Bangladeshi Students Association at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, observed International Mother Language Day through a 'Bangladesh Festival' on February 26, 2010 with a goal to present a glimpse of Bangladeshi language and culture.

A total of almost 200 guests, including Bangladeshis and non-Bangladeshis, attended the programme, according to a press release. The two-and-half-hours

long programme started with a rendition of the ever-familiar song "Amar Bhai-er Roktey Rangano". Students also screened a video they made for the festival. It was shot in the computer science department, and features students and professors saying "1 love to speak in my mother language" in their own languages.

Professor Mir Ali (Architecture) spoke on 'International Mother Language Day'; Professor Salim Rashid (Economics)

spoke on 'Diversity in Bangladesh' and Professor MarinaTerkourafi (Linguistics) spoke on the 'Importance of Mother tongue'. This session was conducted by Professor Taher Saif (Mechanical Science and Engineering).

The cultural programme featured Baul, Tagore, Nazrul, patriotic and folk songs (both chorus and solo), poems on the Language Movement, traditional Bengali dances, and plays.

A 15-minute documentary on major festivals of Bangladesh, including Ekushey Book Fair, Eid, Puja, Pahela Baishakh and Nabanna was screened.

There was also an interactive session, which highlighted cultural practices in Bangladesh. Students put henna and alpona on guests' hands and faces, displayed Bangladeshi handicrafts, posters on Bengali movements and more.

An interesting feature was the 'wall of emotions' where people wrote their feelings in their own languages.

Different kinds of authentic Bangladeshi food such as khichuri, jhalmuri, chotpoti, mishti doi etc offered at the festival were well-liked by non Bangladeshis.