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TISA takes Festival of Languages to School No. 23

Details

  • 1
    Lily, Aysha, Farah and Adriana lead School 23 students in a traditional Malay dance.
  • 2
    Making French crêpes in a live makeshift kitchen with Yves, Cyriella, Manuel, Luca and Emmanuelle.
  • 3
    Playing the game of "topfschlagen," a German-Swiss variant of "hit-the-pot," delivered by Letta, Minna, Angelina and Francis.
  • 4
    Practicing Korean Taekwondo with Yoon Ju, Ye Bin, Du Bin and Hyun Woo on a live sparring rink.
  • 5
    School No. 23 students learning the Latin-Spanish dance of "Limbo" from Rosa, Maria, Luna, Julieta and Kimberley.
  • 6
    Colouring and learning words in Turkish with Selin, Aylin, Latife, Soner and Fidan.
  • 7
    Dutch workshop's Jo, Niels and Menno brought a game of Bingo to the Festival of Languages.
  • 8
    Benji, Nicole and Sarah teach School 23 students traditional Malayalam games.
  • 9
    Making Japanese origami and speaking Japanese with Koko, Xochitl, and Emma.
  • 10
    Awa, Yebin, Maryam and Limonite taught us "Elastics," a popular Wolof game.
  • 11
    The audience of TISA and School No. 23 students join in a Japanese dance.
  • 12
    Hella and Elizabeth performing a Danish folk song at the closing assembly at TISA.
  • 13
    TISA and School No. 23 students exploring French cuisine together.
  • 14
    Shadowgraphy and a puppet show featured as the Festival's visual enactments.
  • 15
    TISA and School No. 23 students solving puzzles together.
  • 16
    Mix of cultures and languages - making Japanese origami in traditional German dresses.
  • 17
    School No. 23 students deliver a heartfelt "Leyli and Majnun" performance at TISA.
  • 18
    A School No. 23 student dances to "Sari Gelin," a traditional song, at the closing ceremony in TISA.
  • 20
    M4s practicing Malay words with School No. 23 students in preparation for a Karaoke performance.
  • 19
    Awa leads the auditorium in an inspiring Gambian dance
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It was very unique and exciting to teach people who don’t know that much English. It was quite an experience communicating with others and try to socialise with them.

- Yebin, M3
Over the past two fun-packed weeks, TISA organised and celebrated its ninth annual Festival of Languages week – a series of Mother Tongue student-led workshops with the aim of celebrating TISA’s multilingual student body. This year, in an initiative to foster TISA’s relationship with the local community, our MYP students took TISA’s Festival of Languages off-campus for the first time and were welcomed warmly by our hosts at School No. 23. The United Nations International Mother Language Day is celebrated around the world as a tribute to the rich tapestry of 7000 languages spoken worldwide.

The best bit was interacting with the different children in Malayalam and getting a chance to practice my mother tongue.

- Benji, M3
TISA is home to over fifty-five different mother languages, where students of different backgrounds communicate, learn and inspire one another primarily in English. The Festival of Languages presents a unique opportunity for us to share our mother tongues, in an attempt to utilise and preserve them as personal vehicles for thought, creativity and expression.

The best bit of the workshop was the topfschlagen game, because the audience got in a better mood and had a lot of motivation to come to the stage.

- Letta, M1
This year’s celebration featured workshops in Japanese, Dutch, Wolof, French, Spanish, German, Turkish, Malayalam, Malay, and Korean, with participation from the School No. 23 students – many of whom were exposed to these languages for the very first time. Try learning to make crêpe in French, to make origami with Japanese instruction, to play a game of topfschlagen in German, or to write in the Malayalam script - and you’ll have an authentic opportunity to experience different languages through cultural activities. In return, School 23 students visited TISA and performed an excerpt from the traditional play “Leyli and Majnun” in Azerbaijani on March 6th, to bring a close to the Festival and in turn returned the flavour of their mother language and tradition to their TISA counterparts.

The best bit was to work with other French-speaking people who I usually talk English to. It has been a while since I have spoken to these people in French.

- Cyriella, M5
Dance was an ever-present feature of the Festival, crossing linguistic boundaries though the international language of movement and action – something everyone can understand. TISA students incorporated dance and movement in their German, Wolof, Malay, Spanish and Japanese workshops. This encouraged their School No. 23 counterparts to engage with these cultures, complete with associated national dress and art that made the visual experience all the more genuine and beautiful.

My feelings after the performance: amazed, proud, thinking positively, excellent!

- Koko, M1

I enjoyed our trip to The International School of Azerbaijan as it was great to be immersed into the international culture and to bring Azerbaijani culture into TISA.

- Leyla, Grade 8, School 23
For all students involved, it was a one-in-a-lifetime experience. For School 23, it was their first truly international experience of meeting fellow middle-school students from a variety of linguistic, cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds; as well as a much-cherished opportunity to converse in English and other foreign languages outside of the classroom. Our own TISA students, in turn, got to step out of their TISA bubble and meet fellow Azerbaijani students from the local community, sparking new student relationships outside of our school walls.

Check out the closing ceremony video of highlights from this year's Festival of Languages below:



The International School of Azerbaijan

AZ1070 | Yeni Yasamal | Royal Park | Baku Azerbaijan  
+994 (0)12 404 12 01