(UN)Spoken is SIE’s annual celebration of International Mother Language Day. Past events had presenters who represented a variety of languages, including AAVE, Farsi, Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Bengali, Arabic, Vietnamese, Malagasy, Thai, Spanish, Portuguese, Malay, Chinese, English, Cantonese, Japanese, Malayalam, Kyrgyz, Korean and American Sign Language. Participants shared their languages through poetry and spoken word, prose, song, dance, skits and other formats, including a Chinese yo-yo exhibition and Japanese taiko drumming! Many shared personal reflections and incorporated language lessons into their presentations.

This is going to be the seventh year SIE celebrates (Un)Spoken: A Celebration of International Mother Language Day. The event will be virtual on the evening of February 18, 2022 from 5 to 8 pm. It will include a 7-day asynchronous film screening of the documentary ‘Eating Up Easter’, a Q&A with the documentary’s director Sergio Mata’U Rapu, and live performances by students, faculty, and staff showcasing their mother tongue(s). Eating Up Easter raises issues around education, environmental sustainability, and the impact of globalization and colonization on Indigenous languages and cultures. SIE aims to help raise awareness on the interconnected nature of sustainable development, colonization, and Indigenous people’s rights. 

SIE website: https://sietc.weebly.com/events.html