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The purpose of this week's task was to explore BILINGUALISM with its strengths and possible weaknesses. My first interview was a face-to-face interview with a colleague of mine who speaks English and Spanish. The second interview was a skype interview with a friend of mine who speaks French and Russian. The questions I asked them were about how and at what age they were acquiring their second language, the strengths, and the issues of being bilinguals, the dispositions necessary to work and live successfully in an international milieu and the implications of these strengths and issues.

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Being bilingual:

opened eye to the world

taught to be flexible and tolerant of other cultures and how to relate to new situations and people

helped gain self-esteem, become more tolerant of individual differences

widened perception of things

allowed interactions with a wide variety of nations in the expat community and gave unique exposure to a range of worldviews

taught to appreciate all sorts of angles to any given issue

“Issues” of the bilingual population:

feeling isolated and ignored by monolingual family members and friends who cannot relate to worldlier view of the world

being more attracted to people who are bilingual

struggling to keep out code-switches and borrowings, translating from one language to another

Necessary dispositions for bilinguals to work and live successfully in an international environment:

- Adaptability (ability to accept change and view challenges as exciting)
- Tolerance (being tolerant of people’s differences)

- Adventurousness (being involved in rewarding real-life experiences of the new culture)

- Open-mindedness (to new experiences)
- Flexibility (let go of pre-existing perceptions, adapting to new environments easily)

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Being bilingual:

proficiency in two languages (speaking two languages simultaneously and switch languages without problems)

allows multiple ways of looking at issues (their default, not something they need to intentionally consider)

having the idea that there are at least two words for any given object (how they think about many things, not just the language)

having intercultural sensitivity, expanded worldviews and open-mindedness

being flexible in handling change and adaptable to many places

“Issues” of the bilingual population:

knowing more about one culture and not so much of the other (or not enough of both)

not knowing either of their languages well

feeling like strangers among monolingual communities

having a confused sense of belonging (feeling less secure), logistics of things

Necessary dispositions for bilinguals to work and live successfully in an international environment:

- Flexibility (live and work anywhere while maintaining a sense of who they are deep down)

- Adaptability (to a new environment and respecting other people’s cultures and beliefs without any skepticism or judgement)

- Open-mindedness (being aware of the various mindsets and be willing to embrace one another’s differences)

- Self-awareness (behavior outside one culture, both appropriate and inappropriate)

- Sociability (establishing relationships with people of all types)

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Bilinguals are unique because their cultural identity consists of elements of two cultures. They may lack a sense of belonging but may have a rather strong adaptability and cross-cultural understanding. Recognizing their strengths and weaknesses help educators in international schools skillfully address their rather diverse needs.

Identifying bilinguals’ dispositions is important because knowing them helps international educators perceiving the students the way they are and supporting them with their challenges through their strengths.

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REFERENCES:
Readings:
Grosjean, F. (2011).What is it like to be a bilingual?
Johnson, A. (2016). Raising bilingual choldren has its benefits and doubters.
Klass, P. (2017). Raising a truly bilingual child.
Viewings:
Chapa, K. (2019) The revolutionary power of bilingualism.
Giannani, M. (2017) The Importance of Being Bilingual.
Pace, Z.M. (2019) Bilingualism and the Cultural Imperialism of language.