The Mother Tongue Other Tongue (MTOT) multilingual poetry competition celebrates linguistic and cultural diversity through creative writing, and showcases the many languages spoken and learned by young people in school and at home.
For the 2022-23 session the focus is again on the spoken word. Like the previous couple of years we are continuing to embrace our new digital way of working, enabling pupils to take part whether in the classroom or at home. We love the creativity pupils have demonstrated in their entries over the last two sessions and particularly the opportunity to hear their voices and fabulous language skills.
Information about the competition
The competition is split into two categories:
Mother Tongue - children and young people who do not speak English as a first language can record and submit an original poem, song or rap in their mother tongue language. In Scotland, pupils will be able to submit entries in Scots and Gaelic in this category.
Other Tongue - children and young people learning another language in school, college or university (French, Spanish, German, Italian, Mandarin, Urdu, Gaelic and Cantonese) can record and submit an original poem, song or rap in that other tongue.
In both categories, entries can be sound files only, a performance video, or a drawing or illustration representing the entry with recorded voice over.
All entrants will complete a pro-forma in English to accompany the piece. An important part of this is that the entrants must outline their inspiration as this accounts for part of the judging criteria.
Find out more about the competition timeline and requirements below.
Winning and highly commended entries from the 2021-22 competition can be seen on our MTOT Awards 2021-22 webpage. Entries awarded in the previous year are also still available to view on our MTOT Awards 2020-21 webpage.
MTOT 2022-23 will launch in the Autumn term. Make sure you subscribe to the SCILT e-bulletin for updates.