Head of School's Letter - October 24 - World Language and Cultures

Dear Families,

There is a word our students learn from our World Language faculty that does not belong to French or Spanish. It comes from the Zulu and Xhosa languages of Southern Africa: Ubuntu: I am because we are. It is the belief that our humanity is bound to one another, that we become ourselves through our relationships with others. 

To learn another language is to practice Ubuntu. It is to recognize that the words we speak are never ours alone—they are inherited, shared, shaped by history, culture, and community. It requires humility, curiosity, and the willingness to listen before we speak. This is why language learning at Brookwood is not only about grammar or vocabulary (though those matter and are rigorously taught); it is also about empathy, identity, and connection.

This year, our Lower School World Language and Cultural Studies program was redesigned with great intentionality. It begins not with worksheets or verb charts, but with people. Each month, students explore a different part of the world—how children greet each other in Morocco or Argentina, what families eat in Vietnam or Peru, which instruments are played in West Africa or Brittany. They are not just memorizing words; they are learning how vast and beautifully varied human life is. By fourth grade, this approach nurtures comfort and confidence in speaking other languages and encourages the kind of risk-taking that will serve them well when they begin their deeper, more formal language study in fifth grade. In the spring, they will turn their attention to the languages, traditions, and stories within our own Brookwood families—Ubuntu in practice: I am because we are.

As students grow older, language learning becomes more disciplined and precise. Following ACTFL standards, our French and Spanish classes teach verb moods and tenses, analyze authentic texts, and write with clarity and nuance—work that often strengthens their English as well. When students discover that a phrase like “to have a good time” doesn’t exist in French—and instead becomes je me suis bien amusé (“I amused myself well”)—they begin to understand that language isn’t just words, but a way of thinking and seeing the world.

Yet language is not only an academic pursuit—it is a practice of empathy and joy. Students reflect on ideas like the Senegalese proverb, “If someone speaks to you with fire, answer with water,” sit in the silla caliente to speak about who they are and listen to one another, and hold West African passport masks as they consider identity and belonging. They also sing, debate, greet teachers with spontaneous bonjour and hola, vote on favorite songs during Locura de Marzo, and practice ordering food in cafés and markets. These moments—earnest and playful—are how confidence, compassion, and community take root.

Ubuntu teaches us that we do not learn alone. We learn because others teach. We understand ourselves because others share their stories. We speak because someone listens. That is what language at Brookwood is ultimately about.

With gratitude,
Jon