UNESCO has designated 21 February as International Mother Language Day to raise awareness about languages' integral importance to culture, identity and education. There are over 600 languages in the world, many of them under threat and UNESCO has established an atlas of endangered languages to help protect and preserve this important part of our shared cultural heritage. For more information please see www.unesco.org/en/languages-in-education.

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. The day has been marked since 1911 and was given official recognition by the United Nations during International Women's Year in 1975. For more information see www.internationalwomensday.com.

10 December is Human Rights Day and the UN Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC) has launched a new Human Rights Education portal which includes teaching materials for primary, secondary and tertiary levels. The portal also has a separate section for children and young people with games, cartoons, films and interviews with UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights issues. We are delighted that the Human Rights Education pack we produced together with the UNA-UK in 2008 has been featured in the teaching materials section. To visit the portal, please see www.humanrightseducation.info.

Amnesty International UK has produced a teaching pack on poverty and human rights which include lesson plans, assembly presentations and films of residents of the Deep Sea community in Kenya explaining their fight for human rights. The pack gives students the opportunity to learn about the impact of poverty, and begin to understand what changes are needed to improve everyone's right to live with dignity. The accompanying Taking Action Project enables teachers to guide students through the development, researching, carrying out and evaluation of a campaign. For more information see www.amnesty.org.uk.

The new Justice and Fairness teaching resource from the British Red Cross and law firm Allen & Overy allows students to explore issues of fairness and justice through the lens of international humanitarian law or the "laws of war". The resource helps students see the bigger picture in conflict situations and approach controversial issues through different perspectives. It also enables them to see the links between people in crisis situations around the world, themselves and their wider communities. It is specifically designed for Key Stage 4, but can also be used in informal or non-formal education settings. For more information, please see www.redcross.org.uk.

Connecting Cultures is an educational initiative that promotes face to face dialogue with young people from the western and Arab world through short wilderness journeys in the desert of Oman. The aim of this dialogue is to celebrate cultural diversity, break down stereotypes, identify shared values and in so doing promote understanding and help reduce the polarisation of cultures. Connecting Cultures has developed a teaching resource pack on 'Culture' which is suitable for young people aged 14 - 18. The resource pack includes all lesson plans and activity sheets and focuses on issues around cultural identity and living together with different cultures. For more information, please see www.connectingcultures-education.co.uk.