http://blog.ecu.edu/sites/internationalmotherlanguageday Celebrating linguistic diversity Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:28:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://blog.ecu.edu/sites/internationalmotherlanguageday/blog/2011/10/14/blog-themes-for-international-mother-language-day/ http://blog.ecu.edu/sites/internationalmotherlanguageday/blog/2011/10/14/blog-themes-for-international-mother-language-day/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:15:15 +0000 huebnerd08 http://blog.ecu.edu/sites/internationalmotherlanguageday/?p=160 This list of blog themes are only ideas to encourage discussion and reflection. However, these should not be limited to new themes and it is encouraged to post under freedom of expression. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

1. For speakers who grew up inside and/or outside the United States, how easy is it to readily express yourself in English or in your mother language?
2. What images does your mother language evoke (e.g. stories, tales, traditions, art, music, etc…)?
3. What is hard to express in another language (such as English, Spanish, etc…) apart from your mother language?
4. More than half of the world’s languages will no longer exist by the end of the century, unless something changes…
   1. What happens when the world loses a language?
   2. What should be done to prevent language extinction and endangerment?
5. Reflect on what gives your mother languages so much personal value (culture, history, heritage, etc…).
6. How are mother languages maintained? Is it through cultural practices, such as dance or storytelling? Schools or universities? Combination of an inter-woven system of communication?
7. Explain the importance of open dialogue in understanding the culturally diverse and multi-lingual society? What is the role of languages in building intercultural dialogue?
8. How can East Carolina University improve in the promotion of linguistic diversity?
9. What role should mother language instruction have in primary education?
10. Of the languages that are spoken in the world, the most significant for our early emotional and cognitive development is that through which we first learn to name our personal universe and by means of which we begin to achieve a common understanding with our parents and the broader community of friends and school. It is the language of childhood, of intimate family experience and of our early social relations.’
    1. Do you agree with this?
    2. It what ways cant you relate to this quote?
11. It is often promoted in countries around the world to acquire at least three levels or more of language for all: a mother tongue, a national language, and a language of communication.
    1. What is your opinion of this practice?
    2. How could this practice be implemented in the United States (or other countries where it is not often seen)?

]]> http://blog.ecu.edu/sites/internationalmotherlanguageday/blog/2011/10/14/blog-themes-for-international-mother-language-day/feed/ 0