Susan's Story
The power of children’s interactions
Susan is 3 years old. She was born in Ireland. Her mum, Natalia is Polish and her dad is from Pakistan. Susan also has an older brother. Susan is a real extrovert and loves getting stuck in with the artist and the other children at the Language Explorers workshops. Natalia, her mum tells us that she speaks Polish to Susan and her brother as often as she can “Sometimes I forget to switch from English into Polish but I try my best. However, every child is different. Susan’s brother is very interested in Polish while Susan has no interest in the language at all!”.
Coincidentally there is another 3-year-old girl in the group, Haniya whose mum is also Polish.
Susan and Haniya are the same age and the same height and we catch sight of Susan looking in awe at Haniya while she is chatting to her mum in Polish.
“Susan can definitely understand Polish but she hardly ever says anything in the language. She would say things like mammy don’t speak like that to me!” shares Natalia.
Judging by Susan’s facial expression, seeing Haniya speaking Polish to her mum was somewhat meaningful. The two girls interacted a lot during the workshop even though for Susan speaking Polish to Haniya would perhaps be a step to far. Nonetheless, and to Natalia’s surprise, Susan shyly said do widzenia (goodbye in Polish) to Haniya when they were leaving.
“It was truly wonderful to witness that!” Says Natalia.
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