My Language - In the Words of Students
In honour of International Mother Language Day in February 2022, we asked Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) students in our International and Indigenous Languages Program (IILP) to tell us why learning their mother language was important to them.
The WRDSB IILP offers students the opportunity to learn 21 languages, from Albanian to Vietnamese. This innovative program also allows secondary students taking part to earn a half credit for their participation, while gaining language skills that will support them throughout their learning and in sharing their voices in a variety of languages.
Here’s what students told us:
Afseen Anam | Bengali
One of our littlest learners, Junior Kindergarten student Afseen taught us how to say “How are you?” in Bengali.
Zeel Vyas | Gujarati
Meet Zeel, a student at Huron Heights Secondary School, who has been learning Gujarati for 6 years in the WRDSB.
Kaysan Ullah | Bengali
Grade 3 student Kaysan taught us how to say “I love Bangladesh” in Bengali.
Kevin Huang | Mandarin
Grade 10 student Kevin Huang talked about why learning Mandarin is important to him, and taught us how to say “peacock”.
Dhairya Shah | Gujarati
Learn how to say “I love my language” in Gujarati with Dhairya, a Grade 7 student at Groh Public School.
Jacqueline Wong | Mandarin
Meet Jacqueline, a Grade 11 student at the school at Laurel Heights Secondary School (LHSS), who taught us how to say “Thank you” in Mandarin.
