LANGUAGE PROFILES

A language profile survey was created and distributed amongst all members of staff: teachers, support workers, office staff and maintenance. They were asked a variety of questions regarding their linguistic and cultural background, including:

1. What language do you consider to be your first or best language?
2. What language do you speak the most in your household/with your family?
3. How many years have you lived in Japan?
4. How many years have you lived in a country where English is an official language?
5. How many years have you lived in a country where other languages (neither Japanese nor English) are official languages?
6. If you have lived in a country where other languages are spoken, please list the country or countries.​

MYP students from grades 7-10 were asked the same questions. Many of the languages spoken by the students were also spoken by one or more staff member, but we also identified a number of languages used by students (though not necessarily as a first or best language) that no staff members spoke. Those included: American Sign Language (ASL), Arabic, Farsi, German, Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Malay, Polish, Russian,Tamil and Ukrainian, Urdu.

In addition to the above six questions, students were also asked when they started learning Japanese and English, and when they started to feel comfortable using those languages (see results in the charts below). Of those responses, we found that four students do not yet feel comfortable using either English or Japanese, the two languages offered at our school. In order to support these students in academic settings and to recognize and celebrate the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of all students, we would not be able to rely solely on our staffing resources. 

Questions 4 & 5 responses from grade 7 students 

Questions 8 & 9 responses from grade 7 students ​

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Questions 4 & 5 responses from grades 8-10 students 

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Questions 8 & 9 responses from grades 8-10 students ​