A celebration of Mother Tongue languages has been a much cherished tradition for TISA students and community since 2009. Every year, on the week of 21st of February, TISA joins hands with the world community to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity.

This year’s Festival, we have embraced our host culture and its role within our curriculum and student life. We’re all doing the “Azerbaijani Challenge” ahead of the Festival - every student will try to learn a conversation in Azerbaijani and try it out in real life - with our Azerbaijani-speaking peers helping out!

Azerbaijani challenge was followed by 12 workshops in different languages from different corners of the world - presented and designed by our students to engage, empower and inspire. During the day's festivities, TISA hosted the Honourable Rodrigo Labardini, the Ambassador of Mexico to Azerbaijan. He enlightened us about the linguistic diversity in Mexico and the importance of preserving and cherishing our Mother Languages.

Last week, each student in the Secondary School wrote words for “friend, family, love and community” in their Mother Tongue on a 50m roll of wallpaper! Wednesday's activities will culminate with a visit from an honoured guest speaker from the TISA community.

In the Primary School, parents and other members of TISA community will read to our Primary students in their Mother Tongue, play games, share stories from their culture, taste foods, and more! This week, the Secondary School students presented their multilingual workshops to their Primary peers. For many, this was an opportunity to put theory into practice - having been nurturing their Mother Tongue skills as part of TISA’s Mother Tongue and and Culture programme led by teachers and devoted parents.