Kindness is a language all its own

 I knew my turn for writing a blog was coming up so I have been taking pictures of all the wonderful things that have been happening in my groups until I could decide what to write about. But then something happened that I did not plan and I’m glad I had my camera handy that day  because it’s such an inspiring thing to see.

New students who arrive from other countries are referred to as Newcomers. Sometimes Newcomers speak English because they learned it in their native country. More often, they do not speak any English at all. For those students, the district provides an iPad for students to  use for translation purposes. As they become more proficient in English, they no longer need the iPad. 

Recently, I was showing our Spanish speaking Newcomer how to use the iPad. When our  Arabic speaking Newcomer saw me struggling with the app, he  took it upon himself to demonstrate how to use it. 

If you listen closely to them when they talk, there is barely English being spoken between them. Each student communicated in their native language. Our Arabic student has only been in the US for a couple of months but he has experience with the iPad and was all too happy to share his expertise - in Arabic. 

Although neither spoke English, they were able to communicate with each other well enough to get their points across.  This reminded me of a quote by an unknown author - “Kindness is the universal language that can be spoken by everyone.”