Why these multilingual school kids want to learn more languages

More than half the students at Reay Primary School in South London speak two languages. We visited them to hear their thoughts on language learning.

[LauraSanchez-tmzq]

From my perspective, being able to speak more than one language is especially useful in life, not only to communicate with people from different places over the world, but also to learn about their cultures and traditions. The children that appear in the video show ambition and eager to learn; two things that, in my opinion, are essential to know the world around us. Also, they are in the perfect age to discover everything, so learning various languages can help them to normalize and appreciate the fact that every single person is different, but that does not mean that he or she is worse.

As I see it, knowing how to speak at least one language different from your mother tongue can bring you many opportunities and, if we want to build a fair and multicultural society it is necessary that children understand differences as something especial, not harmful.

Laura Sánchez
Group 41 Primary Education

[sislam]

Well done England. Making good moves in the education system💪🔥

[claudiagarcia-gdvq]

Firstly I would like to express my admiration towards this group of children as they show a mature multilingual conscience. The fact that they learn in a cultural context where there are children from different nationalities, helps them to acquire more knowledge about the cultures that surrounds them. In addition, the British educative system is very efficient and I firmly believe that we should follow this methodology in order to educate children with an open-mind attitude.

[joeljimber]

Joel Jimber UAB Primary Education Grade: These multilingual school kids are very open-minded and have many ambitions in language learning. As childs, they have curiosities related to languages because as we can see, they find situations in which different languages coexist, such as Arabic or Spanish. Children are like sponges and its important to encourage them to learn different languages and cultures. This will help them grow up with a much greater cultural perspective.

[marrodo]

Personally, it is really favourable for a child to be able to speak more languages than their mother tongue, because I think that being multilingual is very useful in life.
Multilingual children are more used to use different languages, so in consequence it is normal that they want to learn more and more. In this sense, we must encourage and let them be ambitious. At this age they have the capacities to do it, so we do not have to put barriers to them.


Mar Rodó
Group 31, Primary Education (UAB).

[isabelbedsonbayo]

We're glad to see some changes regarding the mentality the english have about their language! It's super positive that these kids appreciate the diversity in their classrooms and in their neighbourhoods. The fact that these kids have such motivation to learn new languages for such purposes really gives us hope to the future!

[spencerconway]

That ain’t nothing
I speak the following
English
Canadian
American
Australian
New Zealanden
South African
Bahaman
Cayman Islanden
And
Cook Islanden

[ircomass]

It's impressive how this little children are more open-minded than the majority of adults. It's amazing to can learn very differents languages and cultures. I hope, there's a lot of schools as this... We need more schools like this one!

[Alex-bfmc]

My primary school didn't even have any MFL. That is criminal.

[anapicazo]

These children are in a multilingual school. It will be easier for them, in the future, to participate in a globalization and a cultural opening.
We can see that they are very outgoing and talkative boys and girls, they are not afraid to speak. They have many ambitions in learning languages. This will help them, in the future, to be better at learning languages o whatever. 
Finally, currently, we need more multilingual schools. Because if there were more schools like this, boys and girls would be better prepared for the future.

Ana Picazo
Grup 41

[nuriarodriguezvalero]

Personally, I belive that school is very beneficial for the children because they can communicate in other languages and learn from other people. I think it is very important to speak more than one language because in this way you are more likely to communicate or to find a job. Moreover, it is a way to obtain information about other cultures.

Núria Rodríguez Valero
Primary education, group 31 (UAB).

[liavolpe]

First of all, I have to say that I have loved how open-minded these children are and the inclusive attitude they show. In this video, we can see a school where children of different nacionalities, cultures and with a different mother tongue, in most cases, live together. Many of them are multilingual, and therefore able to speak different languages. It is at age when they know more and they are at the right time to do so, as they are like sponges that absorb any kind of learning. For this reason, I believe that our role, as adults, is to let them be ambitious and test their skills in retaining another language.

