The never ending birthday song

Yesterday was a friend's birthday. We sat around the cake and did that which is traditional here: we sang happy birthday to him in four languages. As we all speak English, the English version began our birthday medley. Then we moved on to Papiamentu, the local creole. After that, we switched to Spanish and sang "Feliz Cumpleaños," and we ended by singing in Dutch. After four months here, I can now sing the first verse of "Happy Birthday" in each of those languages.

This birthday medley reminded me of our students' linguistic prowess. Many of them speak two or three different languages. The school offers classes in both Spanish and Dutch as a part of the curriculum. Most students are enrolled in both language classes. These courses are offered to grades 1 through 12. Each grade level has two sections of language to accomodate for both native and non-native speakers.

In the hallways, you hear students switch languages, depending on whom they are conversing with. For example, a Brazilian student might speak Portugese with a sibling, English with me, Spanish with the Spanish teachers, and Papiamentu with classmates. That student could be seen speaking 4 different languages in the course of a 15 minute break!