Celebrating International Mother Language Day in Prep

There has been immense excitement in Pre-Prep and Prep this week as the girls, staff and guest parents celebrated International Mother Language Day. As part of an off-timetable day, we started our day with an assembly about the importance of celebrating our linguistic diversity, where the girls wore traditional dress related to the country of a language that they speak at home or colours to signify their cultural heritage, whether British or otherwise. Our assembly was led by our Language Leaders Uthara, Gurbani and Zara. We were also delighted to welcome Auria, Rosie, Palakh and Alya from Senior School who confidently spoke in Urdu, Turkish, Hindi and Bulgarian. 

Parents were invited to talk about their ‘mother language’ and the corresponding country/countries. The mother of Florence and Rita shared some exciting facts to Kindergarten and Year Three about Taiwan and Taiwanese Hokkien. The mother of Eliza F presented an inciteful talk about Jamaica and Patois to fascinated Reception and Year Two girls. The mother of Athelflaed presented a talk to an enthralled Year One about Poland and Polish. The mother of Ruqayyah and Rabeeyah shared many enlightening facts about Pakistan and Urdu to Year Four. The mother of Amelia captivated the Year Five girls about China and Mandarin Chinese. Finally, Ms Jones-Owen from Senior School presented an informative talk about Wales and Welsh to Year Six. 

The girls were also invited to bring in an item from home that represents their culture for a ‘Show and Tell’ activity. Other activities throughout the day involved learning a song in Norwegian and Greek dancing. One of the highlights had to be the Chinese animal relating to the Year of Birth of all girls from Year One to Six decorated to represent the country of their heritage or that of the language they had learnt about. These will be displayed in Prep Hall and one from each year group will be chosen to represent EHS Prep in an inter-school competition against schools like West House and Highclare. 

Pre-Prep decorated a horse mask to represent the Chinese Year of the Horse (2026). They should be taking these masks home shortly. 

With a lunch themed around various countries of the world, the day truly was a wonderful celebration of what not only makes us unique, but also what unites us. A huge thank you to all involved. Happy International Mother Language Day!