Promoting language development: Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development

Опубликовано: January 30, 2023 в 1:14 am

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Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development









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There are many ways you can help your child learn to understand and use words. See a speech-language pathologist if you have concerns. 

Birth to 2 Years

  • Say sound like “ma,” “da,” and “ba.” Try to get your baby to say them back to you.  
  • Look at your baby when he makes sounds. Talk back to him, and say what he says. Pretend to have a conversation.
  • Respond when your baby laughs or makes faces. Make the same faces back to her.
  • Teach your baby to do what you do, like clapping your hands and playing peek-a-boo.
  • Talk to your baby as you give him a bath, feed him, and get him dressed. Talk about what you are doing and where you are going. Tell him who or what you will see.
  • Point out colors and shapes.
  • Count what you see.
  • Use gestures, like waving and pointing.
  • Talk about animal sounds. This helps your baby connect the sound and the animal. Use words like “The dog says woof-woof.”
  • Add on to what your baby says. When your baby says, “Mama,” say, “Here is Mama. Mama loves you. Where is baby? Here is baby.” 
  • Read to your child. You don’t have to read every word, but talk about the pictures. Choose books that are sturdy and have large colorful pictures. Ask your child, “What’s this?” and try to get him to point to or name objects. 

2 to 4 Years

  • Speak clearly to your child. Model good speech.
  • Repeat what your child says to show that you understand.  Add on to what she says. Use words like, “Want juice? I have juice. I have apple juice. Do you want apple juice?”
  • It’s okay to use baby talk sometimes. Be sure to use the adult word too. For example, “It is time for din-din. We will have dinner now.”
  • Cut out pictures of favorite or familiar things. Put them into categories, like things to ride on, things to eat, and things to play with. Make silly pictures by mixing and matching pictures. Glue a picture of a dog behind the wheel of a car. Talk about what is wrong with the picture and ways to “fix” it. 
  • Help your child understand and ask questions. Play the yes–no game. Ask questions such as, “Are you Marty?” and “Can a pig fly?” Have your child make up questions and try to fool you.
  • Ask questions that include a choice. “Do you want an apple or an orange?” “Do you want to wear your red shirt or your blue shirt?” 
  • Help your child learn new words. Name body parts, and talk about what you do with them.  “This is my nose. I can smell flowers, brownies, and soap.”
  • Sing simple songs, and say nursery rhymes. This helps your child learn the rhythm of speech.
  • Place familiar objects in a box. Have your child take one out and tell you its name and how to use it. “This is my ball. I bounce it. I play with it.”
  • Show pictures of familiar people and places. Talk about who they are and what happened. Try making up new stories.

4 to 6 Years 

  • Pay attention when your child talks to you.
  • Get your child’s attention before you talk.
  • Praise your child when she tells you something. Show that you understand her words.
  • Pause after speaking. This gives your child a chance to respond.
  • Keep helping your child learn new words. Say a new word, and tell him what it means, or use it in a way that helps him understand. For example, you can use the word “vehicle” instead of “car.”  You can say, “I think I will drive the vehicle to the store. I am too tired to walk.” 
  • Talk about where things are, using words like “first,” “middle,” and “last” or “right” and “left.” Talk about opposites like “up” and “down” or “on” and “off.”
  • Have your child guess what you describe. Say, “We use it to sweep the floor,” and have her find the broom. Say, “It is cold, sweet, and good for dessert. I like strawberry” so she can guess “ice cream.” 
  • Work on groups of items, or categories. Find the thing that does not belong in a group. For example, “A shoe does not go with an apple and an orange because you can’t eat it. It is not round. It is not a fruit.” 
  • Help your child follow two- and three-step directions. Use words like, “Go to your room, and bring me your book.”
  • Ask your child to give directions. Follow his directions as he tells you how to build a tower of blocks.
  • Play games with your child such as “house.” Let her be the parent, and you pretend to be the child. Talk about the different rooms and furniture in the house.
  • Watch movies together on TV or a tablet. Talk about what your child is watching. Have her guess what might happen next. Talk about the characters. Are they happy or sad? Ask her to tell you what happened in the story. Act out a scene together, or make up a different ending.
  • Use everyday tasks to learn language. For example, talk about the foods on the menu and their color, texture, and taste when in the kitchen. Talk about where to put things. Ask her to put the napkin on the table, in your lap, or under the spoon. Talk about who the napkin belongs to. Say, “It is my napkin.” “It is Daddy’s.” “It is Tamara’s.”
  • Go grocery shopping together. Talk about what you will buy, how many things you need, and what you will make. Talk about sizes, shapes, and weight. 

