International Mother Language Day 2021
By Andrea Ramos Castaneda ( 3 rd Year )
To celebrate International Mother Language Day 2021 our school participated in an eTwinning project which connected us with 11 other schools in 7 different countries : Croatia , Spain , Italy Romania , Turkey , Czechia and Ireland . All together about 150 students participated in the project , 25 of whom were from our school .
Students in each school were invited to design a logo for the project . We all voted to pick our favourite one . We contributed to an eTwinning blog and shared our thoughts on a number of different topics : how language is part of our identity , how important language skills are for life and how helpful it can be to speak different languages , like when travelling and meeting new people . Languages can open new horizons for us . The project was captivating ; it was an opportunity to see how cultures can be so different and interesting . We were able to make new friends and learn new things about different countries .
All the students came together for online meetings to prepare for our celebration of International Mother Language Day on 21 st February . We were put into groups of 8 -10 students with all the nationalities represented in each group .
logo designed by Taha Najafi ( 6 th Year MCC ) Then we worked together in breakout rooms online . We also continued working on our project in the time between the online meetings . Our task was to discuss and decide what aspects of our culture and language we wanted to highlight . In my group we chose to make a PowerPoint presentation . We decided to focus on our food , music and beautiful landscapes . I shared about the rich culture of Catalonia in Spain . All the groups came together online on International Mother Language Day and each group presented their project . We could hear so many languages . It was a great celebration of cultural diversity . Students translated for others so they could understand .
I really enjoyed this project because I felt part of something important . I didn ’ t feel nervous at all presenting our project online because I had done similar projects before in Spain . It was great fun to participate .