During the week from 17th to 27th February we were celebrating the International Mother Language Day with a series of mother language courses led by our students.

The mother language or “mother tongue” is the language in which first words are spoken and thoughts expressed by an individual. Cognitively, the mother language is a crucial tool every child uses to understand the world. Culturally, the mother language is a fundamental expression of history and identity.

 

MG Mother Tongues

International Mother Language Day provides a chance to celebrate diversity, increase understanding and engage in dialogue. We have explored the diverse languages our students speak in our classrooms and found out that 24 languages are spoken at MG: Albanian, Azerbaijani, Chinese, Croatian, English, Filipino, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian. 

 

‘Multilingual City’ Workshop

The Mother Language Day Celebration started on February 19th with the ‘Multilingual City Collage’ workshop at the school library, where the students made a large multilingual canvas to display the students’ creativity and to showcase the languages spoken in the classroom. 

 

Zimbabwe at MG

On February 20th the Mother Language Day Celebration started with the presentation about Zimbabwe held by Mrs. Anita Dijaković. Through the wonderful presentation we got an insight into Zimbabwe and its geographical features, cultural heritage, gastronomy and music. We admired beautiful photos of Zimbabwe dramatic landscape, diverse wildlife and delicious autochthonic dishes. We have learnt that there are 16 official languages in Zimbabwe, but Shona, Ndebele and English are mostly spoken throughout the country. We have learnt that ‘Zimbabwe’ means ‘House of Stone’ and stone sculpture is the art that most represents the people of Zimbabwe. One of the most extraordinary man-made remains in Africa, Great Zimbabwe is a mystical city built of granite stones and the ruins are some of the oldest and largest stone structures in southern Africa, which are today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This interesting lecture showed us how fascinating country Zimbabwe was and we are very thankful to Mrs. and Mr. Dijaković for this educational and enjoyable lesson. 

 

Student-Led Mother Language Courses

The celebration was continued by a series of the Student-Led Mother Language Courses where the MYP students – Arlind & Vesa, Yuyao & Sabrina, Angeline, Arho & Marton, Maciej & Kamil & Bartosz & Franciszek & Szymon, Anzhelika & Kirill, Antonio & Leon & Jaša, Clemente, Isabel & Daniel taught their colleagues the basics of Albanian, Chinese, Filipino, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish. The MYP students also held the short presentation about their countries of origin sharing with us many interesting aspects of their cultures.

The students diligently prepared the language learning materials and stepped into the teacher’s shoes. They all were immensely helpful and patient while generously sharing their knowledge. We are all thankful to our students who put so much effort and enthusiasm in teaching us the basics of their mother language and in presenting the most interesting facts about their countries of origin.

 

Getting Together With Miro Gavran

On February 21st the writer Miro Gavran visited our school. Miro Gavran is the Croatian writer who has writen a series of award-winning books for children. We welcomed him in the Cinema hall eager to hear all about his journey becoming a writer. He talked to us about his childhood and education emphasising how he wasn't keen on studying but he read with keenest pleasure all the books his parents owned. At his earliest age he knew he would become a writer.

Miro Gavran talked about his books and the literature in general conveying his passion for the writer’s work. This get-together event will undoubtedly encourage us to become keen readers and boost our writing confidence.

 

Mother Language Lessons at the Knežija Library

On February 27th the MYP3 students - Arlind and Clemente held the Mother Language Lessons for the 6th graders of Julije Klović Primary School at the Knežija Library. After a warm welcome by the librarian Ms. Ina Tomić, Arlind and Clemente taught the students the basics of their mother languages - Albanian and Spanish. They also shared their valuable knowledge about their countries of origin including the culture, geographical features, architecture, literature, music, gastronomy, sport and many other interesting aspects. The students enthusiastically participated and had a lot of questions for our students-teachers. We are sure that Arlind and Clemente sparked their interest in learning new languages.