Started in 1999, February 21st marks International Mother Language Day. International Mother Language Day highlights the important role that language plays in transmitting and preserving knowledge and culture. Our lab, we have been honoured to work alongside with parents, often mothers, to support the transmission of their language.Language is so much more than an ability or a skill– it is an essential part of creating a sustainable ecosystem for a multicultural and multilingual society.
We hear this message over and over again in conversations with families and community partners. This past Fall, our team (thank you Negin and Maya!) spent Friday evenings with 7 moms and their children to support, celebrate and empower the transmission of Kurdish. The language was shared in stories, songs, and games – children felt proud to show off their language, and moms’ learned from each other strategies and ideas for transmitting their mother tongue. We assembled a multilingual team to ensure that Kurdish was in the spotlight. As the moms were also comfortable with Arabic, we prepared translations of the materials and forms in Arabic. We were lucky to have the support of MCHB in this collaboration.
Join us on Thursday (February 24th) for #LanguageAdvocacyDay to hear more stories from and about Multilingual Families.
Multilingual Families Lab Familles Multilingues 