MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY

International Mother Language Day was a celebration officially created by UNESCO on the 17th of November 1999, and is recognized on the 21st of February. The United Nations General Assembly formally recognized the event in 2008, establishing that year as the International Year of Languages. The day itself originated from another celebration called Language Movement Day which has been commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952 when protesting Dhaka university students were killed by Pakistani armed forces during the Bengali Language Movement. The aim of this event is to promote cultural and linguistic diversity, and multilingualism.

The International School of Havana celebrates this event because it relates to us very deeply as we are filled with students from different cultures and with different languages. Thus despite the majority of students being away from their home countries the school wants to promote their cultural heritage and diversity and have students recognize it through their different languages.

Mother Language Day is recognized by varying activities each year, all relating to either writing or speaking different languages. For example in 2008 we adorned our school entrance with welcomes and farewells from all the different languages within our school.