“The Mother Tongue Other Tongue Competition has given Loreto students a fantastic opportunity to practise and polish their language skills, and to show what wonderful writers they are. It has provided a welcome distraction from other current worries and concerns. Well done, not only to our winners, but to everyone who participated.”

Ms Benavides, Head of Modern Languages

A number of Loreto language students have achieved success in a prestigious national poetry competition. Mother Tongue Other Tongue has been developed by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at MMU, and is endorsed by Nobel Peace Prize winner and education activist Malala Yousfzai and former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, amongst other luminaries.

This multilingual competition aims to celebrate cultural diversity and the many languages spoken by students in schools and colleges across the UK. Entries can be poems or songs written in the mother tongue of the young person or, alternatively, a piece written in a language being learnt by a native English speaker.

No fewer than four Loreto students achieved success this year. Eamonn Fogarty Olmos submitted a poem in the ‘mother tongue’ category. Written in Spanish La Tierra es Probable touches on themes of immigration, the sea, uncertainty and hope. In the ‘other tongue’ category, Seher Khan Naz, also writing in Spanish, reflects in her poem, entitled El Camino la Vida, on the different paths we take in life, whilst Felicia Odebode, our third Spanish entry, offers a prayer to God in turbulent times: Padre, puedes escucharme. Writing in French, Zoya Anwar considers issues connected to the wearing of the veil, particularly in modern France.