About this quote

Teaching people in their mother tongue keeps understanding, culture, and identity intact; abandoning it slowly cuts a community off from its own roots and way of thinking. What looks like a mere choice of classroom language is really a decision about who a people remain.

When to use it

• A school district adds mother-tongue classes so immigrant children keep their heritage while learning.
• Parents make a point of speaking their grandparents' language at home so it doesn't vanish.
• A community records and publishes local folklore in the regional language before the elders are gone.