Summary Report on International Mother’s Language Day and Book Review

Itsekiri NextGen Project: 2022 Session 7 Report

Date: Saturday 26/02/2022

Volunteers Present: 5

Total Number of Attendees: 60

Timings: 11:00am – 1:00pm

Venue: Former Caravan 4, Aji Pessu, Warri

Main Topic/Activity: International Mother’s Language Day and Book Review

Resource Person: Elliot Golly Appey

SUMMARY OF THE SESSION

The session was designed in line with one of our core mandates of developing the literacy skills of participants. Book review helps to encourage a reading culture and improves the vocabulary of participants. There were also activities designed for the participants to intimate them on the importance of the mother tongue in its use in preserving our cultural values.

Session Delivery

The session began with Miss Sholaye Edun taking participants through a review of the previous session. This was quickly followed by the review of the different books by members of each team who were assigned a book the previous week.

  • International Mother Language Day
    Mr Elliot Golly Appey with participants playing an Itsekiri game

Uwala Tedeye, introduced and discussed International Mother Language Day. The United Nations recognizes the 21st of February as International Mother Language Day. This was done to help participants reflect on, and get acquainted with the celebration. This celebration emphasizes UNESCO’s strong belief in the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity for a sustainable society. It is within UNESCO’s mandate for peace in the world to preserve the difference in cultures and languages, and help to foster tolerance for others.

Speaking in our mother language helps to preserve it and prevent its extinction. It is therefore important for us to pass this symbol of our unique culture to the next generation just as it was passed unto us.

Our guest facilitator for the day was Mr Golly Elliot Abbey, who is an Itsekiri actor and a filmmaker. He was excited to take the participants through different sessions of the Itsekiri cultural moonlight play.

The first play was ‘Odudumedi‘ with one participant blindfolded while attempting to hold any of the team members. When successful, the next task is guessing the name of the person held. A correctly mentioned name becomes the new Odudumedi and gets blindfolded. The game continues until they get exhausted. 

The next play was ‘Sato-ubele‘ where participants held hands to form a circle. They danced around as they sang the song. He also taught the participants the song; which was in Itsekiri.

The last play for the day was ‘Muneyin‘. This is a very popular play for older Itsekiri people. One person holds an object and runs around others who are seated in a circle. He/she drops the object behind one of those sitting. Whoever isn’t aware of the object behind him/her will be tapped, but anyone that is aware will pick it up and run around, repeating the process. This continues in that sequence until participants get tired.

It was fun all through for the participants, as this was a new experience for most of them. At Itsekiri NextGen, we make learning fun.

Other Key Activities During the Session

The participants borrowed books to read which would be reviewed during the next session.

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