International Mother Language Day
is celebrated every year on 21 February to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, as well as multilingual education around the world. The day was proclaimed by UNESCO in recognition of the importance of mother languages in preserving identity, heritage, and effective communication within communities.
A mother language is often the first language a child learns at home. It plays a vital role in shaping thinking, emotional development, and cultural values. Learning and communicating in one’s mother language helps children build a strong educational foundation, improves understanding, and enhances confidence, especially in the early years of schooling.
International Mother Language Day also draws attention to the need to protect endangered languages. Many languages around the world are at risk of disappearing due to globalization and reduced intergenerational transmission. When a language is lost, valuable knowledge, history, and cultural expression are lost with it. This observance therefore encourages communities and governments to support language preservation and promote inclusive language policies.
In schools and educational institutions, the day is often marked with activities such as storytelling, poetry, cultural displays, debates, and language-themed performances. These activities help students appreciate different languages and cultures, while fostering mutual respect and unity in diversity.
International Mother Language Day serves as a reminder that linguistic diversity is a strength, not a barrier. By valuing and promoting mother languages, societies can build more inclusive education systems, strengthen cultural understanding, and ensure that every individual has the opportunity to learn, express themselves, and thrive in their own voice.
Day One
Registration: an unexpected queue of 11 would-be participants hoping to join the workshop at the last minute, creating a dilemma for the local organisers: admit them and risk offending institutions that have already been turned away because demand outstripped the 60 places available, or reject them and risk offending people who have just driven or flown hundreds of miles across the country in the hope of joining in? Solution: admit them, but delay their participation to make sure that word gets round about the need to register in advance next time!
Day Two
Today’s highlight is an amazingly animated university/industry session where each side is saying what they think about the other, ending with mixed industry/university group discussions at each table, finding ways to work together in future. Lots of noise and exchanging of business cards. Lunch with the Pro-Chancellor of Estudiar University where the workshop is being run reveals fascinating insights into national education and politics.
Day Three
Further discussions of change management strategies and methods leads into the final session where everyone is designing course proposal posters, followed by live public surgeries on each poster to identify strengths weaknesses. As we go round the tables, the learning outcomes and course designs just keep getting better and better. Participants are clearly learning from the feedback they are hearing.
Our mother language is the first gift of identity it carries our history, our values, and the voice of who we are.”
The excitement is intense and finally explodes into triumphant dancing, hollering and air punching as the winners are announced. Ending the workshop with Innumerable photos with participants and wonderful feedback such as “I’m leaving this workshop a changed man” and “When can we have more workshops like this? No more requests for lectures.