To find a speech-language pathologist near you, visit ProFind.  

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How can you encourage a child’s language development? | Baby & toddler articles & support

Here we look at communication and language development in children. We discuss how to encourage your baby to communicate and help a toddler learn to talk.

Talking, understanding others and knowing what to say are really important skills in life. Being able to communicate helps children make friends, learn and enjoy life to the full. You will be your child’s first and most important teacher.

You may be wondering “when will my baby talk?”. A toddler’s first words usually occur between 12 and 18 months and they will continue to learn and progress quickly once they reach that milestone. Here we look at simple ways encourage and enjoy your child’s language development.

Get your child’s attention

Face your child or sit down with them. Say their name before you start speaking. Talk about something you can both see in front of you. This helps them to learn what words mean.

Have fun together

Use actions, sing, make noises and funny faces. Don’t be shy, being a bit silly helps get their attention and makes them laugh and can encourage language development.

Comments not questions

Asking lots of questions can feel like it’s a test. Make it a conversation. When you talk to your baby comment on what they are doing and what is happening instead.

Give them time to think

Children need more time than adults to think about what they’ve heard, and to decide what to say back. Give them time to respond, and look at them while you wait.

Use simple language

Keep your sentences short. For example, “Food time now” or “Wow, you’re building a tower”.

Repeat what you say

It’s good to say the same thing over again. Babies and toddlers need to hear words and sentences lots of times to understand them and learn new words. This is key aspect of baby talk. 

Make it easier for them to listen

Turning the music, radio or TV off helps children focus on your words.

Build on what they say

Adding one or two words to what they say helps your child onto the next stage of talking. So, if your child says “bus” you say “Yes, big bus”.

Speak in your home language

It’s important for children to learn their first words and sentences in their home language. Your child will learn in English later, at nursery and school.

Make it easier for them to talk

Dummies can get in the way of talking. Try to keep them just for sleep times. Take it out to talk.

Show them the right way

Young children often make mistakes. Show them that you understand, rather than asking them to repeat words correctly. Say the word or sentence again correctly for your child. If they say “Look at the dod”, you can say “Yes, it’s a dog”.

Copy what they say

Repeat back sounds, words and sentences. Whether its “la la” or “Oh, you liked the banana?”, it shows you’re interested and that sounds and words are important. This can help your baby’s speech development. 

Talk to someone if you’re worried

Some children find talking and listening harder than others. They might find it hard to understand what words and sentences mean. Some struggle to find the right words and sounds to use and put them in order. These children may need extra help.

If you are worried about your child, talk to people you know and who know your child. If you’re still worried, go with your instinct. Talk to someone who can help, for example a speech and language therapist or your health visitor or GP.

This article was written using information provided by I CAN, the children’s communication charity and the Talking Point website.

Further information

Our support line offers practical and emotional support with feeding your baby and general enquiries for parents, members and volunteers: 0300 330 0700.

You might find attending one of NCT’s Early Days groups helpful as they give you the opportunity to explore different approaches to important parenting issues with a qualified group leader and other new parents in your area.

Make friends with other parents-to-be and new parents in your local area for support and friendship by seeing what NCT activities are happening nearby.

You can also find lots more useful information and resources from I CAN.

Read The Psychology of Babies: How relationships support development from birth to two by Lynne Murray (published by Constable Robinson).

Take a look at the National Literacy Trust’s website which has information about early communication skills.

