Message from the Head of School – February 28, 2020

Thank you to Mr. Marshall and the Language Instructors for all of their efforts to design our Mother Tongue Language celebration on Tuesday morning. Manon and Uliana, Nour and Sophie helped us all understand the importance of this day. Thanks to everyone for helping our definition of International Mindedness come to life in the 17 different languages we count as Mother Tongue within our BIS Community. 

At BIS we believe that international mindedness is respecting diverse perspectives and building empathy by recognizing cultural diversity, commonalities, and understanding the local and global community.

BIS truly is an internationally-minded community and through language we value each other’s culture developing a richer understanding of the world.

Please enjoy reading Grade 9 students Manon Pecquery and Uliana Tatarintceva’s speeches for Mother Tongue Day at BIS.

MANON

My mother tongue is French, my first language helps me express myself in a completely different way and helps me connect with people from my country no matter where in the world I am. Speaking French allows me to connect with people from all around the globe, because of how different we are, and how much we have to learn from each other. 

Speaking French as my mother tongue allows me to understand students who come to BIS with a small knowledge of English since I was in the same position when I first came to BIS. Back then I knew a couple of English words. I think that it is important to remember where we all came from especially in a school where so many different languages and cultures are brought together in one community.

ULIANA 

My mother tongue is Russian, an old Slovenian language. Russian is an amazingly beautiful, and rich language. I use it on a daily basis while speaking to family members, and friends. Knowledge of Russian allows me to read books written by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol, and Bulgakov in the original versions. If I wouldn’t know Russian I probably would be a totally different person now, because my opinions were based on the information I gained from Russian politicians, writers, and singers. The Russian language not only formed a big part of my personality but it also created a connection between me and my Motherland, right now when I’m far away from my country and people I love, the Russian language allows me to decrease the distance between us. So, summarizing everything I said before – I love my Russian language. 

ULIANA

I believe that all of you, the BIS community, have the same feelings about your language. 

MANON

And that’s why Mother-Tongue day is so significant, today we’ll share the love we feel towards our language with each other, and remind ourselves about its importance.