Value Based Question: Answer the following in about 100 words. 5
M Hamel ‘The Last Lesson’ says to the people of Alsace about the necessity of their mother
tongue- French: “ …. We must guard it among us and never forget it because when a people are
enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison”.
‘Mother tongue is the language of one’s thoughts and ideas. Rejecting one’s mother tongue is
denying one’s own culture and identity.’ Do you think so? Write your reflections on the above
statement in the form of an article to be published in your school magazine , encouraging your
friends to the need for learning and protecting their mother tongue.
Here are a few pointers that may help you to develop the answer:
- yes, I think so
- one learns his/her mother tongue unconsciously through practical usage
- native language is importance for the very existence of a race
- it gives us an identity
- culture and tradition of a region/ sect/ race are usually spread through the their language or mother tongue
- develops patriotism