How native languages ​​are protected in Russia

Together with the Committee on Nationalities, we talk about the situation with national languages ​​in our country, as well as about what is being done in Russia to preserve linguistic diversity.

There are 193 nationalities in Russia, 277 languages ​​and dialects are used. Only in the Russian education system more than 100 languages ​​function , children are taught in 24 languages, 81 languages ​​are studied as a subject and optional .

Language policy issues are regularly reviewed by the Presidential Council on Interethnic Relations . It is obvious to everyone that systemic measures are also required in terms of preparing the teaching staff, improving the general culture of speech and reading in the school environment, publishing dictionaries and forming a federal list of textbooks, supporting translations of works in the native languages ​​of the peoples of Russia into Russian, and many others.

Language from the Red Book

The preservation of the language is a condition for the preservation of the people. However, now ethnic cultures and original languages ​​of small peoples are on the verge of extinction.

Approximately 2,500 languages ​​are endangered according to the 2010 UNESCO Atlas of Endangered Languages ​​of the World, some of which are spoken by only 30 people.

The Atlas provides information on 139 languages ​​of the peoples of Russia, of which, in accordance with the classification adopted in the document, 19Vulnerable, 40 Endangered (17 non-literate), 28 Seriously Endangered (4 non-literate), 27 Critically Endangered (10 non-literate), 14 Extinct (5 non-literate).

The encyclopedic dictionary-reference book “The Red Book of the Languages ​​of the Peoples of Russia” , an analogue of the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages, is published in the Russian Federation, which includes information about 66 languages ​​of indigenous peoples and the prospects for their existence and development.

All languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation are supported by the state

Russia at the legislative level guarantees all its peoples, regardless of their number, equal rights to the preservation and comprehensive development of their native language, freedom to choose and use the language of communication, recognizes the equal rights of all languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation for their preservation and development.

The Committee on Nationalities pays serious attention to the topic of language policy. Thus, the deputies of the Committee introduced a draft law on amending the Law “On the Languages ​​of the Peoples of the Russian Federation” in terms of determining the procedure for approving alphabets and the rules for spelling and punctuation of the languages ​​of the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation.

see also

  • Six questions about the draft law on the study of national languages ​​

This bill proposes to give the Government of the Russian Federation the authority to determine the procedure for approving alphabets, spelling and punctuation rules for the languages ​​of the indigenous peoples of Russia, taking into account the expert assessment of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 2018, the State Duma adopted amendments to the law on education. “We gave the right to parents or other legal representatives of students to choose their native language for study at school. We proposed the idea of ​​creating a Fund for the Support of Native Languages, and such a fund was created,” said Vyacheslav Nikonov, Chairman of the Committee on Education and Science

Nikonov
Vyacheslav Alekseevich

Deputy of the State Duma elected as part of the federal list of candidates put forward by the All-Russian political party “UNITED RUSSIA”
. Also, these amendments included Russian in the list of native languages. We wrote more in this material.

Foundation for the Preservation and Study of Native Languages ​​of the Peoples of the Russian Federation

The Foundation was established on February 21, 2019 — exactly one year ago. The main directions of his work were discussed in the State Duma at the parliamentary hearings “Linguistic Diversity of the Russian Federation: State and Prospects”.

The founders of the fund are the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and the Federal Agency for Nationalities. The tasks of the foundation include supporting the study of native languages ​​throughout the country, creating textbooks and dictionaries, and assisting in the training of teachers.

we managed to unite the people around common values ​​— RBC

More than 6,000 events took place in the regions of the Republic of Tatarstan as part of the Year of Native Languages ​​and National Unity. In 2022, work to preserve the culture and traditions of the peoples living in the Republic of Tatarstan and increase interest in native languages ​​continued

President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov declared 2021 the Year of Native Languages ​​and National Unity. Farid Mukhametshin, Chairman of the State Council, Chairman of the Council of the Assembly of Peoples of the Republic of Tatarstan, told RBC Tatarstan how conditions are being created in the republic for the preservation and development of languages ​​and cultures of representatives of all nationalities living in the region.

