International Mother Tongue Language Day

International Mother Tongue Language Day - 21st February 2013

by Mme. Julia Lachet
CURRICULUM COORDINATOR FOR LANGUAGES

On February 21, for the first time, VIS celebrated the Mother Tongue language day. The theme of the day was about sharing and understanding our cultural diversities. Twelve Mother Tongue languages taught at VIS were represented; Chinese, Dutch, Filipino, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese.

Together, students from Prep to grade 12 and their Mother Tongue teachers presented a show where they shared with the school community various aspects of their cultures through dance, music, songs, poetry, etc. They also organized workshops for the whole school to participate in. During these workshops students taught the basics of their Mother Tongue languages, dance, songs, history and other particular traits of their languages and cultures. Moreover, there were opportunities for degustation of food from different countries.

The response from the school community was very positive; the children clearly enjoyed participating in the activities and the Mother Tongue students took great pride in sharing parts of their cultural identity. It was a delight to witness the glow of confidence emanating from the Mother Tongue students as they performed throughout the day.

This day reminded us about the importance of maintaining Mother Tongue languages. Encouraging Mother Tongue languages at school is leading children to shape and affirm their identity.

VIS would like to thank the Mother Tongue teachers, parents and colleagues for their support. We are looking forward to celebrating our Mother Tongue languages next year again.