We wanted to celebrate the many languages our pupils know, and held an event on the ‘superpower’ of being multilingual!

We were privileged to welcome author Yoshito Darmon-Shimamori to lead a workshop for our primary aged Jacari pupils in Oxford. Yoshito is himself multilingual, and he is passionate about empowering children and young people to recognise what a vital skill multilingualism is in our interconnected world. The ability to speak multiple languages enables growth of connection and the building of community across lots of different cultures.

In Yoshito’s words, we want our pupils as multilingual individuals to  ‘know who they are and be proud of it!’ Many of the children and young people Jacari supports are expert users of multiple other languages, in addition to the English language skills they are rapidly acquiring. Yoshito’s workshop celebrated their multilingualism.

The morning began with games and activities, with families getting to know one another through filling in their ‘bingo’ card (‘who speaks more than 4 languages? Who had toast for breakfast??). Everyone also had an opportunity to introduce themselves in writing in any language and script they know. Enjoyable and dynamic throughout, the activities were a particular highlight. Children were very enthusiastic about guessing animal names in multiple languages, and knowledge of other languages proved very useful for success!

We also explored intercultural awareness and enjoyed thinking about different ways to be ‘polite’ across various cultures, with widely differing expectations for table manners cross culturally! All families went home with a copy of Yoshito Darmon-Shimamori's book 'In Search of the Lost Words', an interactive graphic novel that can be personalised to children’s home language and culture.

Thank you for fun! - Jacari pupil

Overall, it was great to spend time with all our families, and Yoshito’s talk positively highlighted all the ways multilingualism will enable our young people to contribute to the global community.

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