Our bonds

— 2021 was declared the Year of Native Languages ​​and National Unity in Tatarstan. It is obvious that the preservation of native languages ​​is not an event for a year, but a constant labor-intensive work. What, in your opinion, is the main significance of the fact that 2021 in Tatarstan passed under this sign?

Russia’s unique wealth lies in its multinationality. Yes, it is not easy to organize life in conditions of multiethnicity and multilingualism, but these are our bonds, hope and confidence in the future. If there are problems in the mutual understanding of peoples, there will be no creation.

Tatarstan has historically been and remains a multinational region. Today, representatives of 173 nationalities live in our republic: Tatars, Russians, Chuvashs, Udmurts, Mordovians, Maris, Bashkirs, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews, Germans and so on. There are ethnic groups in Tatarstan, represented by several hundred people – these are Avars, Kumyks, Assyrians, Dargins, Ossetians, Kalmyks and many others. For the representatives of these peoples, the decision of the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov to declare the Year of Native Languages ​​and National Unity in the Republic was very important, they reacted to this initiative with great enthusiasm.

At the suggestion of ministries and departments, public organizations, the Assembly of the Peoples of Tatarstan, 148 major events of various genres and socio-cultural orientation were included in the republican plan for the implementation of the Year of Native Languages ​​and National Unity. More than 6,000 events were held in the municipalities. It is not only about ethno-cultural festivals and folk holidays. First of all, I mean the tremendous work to preserve and develop the languages ​​of all peoples living in Tatarstan.

Over the thirty years of activity in the field of the implementation of the national policy in Tatarstan, by common efforts we managed to draw increased public attention to the difficult and important issues of strengthening interethnic harmony, to “revive” the ethno-cultural life of the entire republic, to consolidate people around culture, language, historical memory, common to all spiritual and moral values. This work is of great importance today, in the age of digitalization and globalization, when the boundaries between different cultures and languages ​​are blurred.

Representatives of 193 nationalities live on the territory of the Russian Federation, there are 277 languages ​​and dialects. The public education system uses 89 languages, 30 of them as the language of instruction, 59 as the subject of instruction. In the last 150 years alone, 15 languages ​​have become extinct in our country. Some are on the verge of extinction. I don’t think any of us want our mother tongue to suffer the same fate.

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I once spoke in Strasbourg at one of the thematic meetings and was horrified: the languages ​​of small peoples are disappearing at an accelerated pace around the world. Losing the opportunity to speak our native languages, we impoverish ourselves. The first president of the republic, Mintimer Shaimiev, said more than 20 years ago: “We cannot scatter to national apartments,” saying that it is necessary to create comfortable conditions for all peoples.

Once at the House of Friendship of Peoples we distributed classes in Sunday school, it was planned to create 25 of them in total. A representative of the Assyrian people asked me to give them a class as well. I told him: “You are not enough,” and he answered me: “You have no such right to deprive me of the opportunity to fulfill the mission that life has entrusted to me – to preserve and transmit the language, traditions, culture of my people. Give us class! And I realized what a mistake I made when I said about the small number of this people in the republic.

There are no big and small peoples, there are people with a rich baggage of language, culture, customs and traditions. This fits into the national policy of our republic, which is pursued by the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov.

— What is being done in the republic to preserve and develop native languages?

The issue of preserving and developing native languages ​​has always been a priority of the state policy of the republic. Assistance in the development of national culture, language, preservation of the identity of the Tatars living outside Tatarstan is reflected in Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic.

Tatars are the second largest people in the Russian Federation, numbering 5.5 million people. From the places of compact residence of Tatars in the regions of Russia and foreign countries, we receive requests for various kinds of assistance, for example, methodological. We send our compatriots textbooks for learning the Tatar language, literature in their native language, we discuss various forms of cultural exchange, and so on.

The right to learn one’s native language is enshrined in our republic by law. The state program “Preservation, study and development of the state languages ​​of the Republic of Tatarstan and other languages ​​in the Republic of Tatarstan”, which has been implemented since 1994 years old.

Traditionally, much attention is paid to the preservation and development of kindergartens and schools with the native language of instruction and education, the study of native languages ​​and the Tatar language as the state language of the Republic of Tatarstan. This is what we are proud of, what we must preserve and increase.

There are 2008 pre-school institutions in the republic, of which 1191 are with the Russian language of instruction and education, including 598 with 1228 Tatar groups; 749 – with the Tatar language of education and upbringing; 46 – with Chuvash; 13 – with Udmurt; 9- with the Mari language of education and upbringing.

Education in their native language as part of school education covers 100% of Russian students, 50.13% of Tatars – education and upbringing in their native language, 47.11% of Chuvash, 47.51% of Udmurts, 34.39% of Mari, 6.98 % Mordovians.

More than 130 schools with an ethno-cultural component of the content of education are successfully operating (89 schools with the Chuvash ethno-cultural component of education, 22 schools with the Udmurt, 16 schools with the Mari, 3 schools with the Mordovian language, one with the study of Hebrew).

Based on the results of parents’ choice, this year 63. 34% of school students study Tatar as their native language, 33.33% Russian, 0.85% Chuvash, 0.23% Udmurt, 0.10% Mari , 0.01% – Mordovian, 0.15% – Hebrew, 8 children study the Bashkir language.

Tatarstan is actively developing a unique project of multilingual schools “Adymnar – the path to knowledge and harmony.”

Lessons at the Multinational Sunday School operating under the auspices of the Assembly of the Peoples of Tatarstan, which turned 25 this year, are very popular. Children and adults of different nationalities living in Kazan can learn their native language, culture and customs of their people, folklore, songs, dances, history and geography of their historical homeland.

The Multinational Sunday School has 21 departments, including 18 national ones: Tatar, Chuvash, Udmurt, Bashkir, Mari, Buryat, Dagestan, Georgian and others, as well as departments of vocals, choreography and foreign languages. There are 460 students in total.

Every year the school hosts events dedicated to the Day of National Unity, International Mother Language Day, and national holidays of the peoples living in the city of Kazan. This year, the Multinational School has become a platform for a landmark republican project. The dictation in the native languages ​​of the peoples living in the Republic of Tatarstan was written by more than 200 people in 14 languages ​​of the peoples of the Republic of Tajikistan.

In the declared Year of Native Languages ​​and National Unity, we managed not only to maintain, but also to expand the network of schools and kindergartens with native language teaching and education, additional groups and classes with teaching and education in the native language were opened. In the districts of the republic, in the format of Sunday schools, more than 100 circles for studying the language, culture, traditions of the peoples living in the republic have been launched.

Speak and learn

– Is there any interest in learning and preserving native languages? If you compare cities and villages, where do you think people speak their native language more?

According to a sociological survey conducted by the Center for Ethno-Sociological Research of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, 68% of urban Tatars and 87% of rural Tatars noted that they speak, read and write fluently in the Tatar language. At that time, only 2% of all urban Tatars interviewed admitted that they did not know him at all.

Conditions for learning the native language have been created both in the city and in the countryside. Another thing is that the traditions and customs of the people are more easily preserved in rural areas. In the city, everything is unified. It is a fact.

That is why the country pays great attention to the work of houses of culture and rural clubs. They remain the main centers for the preservation and development of national creativity, the native language. All of them have been repaired according to the “presidential” program and have become a center of attraction for creative people.

Ethnofestivals have become popular, around which their own ecosystem of communities has formed, at the same time open to new cultural trends, preserving their native language and creatively rethinking national culture and traditions.

— Are young people interested in their native languages ​​and learning them?

The interest of a child, a young person in their native language will appear when it is spoken in the family. You need to start with yourself, with your family, passing on the culture and traditions of the people through the language. You know, we can implement educational projects as much as we like, insist on attending Sunday school, take a child by the hand there – there will be some result, but not very impressive.

An important direction of this work is the popularization of the native language. In Tatarstan, by decree of Rustam Minnikhanov, a Commission for the Preservation and Development of the Tatar Language under the President of the Republic was created, which was headed by Deputy Chairman of the State Council Marat Akhmetov.

Meetings of the State Council of the Republic are held in Russian and Tatar languages. Tatars attend Russian-language cultural events, and Russians, sometimes with translation, attend Tatar concerts and plays.

— Recently, more and more people are talking about the need to modernize the methods of learning native languages. Are there any changes in this issue. How are the textbooks?

Thanks to the state program “Preservation, study and development of the state languages ​​of the Republic of Tatarstan and other languages ​​in the Republic of Tatarstan for 2014-2022”, many projects have been implemented, primarily in the field of education. Key attention is paid to improving teaching methods and technologies, updating educational and methodological kits, introducing information technologies, ensuring the communicative component of learning, and developing multimedia content for teaching languages.

A project office has been set up at the Institute for the Development of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan to develop and implement regional educational and methodological kits on the Tatar language as the state language of Tatarstan, on the basis of which the educational and methodological kit “Salam!” has been developed.

Currently, 89 textbooks on the Tatar language and literature are included in the federal list, 34 editions are used as teaching aids. For 2020-2024, a roadmap has been developed to include educational publications translated into the Tatar language into the federal list.

An e-learning system for mother tongue has been introduced. Since 2013, an open online school for distance learning of the Tatar language “Ana tele” has been operating. The number of school users today is more than 35 thousand people, including more than a thousand from foreign countries.

The preservation and development of the languages ​​of the peoples of the republic is facilitated by international festivals, gatherings of Sunday school students, scientific and practical conferences and olympiads, more than 150 events are held annually in the republic, in which more than 50 thousand students, including students, take part.

The all-Russian competition of master classes for teachers of native languages ​​”Tugan tel” and the all-Russian competition “The best teacher of the Tatar language and literature” are very popular, in which teachers from the regions of Russia take part, among other things. This year, for the first time, the competition “Teacher of a group with a native (Tatar, Chuvash, Udmurt, etc.) language of education and training” was held.

— From childhood, our parents told us that in order to learn the language well, speak and write correctly, you need to read more. In your opinion, are there any problems with high-quality modern prose in the republic? Are books written and printed in native languages ​​that may be of interest to readers of different ages?

This principle applies to all languages. I absolutely agree with him, I can confirm this by my own example. I began to study my native Tatar language seriously quite late, after forty years.

The books of fellow deputies-writers Tufan Minnullin, Razil Valeev, Robert Minnullin, Renat Kharis and others helped me a lot. Sometimes the meaning of poetic images and some turns was not clear, then I consulted with them. These books are still on my bookshelf autographed by the authors. I started going to Tatar performances, listening to how beautiful Tatar speech sounds. Here’s another life hack for you, as young people like to say. So I studied the literary Tatar language.

We replenish our library collections every year, including books in the national languages ​​of the peoples of Russia. To date, the share of national literature in the languages ​​of the peoples of Russia in the library funds of Tatarstan is over 26%. This is one of the best indicators in the country.

Of the new formats, I would like to draw attention to the electronic information base of the written heritage of the Russian and Tatar peoples “Book” – “Kitap” at the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan.

Networks of educational and cultural Tatar centers of the Kayum Nasyri Institute have been created across the country and abroad: in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moscow, Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg, Penza, Ufa, Cheboksary, Ulyanovsk, Tobolsk, their methodological support has been organized. These centers provide free courses on the study of the Tatar language, lectures by teachers from the Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication of Kazan University on Tatar literature, the history and culture of the Tatar people, and creative events.

With neighbors in the world

— Tatarstan is often called a unique region of good neighborliness. In your opinion, how did you manage to form such a “model of Tatarstan”?

The “model of Tatarstan” you are talking about did not take shape overnight. It’s a very long story. Understanding the need to work to strengthen interethnic peace and harmony, develop languages ​​and cultures came to us, the leadership of the republic of those years, starting with the first president of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev.

In 1992, the first Congress of the Peoples of Tatarstan was held – an unprecedented event that became the starting point. Since then, work on the implementation of the state national policy both at the level of the Russian strategy and the republican concept in Tatarstan has become systemic.

The Assembly of the Peoples of Tatarstan makes a significant contribution to the preservation of interethnic peace and harmony. For three decades, the Assembly has become an authoritative public institution, a real center for consolidating the multinational movement of the peoples of Tatarstan, united under its “wing” 249national-cultural associations representing the interests of 36 nationalities. There are 2 branches and 27 representative offices, 9 Houses and 4 Peoples’ Friendship Centers in cities and regions in the republic.

We are engaged in protecting the rights and integrating migrants into their new socio-cultural environment. The long-standing practice of a multilateral agreement between the Assembly and the relevant ministries and departments to protect the rights of migrants has fully justified itself.

This is all a set of tools that is aimed at the implementation of our main idea: to unite representatives of different nationalities, speakers of different languages, so that they feel that they live in Tatarstan as at home.

— In connection with the Year of Native Languages ​​and National Unity, how has the work of the Assembly changed, what new formats of work have appeared?

In the Year of Native Languages ​​and National Unity, the Assembly of the Peoples of Tatarstan, on the proposals of national organizations, initiated more than 10 new projects related to the preservation and development of native languages, traditions and culture of the peoples of Tatarstan. All of them were supported by the leadership of the republic and received financial support.

In addition to the already well-known events of the Assembly and the House of Friendship, the following events were held in the regions of Tatarstan: the traveling Republican festival “We are together!”, “Theatre Seasons” – productions from national theaters from the regions of the Volga region in different languages, as well as a literary competition for schoolchildren “Native speech” in the languages ​​of the peoples of the Volga region with the publication of a collection of the best works; exhibition “100 unique posters and newspapers of the war years in the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR”, an international conference on the topic “Preservation of languages, interethnic and interfaith harmony”. Many of these events were held in two formats – offline and online, which significantly expanded their geography.

This year, the national-cultural autonomies of the Assembly held more than 700 events and more than 75 online projects. These are also folk holidays (“Shrovetide”, “Navruz”, “Sabantuy”, “Karavon”, “Semyk”, “Gyron Bydton”, “Uyav”, “Uchuk”, “Baltai”, “Valda Shinyas”, the holiday of Ivan Kupala , “Pitrau”), and ethno-cultural festivals.

Due to the pandemic, many events have moved to online platforms and social networks. Each holiday included master classes, online lectures, seminars, where those who wish could learn how to cook traditional dishes of different peoples, make toys, sew national clothes, communicate live with famous representatives of their people, learn more about its history and traditions, watch holiday concert. In the online format, the number of participants and views of festive events in general amounted to 3.28 million.

The Assembly of the Peoples of Tatarstan became one of the organizers of the Republican ethno-confessional festival “Mosaic of Cultures”, which has been held in Tatarstan since 2015. Its main goal is to get acquainted with the culture, customs and values ​​of another people.

Since 2012, the republican ethno-cultural festival “Our Home – Tatarstan” has been held. Every year, at least 200 creative teams representing the peoples living in the Republic of Tatarstan take part in the municipal and zonal tours of the Festival.

– 2021 is close to its end. The next year is declared in the Republic of Tatarstan as the Year of Digitalization. What main points of growth do you see for 2022 and subsequent years to preserve the native languages ​​of the peoples of the republic, increase their demand among the population and popularity among children and youth?

The next year promises to be no less eventful. This will be a jubilee year for the Assembly of Peoples of Tatarstan – the 30th anniversary of its founding. The House of Friendship of the Peoples of the Republic is waiting for reconstruction – a new choreographic hall and the Museum of the History of the Assembly of the Peoples of Tatarstan, a conference hall and a video recording studio with a control room will appear.