We are delighted to invite families to have a COFFEE, CAKE & PLAY time with us!
Category: Events
Free online playtime for families! [Magic glasses]
We are delighted to invite families to have a COFFEE, CAKE & PLAY time with us!
Free online playtime for families!
We are delighted to invite families to have a COFFEE, CAKE & PLAY time with us!
A safe space for teachers in Ireland to discuss bias, privilege and racism
The act of listening is perhaps the most underrated skill there is in education. Right now teachers are multi-tasking: teaching, preparing engaging online resources and activities, checking in with their students and families.
Malayalee Indians ready for annual Kids Fest
On 13th and 14th April, the Malayalee Indian community is gathering for their annual Kids Fest. It looks like a fascinating event, with competitions in elocution, news reading, Irish dancing and other traditional dances, so check out their website to find out more.
The Venue Is Scoil Mhuire Boys National School, Griffith Avenue, Marino, Dublin 9.
Malayalee Indians (MIND) Ireland is a voluntary community organisation established in February 2008 with a view to providing a platform for Malayalee Indians in Dublin and around to promote the rich culture, heritage and tradition of Malayalees (natives of Kerala, South India). The members understand that community participation is the key for integration and in order to foster community, spirit MIND organises various activities throughout the year, including cricket tournament, badminton tournament, family tour, family day, kids competitions, celebration of Thiruvonam, Christmas and New Year etc. It also organises various workshops and seminars for the benefit of its members and encourages the members to participate in the local government structures.
Information on activities and events can be found at https://mindireland.org/
Mother Tongues Festival: an arts festival with a difference
Imagine a place where people have fun speaking many different languages, a place where children and adults learn about culture, stories and languages through art-making, music and dance! This is what the Mother Tongues Festival was all about!
Over the last two weekends we hosted more than 50 events in over 20 languages, we met artists, professionals and performers from India, Ethiopia, Russia, Libya, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, Italy, Poland, Turkey, Egypt, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Spain, France just to name a few! They filled rooms and entire venues in Galway and in Tallaght with their talent, through workshops, talks, poetry, music, dances and science. Participants of the Festival had a chance to listen to multilingual poetry, try Bollywood dancing, draw Irish wild animals with a Polish illustrator, learn Chinese calligraphy, meet musicians from Congo and Nigeria and learn Japanese through origami making!
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Galway Mother Tongues Festival. 22nd and 23rd February 2019
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
The aim of Mother Tongues Festival is to promote languages and cultures in Ireland through the arts. Most of the people we spoke to at the events told us that they were happy to learn something new through languages that are currently spoken in Ireland and many families said they loved the opportunity to cultivate and share their community languages outside of the home.
As we pack our Festival suitcase and go home to prepare our 2020 edition we are filled with the positive energy gained at the event.
There are so many people we need to thank! We are extremely grateful to RuaRed, the Civic Theatre and Galway2020 for believing in our project and making it happen in Dublin and Galway. Without the support of the Arts Council, South Dublin County Council and the Small Town Big Ideas Initiative our festival could not have been so successful. We are honoured to have been granted funding to pursue our dream! The many sponsors that have come on board this year have allowed us to make it an even more special event! We are very grateful to RTE’, the Ambassade de France en Irlande, the Goethe Institut, Languages Connect, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Dublin, St. Kilian’s Deutsche Schule in Dublin, the Dublin School of Mandarin Chinese, Your English Language School in Dublin, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Brady Languages, The Stop B&B, Atlas Language School, Seachtain na Gaeilge le Energia, the Chester Beatty Library, Unuhi, Irish Architecture Foundation, Áras na nGael, Creative Ireland and Massimo Russo.
And last but not least, do not forget that the festival is only good craic if you come!
A MASSIVE thank you, grazie, merci, gracias, obrigados, mulțumesc, go raibh maith agat teşekkürler
to all the hundreds of people who have attended our two Festivals!
See you in 2020!
If you would like to be the first to know, subscribe to the Mother Tongues Festival Newsletter.
Galway Mother Tongues Festival. 22nd and 23rd February 2019
Galway Mother Tongues Festival. 22nd and 23rd February 2019
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Mother Tongues Festival 2019. Tallaght, 2nd and 3rd March 2019. Picture Enzo Francesco Testa Photography. www.enzofrancescotesta.com
Galway Mother Tongues Festival. 22nd and 23rd February 2019
Galway Mother Tongues Festival. 22nd and 23rd February 2019
Ireland Tamil Sangam
* Mother tongue -Tamil Language Education Program – Start Event *
Purpose, Action plan, Discussion of the course of the curriculum and explanation of the next move
Parents, Teacher, Student – Discussion
Day: 10 February 2019
Time: Afternoon 3-5
Place: Moeran Hall, Dublin
We invite all the Tamil relations with love!
Language Adventures awarded the Dublin Bus Community Spirit Award
Mother Tongues’ new project Language Adventures was awarded the Dublin Bus Community Spirit Award this November.Mother Tongues was one of the many great organisations that work tirelessly with the local community, and we are proud to receive this award for a new collaborative project with Dublin City Libraries.
Language Adventures is a community storytelling project taking place in Dolphin’s Barn Library, Dublin 12. Each month volunteer Language Ambassadors will read or tell stories in their mother tongue and they will engage audiences in fun craft activities, that will then be displayed in the library for a month. The first three Language Adventure sessions will be in Italian, Polish and Mandarin Chinese.
