The World Languages Department, chaired by Bei Zhang, created a series of activities and events to promote language learning and immersion during the fourth-annual World Languages Week celebration at Westtown. The Upper School student body was divided into language teams—Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish—to compete throughout the week. Activities included special assemblies with guest speakers who demonstrate how they use languages in their work, student peformances of songs in their language, themed dinners representing culture and languages each night, and, finally, concluded with the the Language Olympics.
The first assembly featured polyglot YouTuber Arieh Smith—known as @xiaomanyc online—who gave his entire presentation in “Gen Alpha,” much to the delight/chagrin of the primarily Gen Alpha audience!
At the second assembly, the keynote speaker was Meg Smithson, Senior Social Worker at New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP), where she works with detained and non-detained people in removal proceedings. She spoke about how language learning has impacted her life and how being able to speak Spanish is crucial in her profession, not only in her one-on-one work with people, but also as she serves as an interpreter in highly sensitive client-attorney meetings. After the moderated talk with Zhang, there was a Q&A for students to learn more.
The Language Olympics—a series of field-day-type events—is always a highlight of the week and capped off the week’s activities. You can enjoy photos here!
Though World Languages Week was planned by language teachers, it was an all-hands-on-deck undertaking, as all Upper School faculty participated in facilitating events. This week-long celebration was also a unique way to assess language acquisition in real time. Zhang says, “Some of our goals included promoting language acquisition, building cultural competency, providing students a platform to celebrate their success in their language education, and helping students envision their future career paths where they can apply their language skills and cultural knowledge.”
