SIMULTANT
(Significance of Mother Language in Children's Cognitive Development)
SCOPE&SCORE CIMSA UI
As the commemoration of Mother Language Day celebrated every February 21st, SIMULTANT (Significance of Mother Language in Children’s Cognitive Development) was held by SCOPE and SCORE CIMSA UI on Sunday, March 14th, 2021. This project was carried out to increase the awareness and knowledge about the importance of mother language toward children’s cognitive development, along with the application of mother language in multilingualism culture. SIMULTANT project’s sequence comprised of series of pre-events publication before webinar execution, including infographic, video about the foreigners’ view of mother language implementation in multilingualism culture, as well as the influence toward children’s cognitive development, and air campaign games. The webinar’s registration was opened for general public, and greeted enthusiastically by participants as there were lots of people who took interests in these topics.
On the determined day, SIMULTANT’s webinar was guided by SIMULTANT’s committee along with dr. Faradila Keiko, acting as the moderator.
We invited dr. Kusuma Minayati, Sp.KJ from FKUI-RSCM Psychiatry Department as the first speaker, whereas for the second speaker we invited Edianna Putri Mayangsari, M. Si from Indonesia Heritage Foundation (IHF). The materials given for the first webinar topic encompassed of cognitive definition, children’s cognitive development, and the factors influencing it, particularly the importance of mother language fluency before acquisition of another languages. The first topic also gave several tips and tricks on how to introduce the mother language to children at home environment.
As for the second topic, the materials emphasized the importance of parent/main caretaker of children in the development of mother language, particularly the influence of attachment and environment. Similar with the previous topic, the second topic also shared several tips and tricks on how to build good attachment between the children and their closest caretakers.
The webinar was successfully carried out and many participants were satisfied by the event. We hope through this project, lots of people can gain beneficial knowledge and increase their awareness about the importance of mother language in children’s cognitive development, especially in the multilingualism culture. Not only that, we also hope that lots of people realize the impact of environment and the closest caretaker role toward the development of children’s language acquisition, the keystone of social interaction with their surroundings as well as the initial asset for future progress. Hence, through this new perspective, people community are capable to apply the fundamental and produce children with maximum potential.
