Language Lunches Advocate for Students' Native Tongue

Every Thursday at lunchtime, if you stop by room 26 at Junior School Vlaskamp you will hear almost anything other than English being spoken by students enjoying their lunches.

This is the Language Lunch that the EAL department has been hosting for several years. The goal of this programme is to provide a space for students to speak their native language outside of their home. This helps them strengthen their communication skills and meet other students who speak their home language.

Thanks to Eileen van der Wilt and Karen Gallagher, the Language Lunch is strong as ever at JSV and has hosted students speaking Russian, Chinese, Swedish, Arabic, Spanish, Bulgarian, Hindi, Korean, Italian, Portuguese, French, and German  –and that’s only since the Autumn term! Danish, Bahasa, Dutch, and Romanian are still to come after the half term break.

Every lunch differs in size, some range from over twenty students and others have only two, but both work really well. The Bulgarian lunch brought in two students –one from a Foundation class and the other was Key Stage 2, and the two students were able to help each other as they practised their Bulgarian conversational skills.

The overall response is that the students really enjoy the time to speak their home language. When asked what students’ reactions were to the class, Eileen said they usually respond with “Can we do it again?!”

The most recent lunch was with the German home language students. The Swiss Ambassador acted as the representative for the group and helped facilitate the conversation by asking simple questions such as “What is your name?” or “Where were you born?” The conversation became more fluid as more students started speaking only in German. Nearing the end of lunch, when asked to sing a song in German that they all knew, they happily chose to sing the Happy Birthday song.  

Initiatives such as these are one of the many ways we celebrate our #80nationalities at the BSN. With the help of staff, such as Eileen and Karen, and the parent community, these programmes are not only possible, but they’re truly what makes the BSN internationally British.