Fascinating chatter

On Saturday we went to another cross country meet, in fact my husband was the team bus driver, so I got to ride up front. As the students piled back into the bus to drive home I wrote this on Facebook:

It really is amazing to . . . listen to the runners chat. It's so bilingual. Most conversations include a mixture of both English and Japanese.

Most students at the school speak two or more languages. Students who don't are the exception. Even those who mostly only speak English frequently mix Japanese words into their chatter, especially when they're with their friends.

One of the surprises that Japanese parents get when they send their children to the school is that they change, they don't just gain another language, they change in the way they think too. Our children have been growing up in a fascinating context. I can't wait to see how this becomes a part of who they are as adults.