The Prismatic Jane Eyre Schools Project is an AHRC-funded joint project with the University of Oxford and the Stephen Spender Trust (SST), the leading UK charity for creative multilingual activities in schools.

Over 2021, the Project ran workshops in translation and creative writing for young people who are learning modern languages or are speakers of community languages. Using the classic novel Jane Eyre and research about how the text has been translated across the world since its 1847 publication, a professional translator delivered workshops to secondary schools in the UK.

A nation-wide creative translation competition was launched on 30 September 2021 – International Translation Day! Entrants were asked to compose a poem in another language inspired by a selected passage from Jane Eyre. The competition accepted submissions in any language, and all entries had to be accompanied by a literal translation into English.

The PJE Schools Project draws on translation as an educational tool that has many benefits for the learners involved in creative and translation-focused activities. Reports show that children participating in creative writing and translation activities enjoy heightened critical awareness and understanding of other languages and cultures, and that bringing community languages into the classroom builds linguistic and intercultural proficiencies and contributes to social unity.

Our activities aimed to:

1. stimulate an awareness of translation’s creative possibilities and practical importance. We want to show young people how creative translation can be!

2. the use of community language alongside languages commonly taught in schools

3. generate an interest and enjoyment in language learning.

To learn more about the project, explore our Workshops, Competition, and Who We Are pages.