Our Celebration of Language is a Celebration of Diversity

Tomorrow marks the festivities around International Mother Language Day. What does this special day represent the world over?

In the early 2000s, a cultural movement sprung up to defend every human being’s right to choose their language and to speak in their native tongue. Today, the holiday has spread worldwide, and you can find many people, from just about every continent, celebrating what the day represents to them.

If You Teach Writing or Just About Any Subject…

So what does International Mother Language Day represent? For us educators, whether we teach writing or we teach social studies, we’re given a unique opportunity to showcase a rich tapestry of diversity. After all, it’s pretty hard to ignore just how different (And special) every language is. And in reality, every person has a right to speak what language they choose.

A Fun Fact About Language

You might even be surprised to find out that there are actually over 6000 living languages today. That’s an impressive amount of diversity! And every one of those languages has it's own set of linguistic rules and vocabulary. Not only that, but someone how to categorize all of them!

For Your Writing Lessons...

But what can you teach in your writing class on International Mother Language Day? One idea might be to focus in on activities that show the humanity of foreign language speakers. Streaming a video in your class is a surefire way to show how other people are people just like us. Another avenue is to have your students explore how many languages have become extinct over the many years, and how these languages cease to exist. Then just get them writing!

At the end of the day, however, the fact remains that this day deserves at least a brief mention in our classrooms. And doing so can truly empower your ELL and ELA students to understand, through language, that the world is a very big place indeed.

“So what does International Mother Language Day represent?”

How can Writing with Design help create a culture of writing and language appreciate in your school? Give us a shout and find out!