I am BURSTING WITH PRIDE for the brave multilingual PS 58 students who shared their heritage and native languages in our 2nd Grade classes over the last few weeks!

These students offered each other the chance to share the sounds and words of a new language, as well as learn a little about other places and cultures around the world.

What an incredible experience it was for these children to learn about and celebrate one another in this way.  Thank you again to our courageous multilingual student presenters!

4th Grader Frania very kindly presented the Polish language to Ms. Sylvie’s class.  She thoughtfully chose two poems to read to the students that would also allow them to hear some words in context that she taught us, such as the numbers 1-10, and the names for some parts of the body.  The students and I were also very impressed to hear Frania’s own written English translations of the poems, for which she had carefully found words that would rhyme, even if they weren’t the exact interpretation.  Frania is also planning to make a similar presentation to her own 4th-Grade class soon!

Class 2-114 is lucky enough to have several classmates who speak languages other than English, so we kicked things off there, with Kaoru presenting Japanese and the culture of Japan, Boaz presenting Hebrew and the culture of Israel, and Nastya presenting Russian and the culture of Russia.  Wow!  We heard how each one of them was born outside the United States, and they learned to speak English as second language.  Now, they were all able teach their classmates how to say and write a few words in their native languages.  It was amazing to see that each of their languages uses a different writing system than the one we use in English!

These wonderful students then went on to present their languages to other 2nd Grade classes.  First, Boaz bravely presented to class 2-204.  Despite not knowing many of these students before, he was warmly welcomed, and the kids were very interested to learn about the way the Hebrew language is written.  They were also amazed to learn from Boaz that you can walk across the country of Israel in a single day!  The group also engaged in an empathetic and vulnerable conversation about how it feels to learn another language, and to perhaps be nervous to use it with native speakers for the first time.

Kaoru from 2-114 went on to present to class 2-227 with his good friend Naoki from class 2-204.  These two native Japanese speakers worked together to share some famous facts and places of Japan, including Mount Fuji, the super-fast bullet train, and delicious sushi.  Kaoru wore a traditional kimono and showed the class an abacus you can use to do math.  Naoki shared a graphic novel written in Japanese.  Then the two friends showed the class how to write a few words in Japanese — the students loved taking on this challenge!

After this visit, more 2nd Graders were inspired to make their own presentations.  First, Nina from class 2-227, having also helped to present in her brother Lucas’s class, worked together with her very good friend Sofia from class 2-202 to present the Portuguese language.  These two girls prepared a great collection of words and images to share with Nina’s class, and they will be sharing them again with Sofia’s class on the last day of school!  We saw pictures of the cities in Brazil where Nina and Sofia were born, and they shared the significance of the colors and symbols of the Brazilian flag.  We also got to learn a few phrases in Portugese.  Nina and Sofia have also been offering “Portuguese school” at recess for other students — obrigada Nina and Sofia!

In the same class, we were lucky enough to have Sol and Mira present their Korean heritage.  Sol modeled for us some traditional clothing that may be worn on special occasions, and Mira showed us some of the Korean alphabet letters, which are different from the ones we use in English.  The girls also shared with us the words in Korean for grandma and grandpa, and a bit about the Korean culture, such as how rice is eaten with every meal.  Finally, they showed us how to write their names in Korean — they looked so different!

Naoki from class 2-204, after having presented to 2-227, presented the Japanese language to his own class.  Kaoru joined for part of the time to read a bit from a graphic novel in Japanese.  Then Naoki took on the role of presenting by himself, sharing with us a picture book about a funny kind of restaurant.  He told us about the three different writing systems in Japanese and how they can be written from right to left and from top to bottom depending on which one you are using.  Later, he wrote the numbers from 1 to 5 for us in Japanese to compare how they look in English and French – how cool!

Then, Martin took the floor to share his Spanish heritage with the class.  He had already been proudly supporting his classmates in learning the numbers 1-10 in Spanish in our class recently, so he prepared the numbers 11 to 20 to teach them next.  He also brought in a picture book that was familiar to many of us already as The Color Monster in English, or Le monstre des couleurs in French … now we got to hear him read it in Spanish!  He challenged the students to name some words they recognized in the text, like “sol” and “bien.”  Finally, Naoki and Martin worked together to compare four languages all together, like the word for “sun” in English, French, Spanish, and Japanese … wow!

Class 229 got to have Nastya from 2-114 present the Russian language and culture.  Many of these kids already knew her and were so happy to have her visit, and we were especially interested to hear about how she has been learning English and adjusting to life in the United States for just about a year now.  The students had very thoughtful questions to ask Nastya about her experiences with being in a new place and having to speak a new language … and what a gift it is for her to now so courageously present in front of so many other kids in her second language!

Then, class 2-229 had the chance to hear their own classmate Oona present the German language, having already helped to share it in her brother Mads’s Pre-K class.  She named some words that are very similar in German and English, such as “hallo” and “freund” … and also some that may have sounds that are challenging to English speakers, such as “milch.”  Oona also told us about how the letter “i” sounds more like an “e” in German, such as in the word “licht” (“light,” also a cognate) and vice versa, with “e” sounding more like an “i.”  We were very interested to hear from her about the German letter for the “sh” sound, and how some letters may have dots on top of them to change their sounds.  Danke Oona!

Students are continuing to inspire others to share their languages and cultures … Zoe in 2-204, whose family comes from Lebanon, shared some Arabic letters and numbers with her classmates.  Frania’s classmate in 4th grade might also be sharing another language with her class soon.

What a magical moment to celebrate our diverse community and build empathy for speakers and learners of many languages.  I am, again, so incredibly proud of these students who bravely presented, some to classes they didn’t know very well, and some in their second language.

Thank you Frania, Boaz, Kaoru, Nastya, Naoki, Sofia, Nina, Sol, Mira, Martin, and Oona!  BRAVO !