MC - Peace - The international day of mother tongue

A language is much more than just a way of communicating. Language, and particularly our mother tongue, is an important part of our culture. Some people even think that our language can change how we see the world.

In 1999, a special day to promote mother languages was created: International Mother Language Day. The day was also intended to raise awareness of just how many languages we have on this planet (around 6,500) and to protect them.

International Mother Language Day  is an opportunity to remind the international community that multilingual education enhances learning when the language of instruction is the learner’s first language. The use of learners’ own languages for literacy and learning provides a solid pillar for education, and for transfer of skills and knowledge to additional languages. Learning in one’s first language facilitates understanding and interaction, and further develops critical thinking. It strengthens self-confidence and self-esteem and stimulates active participation. In addition to boosting learning, multilingual education contributes to opening the doors to intergenerational learning, the preservation of culture and intangible heritage, and the revitalization of languages. It enriches multilingualism on the web and is essential for digital literacy. Multilingual education also helps in acquiring life skills, especially in the context of emergencies, crises and natural disasters. Thus, refugees, internally or internationally displaced people and those excluded or marginalized from quality education, such as Indigenous peoples, are not left behind.

Objectives:

•  promote linguistic multilingualism, and the preservation and protection of all languages, especially endangered ones. The day aims to raise awareness about the importance of linguistic diversity in promoting cultural understanding, peaceful coexistence, and sustainable development.
• celebrate and promote the use of mother tongues, which are an important part of people's cultural heritage and identity and to  encourages students to take pride in their mother language  thus supporting linguistic diversity and promote social inclusion.

The foreign students of the school belonging to different nationalities  worked in groups before the event in order to organize workshops about the culture of their country of origin: cooking, poetry, language, habits, traditional clothes, music etc. They prepared presentations and took  objects to show. Students understood the idea that linguistic and cultural diversity is a source of strength and means of achieving a more peaceful and sustainable world. By celebrating linguistic and cultural diversity, the day aims to build greater awareness and understanding among different communities and to foster greater respect and tolerance for all languages and cultures.  

There were in total 20 workshops including the Italian regions and the signs language workshop