The sessions are free and open to people of all ages.
The project is led by Claudia Kunkel (Mother Tongues) and Beata Molendowska (Dolphin’s Barn Library).
For a full list of Language Adventures dates, visit our EVENTS page.
Launch of Language Explorers Activity Book
The Language Explorers Activity Book was launched on 18th September at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin.
The event opened with an address by Bláthnaid ní Ghréacháin, CEO of Gaeloideachas, on the importance of multilingualism and the relevance of the Language Explorers Activity Book in classrooms.
The launch included a fantastic “Language Explorers” themed workshop organised by Dr La Morgia in collaboration with Jenny Siung, Head of Education at the Chester Beatty Library, who worked together on the book.
Jenny Siung Head of Education at the Chester Beatty Library. Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018. Blathnaid ni Ghreachain.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018. Dr Francesca La Morgia and Blathnaid ni Ghreachain.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.Dr Francesca La Morgia and Blathnaid ni Ghreachain.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.Dr Francesca La Morgia and Blathnaid ni Ghreachain.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.
Jenny Siung Head of Education at the Chester Beatty Library. Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.Dr Francesca La Morgia and Blathnaid ni Ghreachain.
Language Explorers. Book launch at the Chester Beatty Library, 18th Sept 2018.
“It was an honour to be able to collaborate with Jenny Siung and Justyna Chmielewska at the Chester Beatty Library, because they immediately understood the potential of this multilingual resource and their collection is the perfect starting point for a multilingual treasure hunt” said La Morgia. “I really enjoyed seeing the children walking around the collection and spotting the objects that were portrayed in the book and I hope that many more children will be able to look at this collection and at the world around them with a different attitude after they have completed the activities in the book.”
Since the book launch, the Language Explorers project for primary schools has been awarded the European Language Label, an award that rewards innovative initiatives in the realm of language teaching and learning.
The Language Explorers activity book, published by Mother Tongues, includes activities for primary school children that encourage them to explore the linguistic landscape around them and to play with language. The activity book takes children on a journey of discovery through games, quizzes and word searches. Young Language Explorers will start observing the languages they see every day on road signs, shop fronts and even on their food labels!
The book is available in English and in Irish, thanks to the support of Gaeloideachas.
Get your copy HERE.
European Day of Languages 2018
Mother Tongues’ very first celebration of the European Day of Languages has been a fantastic multilingual marathon… or langua-thon, with 9 days of events which involved more than 500 people of all ages.
We started on Culture Night – 21st September – with a multilingual reading of The Hare and the Tortoise, one of the best known Aesop’s fables, at the Gutter Bookshop. We told the story in Swedish, German, Irish, Greek, Italian, French, Maltese and Russian. Children loved listening to the sounds of new languages and our storytellers had a great time!
Culture Night at the Gutter Bookshop. 21st Sept 2018
Culture Night at the Gutter Bookshop. 21st Sept 2018
Culture Night at the Gutter Bookshop. 21st Sept 2018
Culture Night at the Gutter Bookshop. 21st Sept 2018
On 22nd September two Native Scientist workshops took place in Trinity College Dublin. In these workshops, 5 Italian speaking scientists and 5 Spanish speaking scientists spoke to more than 50 children about their research and engaged them in fun experiments and games. Children learned about the brain, about cells and DNA, about the oldest rocks in the world, and much more, but more importantly, they learned about science through the medium of their mother tongue.
Native Scientist
Native Scientist
Native Scientist
The highlight of the week was the European Language Label Awards! Language Explorers received the European Language Label from Minister Richard Bruton, and this recognition has given us great energy to start the programme in new schools from next week!
Dr Francesca La Morgia awarded the European Language Label for the Language Explorers initiative
Dr Francesca La Morgia awarded the European Language Label for the Language Explorers initiative
The LexIcon Library in Dun Laoghaire was the home of many of the activities that took place around the European Day of Languages. On Monday 24th September two classes visited the library for Language Explorers workshops. Children learned about Irish Sign Language, about the many languages spoken in Africa and they played games based on similarities between languages. On Tuesday 25th and Thursday 24th Claudia Kunkel ran two multilingual storytelling sessions in collaboration with Erika Piazzoli, Aga Pedrak and Juliette Saumande (pictured here). The library also hosted a talk on raising bilingual children, which was attended by mums, dads, and grandparents who shared a common goal: supporting their family’s multilingualism with a positive attitude and great determination!
Multilingual storytelling at Dun Laoghaire
Multilingual storytelling at Dun Laoghaire
Francesca also visited Clones Library for two Language Explorers school workshops, and she shared her knowledge of Irish Sign Language and Italian in exchange for some Gaelige and Lithuanian. Everyone had lovely stories to share, and we discovered that the Italian and the Irish words for LAMP are similar in Italian, Spanish, Russian and Irish!
Language Explorers at Clones Library
Language Explorers at Clones Library
Language Explorers at Clones Library
Language Explorers
The week ended with our bimonthly Language Adventures reading project, which saw Italian speaking families sharing stories and reading books in Italian at Dolphin’s Barn library in Dublin 8.
This week has given us great energy to continue with our activities and to keep spreading the message that multilingualism is a great asset for our society! We hope you enjoyed our events too, and we look forward to seeing you soon!
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