European Day of Languages

The European Day of Languages (EDL) is celebrated across Europe on the 26th of September every year. It aims to promote the rich linguistic diversity of Europe and raise awareness of the importance of lifelong language learning for everyone. It was set up by the Council of Europe and was first celebrated in 2001. Why not celebrate with your class, and use this opportunity to raise the profile of languages in your school.

Ideas for your school

SCILT has put together lots of ideas to support you in celebrating the European Day of Languages in your school. We have grouped them into primary and secondary ideas, as well as ideas for parents and families, and provided a suggested timeframe for each activity:

Schools organising events to celebrate EDL 2024 are invited to upload details of their event to the EDL events calendar, a Europe-wide calendar hosted by the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML). There will be a prize for the most innovative event.

Blogs

Tell us how you celebrate the European Day of Languages and we will feature you in our EDL 2024 blog. If you include some colourful photos your article could even appear in our next newsletter! Just submit your entry via our EDL blog form.

For more ideas on how to celebrate, view the SCILT EDL blogs from previous years:

Competitions

The ECML are inviting entries for their EDL t-shirt contest. Submit your entry online and your design could be on the official EDL t-shirt for 2025!

For 2024 ECML are running two new initiatives: Languages for peace and Most difficult letter/word/phrase to pronounce. Design a poster or record a video, and you might feature on the ECML website and even win a prize.

Find even more activities, games and facts on the ECML website.