Lesson: International Mother Language Day - 1

A. Picture Discussion (Picture not provided)

1. What’s the picture about?
2. What’s the place in the picture?
3. Why was it built?

B. Reading

International Mother Language Day

February 21st is a memorable day in our national history. We observe the day every year as International Mother Language Day. The day is a national holiday.

On this day, we pay tribute to the martyrs who laid down their lives to establish Bangla as a state language in undivided Pakistan in 1952. The struggle to achieve our language rights is known as the Language Movement.

The seed of the Language Movement was sown on March 21, 1948, when Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Governor-General of Pakistan, declared in a public meeting in Dhaka that Urdu would be the only state language of Pakistan. The declaration raised a storm of protest in the eastern part of the country. The protest continued non-stop, gathering momentum day by day. It turned into a movement and reached its climax in 1952. The government outlawed all sorts of public meetings and rallies to stop it.

The students of Dhaka University defied the law and brought out a peaceful protest procession on February 21, 1952. When the procession reached near Dhaka Medical College, the police opened fire on the students, killing Salam, Rafiq, Barkat, Safiur, and Jabbar. As a result, there were mass protests all over the country, and the government had to declare Bangla as a state language. This kindled the sparks of the independence movement of Bangladesh.

C. Timeline

Complete the chart:

| Time | What happened | |------|-------------------------------------------------| | 1947 | | | 1948 | | | 1952 | |

D. Vocabulary

Match the words with their meanings:

| Words | Meanings | |----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | tribute | a) to cause or to stimulate | | climax | b) to refuse to obey | | outlaw | c) to give in | | defy | d) the ability to keep increasing or developing | | provoke | e) an act to show respect or admiration | | relent | f) the most exciting point in time | | momentum | g) to ban |

E. Comprehension

Answer these questions:

1. Why do we observe February 21st as International Mother Language Day?
2. What happened when Urdu was declared as the only state language of Pakistan?
3. “The seed of independence was sown on 21 February 1952.” Do you agree? Why?