Caolan's Story
Cultivating emotional intelligence
Caolan and her family are no strangers to the Language Explorers workshops. She speaks mostly English but enjoys speaking Irish with her family during the sessions, sometimes attending alongside her older brother.
Caolan is a very observant and artistic young girl. Although she can be shy at first, she always leaves the workshop with a big smile, proudly showing off her latest artistic creation.
While Caolan attends the workshops to practise her Irish and create artistic pieces, she also benefits from being part of a diverse community of parents and friends. The Language Explorers workshops provide a safe space where families can start or continue their journeys with their own languages while being exposed to others.
Through these experiences, Caolan has developed an awareness of different cultural and family values. She has learned that different families may do things differently, and that these differences can be respected while still holding her own values.
“I do think Language Explorers is a big part of that. I really do. And even when some of Caolan’s 6–7-year-old friends come in, different families have different values. If they say things that are not part of our family values, she’ll respond by saying, ‘oh, well, that’s not part of our values,’ rather than ‘no, you’re wrong.’ And I do think part of that comes from watching all these lovely families at the weekends and seeing how all this difference is wonderful.”