Language Week is a week-long celebration of the linguistic and cultural diversity of ISP’s student body which comprises over 60 nationalities! Language Week is a series of week-long learning, music, guest speaker presentations, drama performances, and much more, all of which are student run.
Language Week is primarily focused on culture, and sees language as a gateway to cross-cultural understanding. The week-long festival has become an important Upper School tradition at ISP, the first language week having taken place in 2005. Every school year sees a different overarching theme. In 2018-2019, for example, the theme was Love, while previous years were organised under the themes of Home, Bridge, Lost and Found in Translation, or Silent Voices, which featured guest speakers from the Czech Sign Language Association.
Language lessons are predictably a key part of Language Week. What is particularly special is that faculty, who play largely a mentoring role during language week, learn about a new language along with the entire student body. Students present introductory lessons on around fifteen different community languages.
Students are joined by faculty and external speakers who typically contribute to Language Week in addressing an audience of all Upper School faculty and students in their native language or languages.
A key characteristic of Language Week is that it is entirely student run. A core team of around twenty students organise the week, with 100 overall with some direct involvement, typically through presenting, teaching or performing. They work together to deliver a festival that celebrates diversity and touches every Upper School student and staff and many, many more within and beyond the ISP Community.
See a snippet of Language Week here and view videos from through the years on the ISP Language channel here.
