Celebrating the Many Cultures and Languages of the BSN

International Week highlights the importance of learning about other traditions, sharing cultures and celebrating the diversity of the BSN community.

The theme for International Week 2018 has been International Literacy, which focuses on the value of learning about the many languages and stories that help make up the identities of our students, families and staff.

While every day at the BSN is a celebration of our multicultural community, International Week is a special opportunity for parents to get involved in the classroom. An astounding number of parents volunteered their time across the Junior School campuses to come into class to read stories in their home languages, perform traditional music, bring in homemade recipes and wear tradition dress from their home countries. This is such a special experience for our BSN students, where they can see not only their own cultures represented, but learn about and experience those of their classmates from around the world!

The week culminated in International Day on Friday, where students proudly wore clothing representing their home countries and brought in special food from home to share with their classmates. Parents took part as well, enjoying the International Day parades at JSL and JSD and taking part in the International Lunch at JSV. Other activities throughout the week included creating dual-language texts, where students translated stories into multiple languages, listening to classic stories from other countries and learning about important buildings and cultural sites from around the world.

International Week was an excellent opportunity to tie-in the growing Translanguaging  programme at the BSN, which focuses on developing students’ English skills alongside their home language skills. Translanguaging at the BSN goes beyond the EAL classroom and is ingrained in every part of the school day, so International Week was an opportunity for students to showcase the skills they’ve learned not only in speaking other languages, but respecting and celebrating the diverse number of languages spoken by our BSN community.

Every year, International Week is a much loved opportunity to showcase the many cultures of the BSN. However, the importance of international literacy and respect for the cultures of others is something that the BSN practices every day.  Thank you to the dedicated teachers and staff for making so many International Week activities possible, as well as for integrating international literacy in their classes throughout the school year. A very special thank you to our BSN parents and community, who have been so generous with volunteering their time to share their stories and cultures with our students. This is truly what the BSN is all about!

For photos from the week, check out the Flickr album International Week 2018.