What Is World Language Week?
International week is a period in Pine Creek High School dedicated to celebrating and exploring the diversity of cultures around the world. The purpose of this event is to provide students with the opportunity to to learn about different countries, languages, and cultures.
At the end of the week the school holds an international night or world language dinner.
What is International Night?
International Night or World Language Dinner is a celebration for all the world languages and cultures at Pine Creek High School. It’s an event that allows you to learn more about different cultures and taste different cuisines from around the world. This evening is filled with linguistic diversity, culinary, competition, and shared sense of global community.
There is a competition where students and their families can show off their culinary skills. Each dish represents flavors and traditional recipes of different cultures and countries. At the end of the night there is a survey to decide which dish tastes best and winners get a layer of recognition.
To truly understand the importance of World Language Week, let’s turn to those who bring the week to life, the world languages teachers at Pine Creek High School. We’re going to hear from educators about the challenges they face, experiences, and the rewards they gain from teaching their students about global awareness in their classrooms.
First let’s look at our ASL (American Sign Language) teacher Summer Ms. Wilson became a teacher because her father is hard of hearing. She said, “When I learned ASL to communicate with my dad I fell in love with the art and I want to persuade people who do not see ASL as a language that it is too a form of language.”
Next, we have Madame Maria Boyczuk. She became a teacher because her mother was a high school teacher and at an early age, she knew she wanted to follow her mother’s footsteps and become one as well. The way she makes learning more enjoyable is “I try to focus on communication not perfection so, as long as it is something that can be used in the real world it makes learning a little more enjoyable”.
Lastly, we have Mr. Nathan Frie. Who became a world language teacher because he’s passionate about his German heritage and culture. He also likes the flexibility that comes with being a world language teacher such as “…it’s a lot of fun because you don’t have to follow a book… and not only am I a German teacher, sometimes i get to teach music, reading, some days I get to teach math” which is fun for him.
One problem both Madam Boyczuk and Mr. Frie have to consider that with technology in their classrooms, there are translators anyone can access. Which can interrupt the process of learning a language because you build a habit to just use ai instead of learning the language and remembering the things they were taught in the future.
One positive thing about technology for all the teachers listed today is the internet is a good resource for learning languages, because you can watch YouTube videos, listen to music in the language and read in any language around the world to strengthen the knowledge of one’s language they want to learn.
Another question asked in the interviews was how one can learn a language by themselves. All the teachers listed today have had a similar answer and the answers they all gave consisted of using resources and viable research, travel and put yourself in such an environment where a lot of people speak that language, and to add it into activities you enjoy doing.
