International Mother Language Day was observed across the globe on Saturday, February 21, 2009 to promote the recognition and significance of mother tongue languages.

International Mother Language Day was declared in 1999 by UNESCO, and has since been celebrated annually on February 21^st, recognizing the sanctity and preservation of all vernacular languages in the world in hopes of promoting linguistic and cultural diversity, and multilingualism The date of February 21^st was chosen to commemorate the martyrs who sacrificed their lives on this date in Dhaka in 1952.

 About 6,800 languages are thought to exist today. However, social, demographic and political factors have contributed to the continuing and rapid disappearance. Our young, early childhood aged children are the ones particularly vulnerable to language loss, consequently resulting not only in the loss of the mother tongue, but also a sad absence of culture, heritage, and individuality.

International schools across the planet typically host a diverse population of students that represent a wide range of mother tongue languages. In such environments, it is easy to get carried away with the dominance of the English language.  However, it is important to recognize that our home languages are powerful and remain at the heart of all social, economic and cultural life. UNESCO recognizes and celebrates the research that shows that instruction in the mother tongue is more effective for achievement both in the home language and success with additional language learning, such as English in an international school environment.

In our international school communities, we, as teachers, parents, and community members, need to unite our efforts to promote the dissemination of mother tongue languages. This will not only encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education for ourselves and our children, but also develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world. 

Happy International Mother Language Day!

In international school communities, our families are often transient, frequently changing country locations, consequently changing schools. Many of these globetrotting parents have become accustomed to the international schools’ revolving door, and actually find comfort in the English language at international schools as being perhaps the one constant in their lives. In many cases, this has created varying perceptions by children and parents about the status and usefulness of the mother tongue.

Many new families in international communities, particularly those with children in the early childhood years, have come to international schools with conflicting attitudes and uncertainties about the value and importance of learning the mother tongue, when their lives are so internationally based, and their own experiences show evidence of the English language holding global clout. Such uncertainty and ambiguity regarding language are further reinforced when other families in similar situations, and within the same community, view mother tongue as less of a priority, and the learning of English and assimilation in the school environment as a more prevailing priority.

Within in my own experiences of working with international families, I have found parents to be genuinely interested in doing what is best for their children. But often they do believe English is best as a result of their global experiences, and misconceptions about international schools expecting a specific level of English for entrance. With these confusions and mixed-messages, a deep concern remains regarding the importance of educating our international parents, particularly in the vulnerable early childhood years, about the cognitive and emotional significance and delicacy of the mother tongue. Fostering the mother tongue is far more necessary than many parents, students, and even general educators may think. Learning the mother tongue has both cognitive and emotional value, both of which strongly and directly affect student learning.

Language is the product of culture and identity, and the mother tongue specifically ties people to their ethnicity, traditions, ways of life, and individuality. If the mother tongue is lost, children are deeply at risk for losing their sense of identity, culture, and reflection of themselves. Studies have shown the loss or failure to develop the mother tongue has potential negative long-term consequences on children’s emotional development, as well as on the dynamics of the family. Family relations can become quite strained when children, parents, and grandparents do not have a common language among them, limiting the communication and creating destructive barriers within the family unit, while also depleting the wisdom of the ages passed down from generations within a culture.

From an academic standpoint, research has long since shown that the level of development of a child’s mother tongue is a strong predictor of English, or additional language, development because skills transfer across languages, regardless of how different the family language may be from the language of instruction. One small example to highlight the influence of information transfer is the skill of telling time. If children know how to tell time in their native language, they understand the concept of telling time, and will simply need to obtain new vocabulary or labels for an intellectual skill that has already been acquired. When this idea and thought process is applied across the curriculum, it becomes clear the more a child knows and is enriched in his/her mother tongue, the easier it is for the child to obtain the school’s target language because the concepts and background knowledge are firmly in place for the child to connect with. Research supports this idea, indicating a direct correlation between the mother tongue, cognitive processes, and academic language learning. So what are the implications here, and how can this information impact student learning for linguistically diverse children?