Being multilingual is something very important, since it opens many doors for you when it comes to finding a job, for example. But not only that, it also enriches you as a person, in many ways.

Lia Volpe Sales
Primary Education (UAB), group 31

[rplyutq]

This video shows us the multilingualism and multiculturalism in primary school and around their life by interviews. For example, the teacher did the game with piña, a Spanish word of pineapple, in the classroom. The boy wants to learn Arabic because he wants to speak with his neighbor in Arabic. I totally agree with the teacher´s opinion that learning a language can open children's eyes to know another culture, to gain experience. In my case, I studied the Spanish at university in China, when I began to know about the passionate soccer and festivals culture. Now I have the chance to study, make new friends, and enjoy the culture in Spain. What a wonderful experience is. And It influenced my character. Before I was a little bit shy, but now I am open to share my opinion with others. I love studying languages (Na Lyu, grupo 31, Seminario B, UAB)

[raquelcontreraszamora]

Honestly, I think that these children have a big advantage in their lives because they are in continuous learning, which makes them have a greater ability to learn.
Moreover, these children get together with some other people who know other languages, and therefore their curiosity grows to know even more languages besides their mother tongue. So, I think it favors them because it is important to let children learn the languages and cultures that they want.


Raquel Contreras Zamora
Primary education, group 31.

[luciamartinezcubino]

After watching this video and all this kids motivated to learn other languages I feel more inspired when it comes to learning a language, not only to be able to communicate with other people but also because I find other languages ​​interesting and I would like to learn to speak or understand them
Lucia Martínez

[marionapujol]

In my point of view, being multilingual it's very important in life. It opens you to a lot of opportunities and it makes you grow in different aspects.
Also, I love how these kids are so interested in learning many languages. I think it's very appealing to be in a school with kids from around the world, it makes you want to learn about their culture and their language. Kids are like sponges, by being a sponge I mean they learn super fast and get lots of concepts in their minds. That makes everything easier when learning a new language. Finally, I want to say that as teachers, we should encourage our pupils to always learn all the languages they want.

Mariona Pujol, grup 31, Educació Primària

[silver]

Already smarter than 50% of Americans lol

[martacasasayasperez]

From my point of view, I think it’s very gratifying and important that children can learn different languages. In addition, I think that when you are a child is easier to learn different languages that when you are an adult. For this reason, schools should give special importance to language learning.
Having the knowledge of knowing how to speak in different languages allows you to have new opportunities and live new experiences. As a child has said, many people (on summer vacations, for example) visit new countries. If these children come to a country and know how to speak their language, they have a great advantage in life. It’s very different to arrive in a country where you cannot speak or understand what people are telling you or doing the opposite.
For this reason, I think that language learning is one of the most important factors in the education of children.

Marta Casasayas. Group 41. Primary Education.

[garciaa]

Abril Garcia Ortiz, grup 31 educació primària, UAB: I strongly believe that it is good that children speak more than one language, so they are at the perfect stage to learn more easily. Since at this stage children are like sponges. So, I think that being multilingual is very useful in life. When you get older it costs you more to absorb knowledge of a language. I am sure that if you learn a language, it is an opportunity to learn about other cultures, and thus, be able to know their traditions, foods, lifestyle...

[cristinaarroyo]

I agree totally with this video. English, in fact isn’t the only language in the world, but for all of us is the second we learn. It is very important to us to communicate with other people and English has become the main way to speak. The problem is the people who have English as their mother tongue, they usually aren’t interested in other languages or cultures and consequently they expect a world which have to be adapted for them.
Despite of this, we have seen different children who want to learn more languages as Arabian, Spanish… also we noticed the importance of English, all of them were able to speak this language as the second tongue or mother tongue. The woman who appeared at the end said that learn a language means to learn also experience and culture.
To sum up, with this video I learn the idea of working on a language is more than we think because it means to grow up and see the world from a different point of view.