We are an international school community!

At last week’s Friday assembly, I shared that our students were born in 25 different countries all over the globe (Australia, Belgium, Belarus, Canada, China, Finland, Ireland, Israel, India, Italy, Jordan, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Republic of Moldova, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, and Uzbekistan).  What a blessing!  Each child, whether born abroad or on domestic soil, brings with him/her rich variety in regards to customs, celebrations, beliefs and…LANGUAGE!

One’s ability to communicate in multiple languages not only grows and develops the brain, it also creates the ability to connect with a diverse group of people, and to learn information specific to a culture or society in that native language.  While some of our students are bilingual/biliterate, others are in the process of adding English to their communication arsenal. 

It typically takes a child between 4-7 years to become proficient in a second language.  This development includes four domains of language; listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  Let us relate this to the language development of a baby in his/her native tongue.  While a newborn infant cannot communicate with the same words that the adult world uses, those ears are on and listening to every single sound and word around them.  Baby’s brains are usually able to crack the auditory code of language and begin using intelligible words around 12 months and their vocabulary grows exponentially each week, month, and year.  This verbal use of language eventually advances into the realm of reading and writing.  The most complex skill to develop is one’s ability to articulate thoughts and ideas in the written form.  It takes years to master this skill.

How does language acquisition differ for a second language learner versus a baby?  Greatly!  A baby does not have a base language from which to draw whereas a second language learner does.  Parallels can often be made between one language and another.  At times there are similarities with alphabets, depending on the language there may be cognates or similarities in word roots, or even common patterns in regards to syntax and grammar.  There are also instances where the differences in language are great and this launching pad is less robust.  Nevertheless, while the endeavor of becoming bilingual/biliterate seems daunting as an adult, for children, it’s akin to learning music…a set of individual symbols that when brought together make meaning.  As we mature in years our brain keeps developing, yet alongside this learning process we develop ideas around what is hard and what is easy and that often affects the pace/progress of our intellectual growth.

Therefore, I ask for your help!  Let’s embody a growth mindset around language and let’s encourage a positive perception around the ability to speak multiple languages.  We can do this by paying close attention to how we speak about those in the process of learning English.  If introducing a new student to someone else on campus, rather than saying, “This is Erika and she doesn’t speak English,” I invite you to rephrase that statement into, “This is Erika.  She is new to the United States and she’s learning English.”  Our new friends are often able to understand a lot more than they can communicate and we honor their hard work and effort with the latter statement versus the former.

Finally, to be bilingual/biliterate requires one to maintain their native language.  There was a time in our country when whole generations lost their native languages in an effort to assimilate.  It’s a different day and age where we value the gifts that diverse cultures bring.  I very much enjoy hearing different languages spoken on our campus.  I reminded students that while language has the power to bring people together, it may also lead to a sense of exclusion.  Allow me to explain.  I am able to speak Spanish, and I love doing so.  Let’s say there were a group of students who wanted to chat with me at lunch and it included some students who spoke English and Spanish and others who spoke English, but not Spanish.  If I engaged in the conversation solely in Spanish, I would exclude those who do not speak Spanish.  This is something that I pay close attention to because I want to build relationships and fortify connections.  At last Friday’s assembly I asked students to be thoughtful in the language they choose to communicate in and to focus on bringing people together versus leaving anyone out.

We are a very lucky community to have such a culturally and linguistically diverse student population!