On Monday 26th February, Edenhurst celebrated our diverse and multicultural school community through Mother Tongue Day. Mother Tongue Day or International Languages Day aims to raise awareness of languages other than English that are spoken at home in families. We have a wide range of mother tongue languages spoken by our children here at Edenhurst and the day gave us all a chance to learn a little more about four of the languages: Japanese, Kannada, Yoruba and Portuguese.
All children from Reception to Prep 6 took part in a session of Art, Maths, Music/Dance and Humanities and each session focused on one of the four languages.
Children learnt African songs and drum music and took part in a dance session set to an African song. In Art they looked at the drawings of Portuguese artist Paula Rego, Portuguese tiles and patterns. In Maths, children learnt the numbers in Kannada, searching for the different symbols and for Japan, children completed a scavenger hunt for facts about the history and culture of Japan and also tried their hand at writing Japanese script.
At lunchtime, Jen and Krystal treated us to a delicious peri-peri chicken with rice and corn on the cob and arroz doce, a traditional Portuguese rice pudding dessert,
The day finished with a PE lesson based around an Indian sport called Kho-Kho. Despite having such a jam-packed day, the children found some energy for this high-speed game of chase and strategy.
It was a hugely enriching and entertaining experience for children and staff and we look forward to running the event next year, focusing on more of our children’s Mother Tongue languages and expanding the day even further.
Madame Preist
Head of Languages
Categories: School Blogs
