Home is where the heart is for multilingual families across the North East

International Mother Language Day marks its 25th anniversary on February 21 with communities worldwide coming together to shine a light on treasured dialects and long held traditions.

And Ulfet Sahin, a Turkish language teacher based on Tyneside, is keen to open up more conversations around embracing mother tongues as part of this year’s Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages.

“It's really important for children to speak their own language because it's their identity, it's their culture and, for many of them, it’s still the most comfortable they feel expressing themselves,” said Ulfet, who moved to the North East from Turkey eight years ago.

“There are certain phrases and facial expressions that are unique to different languages and as a Turkish speaker I only pick up on these things when I speak to fellow Turks. I know how to stress certain words and how to interpret different meanings.

“I’m very fortunate to be able to speak English and German but I love my own language and I’ll always feel safer — and more confident — speaking in my mother tongue.

“When I ask English people how I sound when I’m speaking Turkish they describe it as a ‘romantic’ language and that’s lovely to hear.

“I will always encourage young people living here to learn English — and other languages — as being multilingual opens so many doors and opportunities.

“But I also feel as if we need to provide more support and encouragement to young people who are proud of their mother tongue and who want to retain that link to their culture and their family.”

Ulfet, a tutor at Success4All, works with Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages to promote Home Heritage and Community Languages (HHCL).

Ulfet has translated this year’s Festival Song — What A Wonderful World — into Turkish so that children can take part in a regional multilingual performance of the Louis Armstrong classic.

Declan Baharini, coordinator of Express Yourself, said: “We’re fully invested in International Mother Language Day and celebrating HHCL is at the heart of everything we do.

“This year we’re offering a variety of free activities and projects that celebrate linguistic diversity and promote the use of heritage and community languages.

“These initiatives are designed to engage children, young people and the wider community in recognising and valuing their linguistic heritage.

“The resources available via the Express Yourself website mean schools can incorporate a mix of activities in the lead up to, on and beyond International Mother Language Day.

“These could be part of school wide celebrations, exhibitions and classroom activities — celebrating the diverse languages and cultures in your school, college or community school or celebrating other world languages and cultures.”

Newcastle’s City Library will host its own Love Your Mother Language Day free drop-in on February 24 from 1-3pm. Open to all — but aimed at children aged 5-12 — the event features multilingual storytime, story sharing, games and a range of arts and craft activities.

It was Bangladesh that first made moves to celebrate International Mother Language Day and an increasingly popular initiative has been observed worldwide since 2000.

Backed by UNESCO, who believe in the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity in order to drive sustainable societies, the annual event is seen as a showcase for preserving the differences in cultures and languages that foster tolerance and respect for others.

Nurturing HHCL offers significant social, economic, and cultural benefits to children and young people, investing in their personal development, future success, and the enrichment of society.

And research shows that by supporting HHCL, schools not only empower individual students but also create a richer, more connected and globally minded school community.

Steven Fawkes, volunteer and trustee at Association for Language Learning (ALL), said: “A language, any language, is the route to communicating with other people, exploring their ideas and thoughts and discovering culture — old and contemporary.

“Being born into a family or environment with more than one language is an advantage that people can be proud of, use and celebrate in many domains of life, including employment.”

For further information on the 2025 Express Yourself: North East Festival Of Languages and to register for activities visit expressyourselfne.com