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How Languages changed my life.

by Crista Hazell

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How languages changed my life
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A series of inspirational personal stories about languages, international experiences and careers from people who are originally from the region, or who live, study or work in the North East of England
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We would like to thank all of our contributors for their support and expertise in sharing so freely.

It has been inspirational to collate this selection of stories as part of the inaugural Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages

Crista Hazell
Festival co-ordinator
Express Yourself North East Festival of Languages ran in March 2021 as a virtual celebration of the languages and cultures in the region and our connections to the world. As part of this, we asked people in the region to reflect upon their lives and to share their stories about the impact of languages and how languages changed their life.

Throughout the following pages you will be able to read some of the incredible submissions which are stories of how languages do and have changed people's lives forever.

We are sharing stories to inspire people about language learning: How languages changed my life.

These are stories of people of all ages and backgrounds who are from here, came to live, work or study here or left the region and went elsewhere – about what languages mean to them and how it has impacted their lives on a daily basis in some cases. 
We are delighted to be sharing the stories of people who are from the North East or came to live or work here and how languages have played a key part in their lives.

These stories include:

a local language teacher with a Spanish and South American passion

a Newcastle MP with a background in engineering and whose French language skills have been used in international settings

a County Durham schoolgirl who started out on school exchanges and became a US Presidential Security Adviser