Students taking part in International Day

Celebrating Culture & Diversity

Goal:The families of ISY constitute a wide variety of nationalities and cultures. We will Celebrate Culture and Diversity at ISY. In particular, we will promote greater awareness of our host country culture and expand host country language programs.

ISY’s continued success is in large part derived from the diversity of our community. As home to fifty different nationalities, the school is committed to valuing and celebrating each and every one of them. Events such as International Day, Chinese New Year, and various celebrations of Myanmar culture such as the Thingyan Water Festival, are visible indicators of this commitment.

To truly achieve our goal, however, the multiple perspectives of our community must be incorporated into the curriculum. We have developed a Myanmar cultures class for Grades 1-5, covering the many ethnic groups that make up our host country. This class will be taught next year in a weekly class with a qualified Myanmar Studies teacher. In recognition of our host country, a Myanmar language teacher was hired to provide adult Myanmar language classes. An initial ten week course was avidly taken up by parents and teachers and then extended by popular demand.

To further recognize and celebrate the importance of the diverse cultures and languages of Myanmar throughout the school, curriculum reviews will explicitly consider how to include Myanmar perspectives into learning plans and experiences.

Additionally, as language is an important part of an individual’s cultural identity, we are encouraging the development of more mother tongue language classes using ISY facilities. Currently, German and Dutch classes operate on campus after school, and we anticipate having three more mother tongue language classes operating from ISY facilities within the next academic year.