The Silver Jubilee Celebration of International Mother Language Day
February 21, 2025
The Silver Jubilee International Mother Language Day celebration in the school Gym was both meaningful and entertaining. The MYP23 students hosted the event, and enthusiastically presented their Service as Action projects to students and teachers from PYP1 to DP2.
There were four cultural booths, representing Batak Toba and Batak Karo, Chinese, Malay, and America and Columbia. Students provided some traditional snacks and organized engaging activities such as sharing cultural stories, songs, traditions, playing games, and teaching simple words and phrases.
The goal of this event was to promote linguistic and cultural diversity. It provided a valuable opportunity for all students to come together, share their passions, and raise awareness about the importance of preserving their mother tongue. Throughout the process, from investigating and planning to presenting, students demonstrated open-mindedness and principled behaviour, while improving their communication and collaboration skills.
Here are some highlights that the students would like to share:
William:
It was exhilarating to move the heavy tree decorations from the main lobby to the gym for my group’s booth decoration, representing Chinese culture.
Ezzer:
I am very proud that I helped my team to speak Batak, gather materials and decorate our booth.
Ben:
My highlight was our decorations, including traditional clothes, Ulos, Batak instruments and some catchy Batak music. We wore traditional clothing and provided a variety of foods, such as Lapet, Cimpa, and Lemang.
Befrato:
I was proud to wear my traditional clothes during the event and introduce our traditional food.
Kenichi:
I enjoyed tasting traditional food from several cultures.
Dana:
I will never forget hiding our food to make sure there was enough for all visitors. I also had fun dancing “Suasana Hari Raya” to make our presentation more engaging.
Khezia:
It was hilarious to hear both Malaysian and Batak songs playing at the same time.
Genevieve:
My highlight was visiting other booths, trying different foods, and watching my teammate, Anna, run her game. People said it reminded them of the Squid Game, which was played by children in an open wide area.
Nehemia:
The most memorable part was eating the delicious traditional food, I devoured the entire plate.
Ryan and Michael:
The food was amazing, and I was proud that everyone loved what we prepared.
Theo:
The students and teachers listened to our presentation, enjoyed playing Blooket, and had fun tasting our traditional food.
Declan, Darell, and Matthew:
Hosting the Blooket quiz about Chinese culture was a great experience.
Max:
Giving the introduction at the beginning of the event in front of all the students and teachers was nerve-wracking, but all my practice paid off. We also hosted a Blooket game and everyone loved it.
Anna
I enjoyed distributing the fruit punch, my traditional drink, and seeing how much people liked it. I felt proud to demonstrate my traditional game, Trompo, and it was exciting to see that some of the visitors could actually play it too.
Overall, the event was a memorable and exciting experience filled with cultural pride. The students took part in decorating booths and showcasing cultural elements. The mix of cultural performances, engaging games and enthusiastic participation made the event unforgettable.
by:
MYP 2/3 Students
Imelda Hutabarat, MYP SA Coordinator
