Mother Tongue Day 2021
- Created on 07 October 2021
- Last changed on 07 October 2021
Mother Tongue Day!
Last week our library hosted our annual 'Mother Tongue' day and as always it was a wonderful celebration of the home languages, cultures and nations of our students and teachers. Ms. Richards and Ms. Furstenburg facilitated a fun day and together with a host of teachers and students they presented 18 languages including the language of music! Many students also helped out as organisers, hosts and photographers.
We asked Ms. Richards why she is so passionate about this special day that celebrates the home languages and cultures from our international school community …
“I think it is important to celebrate all languages, not just the ones covered in school. Language is important to one's sense of identity. It is also an opportunity to share your language with others. I always enjoy hearing about the countries where these languages are spoken, as well as hearing the language itself.”
We learnt so much from our presenters this year. From having fun with Slovakian tongue twisters to the sad history of the Welsh Not. We learnt that many languages are vulnerable to extinction. We learnt to count, say hello, goodbye and thank you in many languages. We learnt about the landscape, food and architecture of nations and more. There was something for everyone!
Even after 7 years Ms. Richards is still amazed by what she learns at our Mother Tongue day celebration …
“I am always amazed at the fact that there is something new each year. We had music this year.We have not had that for a good few years. We had Chinese this year, from 2 different perspectives (a teacher and a student: Mandarin and Cantonese respectively.)”
That’s right we had music, Mozart in fact!
It was wonderful and our audience was in awe of our student musician who moved them through the language of music.
Our grade six students were lucky enough to attend two sessions and were gracious enough to share their reflections with us …
“I thought that the celebration was very good and fun to listen to and my favourite one was the Chinese one, it was very good.” - Eoin
“I really enjoyed learning about different languages. Also listening to the girl play the piano. I learned how to count in many different languages and to say goodbye. It was a nice experience.” - Abriella
“I thought the mother tongue celebration was very interesting and I would love if there could be another one, it was very interesting listening to different people talking about their home language.” – Blanka
“I loved Mother Tongue day especially the Welsh one. I also liked the one of India, they said some really cool information. They said that Indian was the first language of humans, which is true. That was so cool!” – Maya
“I found the mother tongue celebration very interesting, because we learned a bit about different people's cultures. I enjoyed learning some words from each language. It gave me an idea about learning those languages.” – Diego
“I loved the mother tongue celebration. We saw People from Tanzania (Kiswahili), China (Chinese), India (Tamil), Russia (Russian) and Wales (Welsh). Personally, I learned a lot from it, even in Tamil! I speak Tamil at home, and I thought I knew everything! I liked it a lot!” - Pratyush
"I found the mother tongue day very interesting! I watched the Welsh, Ke Swahilli, Tamil, Chinese, Language of music and Russia. I learned that you speak Welsh in Wales and that there are two signs when entering a new city or town, one in Welsh and in English. I learned the Russian alphabet, that people in Tanzania live in tribes or that Tamil is one of the most ancient languages!" - Ahana
"I really found quite fun and educational. Especially the language of music. I really enjoyed that one because I also play the piano. It was really nice learning about the different types of languages and cultures. The town in Wales was a nice one. You know, the small town with a very long name? All in all, I really enjoyed that experience. I would really like to do it again." - Oishi
Mother Tongue Day is a celebration of our International Community, and we wish to thank Ms. Richards, Ms Furstenburg, our teachers and students who presented as well as all the students to contribute to the extra jobs to make this day happen. We are all wiser for having shared this day!
A p.s for you ...
In case you’re wondering about the Welsh name of the small town in Wales it’s …
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
And in case you're wondering how to say it. Here you are: