Last Saturday's speaking engagement

Here are some photos from the Día Internacional de la Lengua Materna conference/panel:

I wasn´t as nervous as I thought I would be. In fact, I think I did a good job. After all, I wasn´t the only second language Spanish speaker in the room; pretty much everyone there spoke a different "lengua materna."

Some young musicians from San Juan Chamula performed at the beginning of the event.

My Tstosil professor spoke about the dangers of loss of values and traditions with the extinction of languages.

The other speakers on the panel included a woman who works in university education and showed a movie clip of youth attitudes toward indigenous languages, a primary school teacher who has learned other indigenous languages besides her own in order to teach in various local schools, and a teacher from Oaxaca who helped develop bilingual 6th grade projects that focus on local knowledge (natural medicine, arts, cooking).

At the end, a man from the group shared a bilingual song from his CD and made everyone dance. For those of you who work at BMPV, it felt like the end of a typical assembly where the staff has to go up on stage and dance. A little ridiculous.

So, aside from being 5 1/2 hours long, it was an enjoyable experience.
And if you want me to speak at your upcoming event, better call soon. I´m booking up fast. ;)