathedral. We also created a series of interactive online games. These can be accessed, along with the activity booklet here: Coventry Cathedral Multilingual Family Visitor Activities
- We ran a year 9 event in the Cathedral designed to encourage pupils to reflect on how languages can encourage empathy and diplomacy between nations. We offered a French activity based on Paul Valery’s poem “La Liberté”, a Spanish-based one on Picasso’s painting of Guernica exploring symbolism and language and a German-based one on the city of Dresden (cultural knowledge and German speaking task). The pupils then had to use all what they had learned to work in groups to create a piece of artwork as a new commission to mark the link between Dresden and Coventry, combining poetry, art, and sculpture. More information can be accessed here: Year 9 Schools Event – Language Learners as Peacemakers
We are grateful to the UCFL for awarding us a small grant to enable us to prepare the year 9 event and inspire so many pupils. We hope that other HE language departments will find these resources useful for their own outreach.
Kate Astbury, University of Warwick.