English Department Celebrates International Mother Language Day 2010 amid Colorful Festivities

Tuesday 23 February 2010 The teachers and students of the Department of English of the American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) organized a series of programs in celebration of the International Mother Language Day, which included Literary Competition, a special seminar titled 'Banglar prattohik bebohar: Mooldhara theke lokkhoniyo bichchuti'(Everyday Usage of Bangla: Noticeable Deviation from the Mainstream), and a colorful multicultural participated by the Bangladeshi and foreign students-teachers of AIUB on 23 February, Tuesday, at the AIUB auditorium. Prof. Dr. Tazul Islam, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, welcomed all and introduced the key note paper presenter Mr. Anis Ahmed, currently the International Radio Broadcaster and Web Editor of the Voice of America (VOA) and formerly a faculty of Dhaka University’s English Department. In his presentation, Mr. Ahmed used interesting and realistic examples to narrate how the ‘promito’ (standard) Bangla is being gradually engulfed by a mixture of regional, cultural, political and social codes which, in turn, is threatening to transform Bangla into a no-man’s language. He therefore stressed the need of ‘Promito Bangla training’ for electronic media personnel. Mr. Anis Ahmed mentioned that uncountable changes in Bangla language, despite being natural phenomena, should have some restrictions at some point; after all, we do need water management to control the destructive overflow of rivers too. Mr. Ahmed’s presentation followed a lively question-answer session moderated by Dr. Faheem Hasan Shahed, Head of the English Department. Prof. Dr. Tafazzal Hossain, Vice President of Academics, gave a thanks giving speech highlighting some of his personal experiences with Bangla language issues. After the seminar, Mr. Anis Ahmed, Prof. Dr. Tafazzal Hossain and Prof. Dr. Tazul Islam jointly gave away prizes among the winners in the different categories of Literary Contest.

Winners are:

• Poetry (Bangla): Meghla Clara Costa (Champion) and Risayad Nahid (Runner Up)
• Letter to Motherland (Champion): Tawsif Ali (champion) and Monowara Khatun (Runner Up) )
• Essay (Bangla): Harun Ahmed (Champion) )
• Essay (English): Tamzidur Rahman (Champion)

It needs to be mentioned that the Literary Contest had been organized by the English Writing Club of English Department where students submitted Essays on Motherland (in Bangla and English), ‘Letters to Motherland’ (in Bangla) and Poems (in Bangla and English). A large number of high quality writings gave the judges a sweet hard time to finalize the winners. The last event was the most entertaining one: a multicultural musical show mostly by the foreign students and teachers of AIUB. Some of the enthralling performances were from: Dr. Charles Villanueva (Filipino Dean of Faculty of Business Administration), Hida and Rifa (Indonesian student twins), Noora Shamsi Bahar (Iranian teacher of English department), Mokronosov Innokunty (Russian student), Dr. Silverine de Silva (Sri Lankan teacher of Mass Com and Media Arts), Chen Lin (Chinese teacher of English department) and so on. A special gratitude is due for our Vice Chancellor Dr. Carmen Zita Lamagna and Mr. Manzur H Khan (Director of the Office of the Student Affairs) for their enthusiastic behind-the-screen support to make this program successful.