International schools need to act upon parents’ keen interest and quest for student learning related information by utilizing the authority to implement, publicize and empower families with mother tongue expectations for linguistically diverse families in the community. By setting a standard and expectation, a clear message of value for the mother tongue is sent. For many parents, knowledge regarding skill transfer, or the power of mother tongue is new or unheard of.  Of course this is normal and almost expected, much the same way a general educator may not be fluent with civil procedure protocols the way a legal professional is.  With this in mind, there is a strong likelihood if parents are provided with information regarding best practices for their language-learning children they will both comply and support the school’s linguistic suggestions (“If you build it they will come”, Field of Dreams, 1989).  

When I first began conducting the Mother Tongue Matters workshop to share information regarding mother tongue relevance, many parents expressed feelings of inspiration, concern regarding practices they had already implemented, and confusion about what steps to take to best support their child. At this time, I created a Language Action Plan to help families get started on their journey toward a happy, healthy, and educationally sounds path in language learning and success.

One of the key components of the Language Action Plan is the idea of creating a Family Language Strategy Plan. The Family Language Strategy Plan is a guide with ideas of how to handle mother tongue language at home when the school environment offers English as the academic language. It also provides plans and examples for families with more than one language in their household. The most important aspect of implementing a family language plan is remaining consistent and firm with it. 

 Parents need to be informed that when implementing a family language plan, everyone who is affected will need to be a part of the decision-making process and execution of the plan. Additionally, it is rarely a smooth transition with overnight success. Creating this into a habit takes time, consistency, and perseverance, and will not become routine without these key components. It is important to remind families that when implementing a plan, and experiences of hardships and power struggles with children (And adults in the family) become apparent as a result of the changes, it is very normal to feel concerned, question the reliability and validity, and want to give up. But the valuable point to remember is all the benefits to be gained for everyone involved, and the research that stands behind supporting children in balancing languages. It will pay off!! As educators and administrators, we also need to embrace parent concerns and encourage their questions.

In today’s diverse world, by empowering children with their native language as well as additional languages, we are inviting multiple intellectual resources into our schools and global society while shaping unique, dynamic identities of the future. The mother tongue DOES matter!  

It seems to me, an important step in supporting linguistically diverse students is shifting from dated terminology to more inclusive and accurate titles that represent our population of diverse learners.  Our international children are multilingual English language learners (ELLs), or simply, linguistically diverse. 

Perhaps changing the definitions will also shift the roles of Linguistically Diverse Educators (ESL teachers), and the responsibilities of the larger school community. Collaboratively, we share the responsibility for educating our English language learners, and need to deepen our understanding of our students beyond the academic English language.

The instructional environment for 21st century, international ELLs entails collaboratively planning, instructing, and assessing by meeting each individual student where he/she is at linguistically, and enriching and fostering further language development through relevant and authentic experiences. This process is not just about promoting reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking in the academic language. It entails understanding each individual child’s language use; how they communicate with their friends and families, in addition to how and what languages they use to navigate both their academic and daily lives.

Understanding that culture and linguistic identities provide a strong and important sense of self, family, and belonging is crucial in international schools. It is these components that ultimately support a wide range of learning capabilities, including learning an additional language.  Recognizing, celebrating, and tapping into our children’s cultural and linguistic diversities is truly an asset in promoting the transformation to lifelong skills, in addition to global awareness and appreciation.  

International schools have come to host a special population of children who are experiencing difficulties with the academic component of English language learning. The vast majority of these students possess a second language, or are multilingual, and appear to be both misunderstood and misdiagnosed with confusion as to whether additional academic support should be in English language learning, or special education. As administrators and teachers grapple with this issue, we often question how this happens. Is it possible that the lack of mother tongue development in the critical early childhood years is the root of the problem?

A number of studies have demonstrated that young, non-native English learners develop their language, culture, identity and second language skills when the mother tongue is developed, supported, and enriched, and therefore can attain academic proficiency and achievement in the international environment’s target language as a result. However, not all English language learners (ELLs) are alike, and there is not a formulaic approach in reconstructing mother tongue maintenance to ensure the success of English literacy learning in international schools. This implies that we as educators need to recognize the culture of struggling multilingual students in international schools. The existence and educational needs of these students mandate educators and administrators to both understand and meet the individual and educational needs of these students in order to support language growth and academic success.