February 2008
We've Got the Whole World in Our Hands
Growing Up in Washington
By Jessica Stockton Clancy
Clad in a black uniform and cleats, Lucy Kellogg runs down a grassy soccer field. Her curly blonde hair flies in the breeze as she controls a pass with ease. After a quick fake, she blasts the ball past the opposition’s goalie and scores. Her teammates, from Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Mexico, Germany and Venezuela, quickly surround her and rejoice with high-fives all around. But this isn’t a professional match; these players are local 9-year-olds and part of a recreational league team called the Wildebeests.
Betsy Cavendish, a resident of Northwest, is mother to both Lucy, 9, and Margaret, 11. “Her friends are very international, and our parent friends are, as well,” says Cavendish. Many of Lucy’s soccer teammates have parents brought to Washington through work with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations. Lucy and Margaret’s diverse group of friends is due to both their extracurricular activities and their school; both girls attend the Washington International School and are fluent in Spanish. “We go have chorizo at one friend’s house, they know about the Indian Festival of Lights, we do Chinese New Year celebrations,” says Cavendish. “They truly do have friends from all around the world.”
The Washington area is rich with multicultural opportunities, from our schools to the diversity of our residents, countless free museums, performances and festivals. Our kids can take in the world – without ever leaving the area.
A Gold Mine for Educators
The excitement is palpable at Burning Tree Elementary School in Bethesda as families filter into the school for International Night. In the entrance hallway, a map of the world is displayed, and more than 40 pins mark the home countries of the school’s students. This is an annual event held at many Montgomery County public schools, where families share food, art and music from their home countries. “There is an amazing diversity within our school system,” says Shirley Brandman, president of the Montgomery County Board of Education, “so there is a huge amount of celebration.” Montgomery County students represent a staggering 164 countries with 134 languages spoken in their homes, among them Vietnamese, Pashto and Tagalog. “There are so many ways we reach out to families,” says Brandman, “to have them involved and celebrate their cultures.”
Even Washington children as young as 2 have opportunities for multicultural learning. During World Days at N.C.R.C., a District preschool, teachers dress in native garb, greet the preschoolers in other languages, and parents and staff share their firsthand knowledge of foreign traditions. “The resources are here, and we are able to draw from this wonderful supply,” says Liz Barclay, head of school. “Opportunity is what it’s all about for every school in this area.”
The opportunity to teach local students about his homeland of Tibet appealed to Tenzin Bhagen, so he became a volunteer “Cultural Consultant” and part of Meridian International's Classroom program serving public schools in the District. Dressed in traditional clothes, with colorful prayer flags hanging above him, Bhagen shows slides of Tibetan farmers, nomads and landscapes to a classroom of riveted sixth graders. “The students ask great questions,” he says, “I can tell they are listening and really learning.” The program’s volunteers represent countless countries and are often found through Washington’s universities and embassies. Students learn about local traditions, climate, cuisine and even biodiversity. “The kids know the world is not only where they are living,” says Bhagen.
Child’s Play Goes Global
Donning a purple dashiki shirt and a bracelet from West Africa, Royce Murray’s 4-year-old daughter Gabriela prances around their Mt. Pleasant living room. Murray says her oldest daughter has become fascinated with the notion of travel, maps and other cultures through her parents’ friends and colleagues, many of whom work for international institutions or the State Department. Gabriela lets her imagination run wild while wearing clothes brought to her as gifts from different parts of the globe. “Instead of always playing ‘princess,’” says Murray, “she also likes to play ‘travel.’” Murray and her husband enjoy Gabriela’s pretend scenarios, knowing that their associations fuel her interest in the world. Last year for Christmas, they gave her a “World Traveler” kit with toy binoculars, a passport and play money from foreign countries. “She loved it,” says Murray.
Though her business focuses on the far reaches of the world, Arlington mother and former elementary school teacher Moley Evans doesn’t have a long commute to work. In fact, she often wears slippers when she walks three doors down to the home of fellow mom and business partner Lola Lombard. After their kids are asleep, Evans and Lombard brainstorm ideas for Global Arts Odyssey, the after-school program they launched two years ago, now in 50 area schools and community centers. Children play their way through a country a week, enjoying crafts, drama and make-believe while learning about a foreign culture. Kids will “adopt a friendly monster” in Scotland, “mine for jewels” in Madagascar and “weave a carpet” in Mongolia. Evans and Lombard often turn to their international friends and neighbors to help them generate kid-friendly ideas. “We asked a friend about Korea, and she taught us about these beautiful nature crowns,” says Evans. To date, Evans and Lombard, co-owners of the company Left Noodle Right Noodle, have developed 80 countries worth of activities. “If we lived in a million other places, I don’t think this would have worked,” says Evans. “The idea just wouldn’t have been born.”
Strengthening the Roots of a Family Tree
In a sunny preschool classroom near Tysons Corner, a teacher leads 3- and 4-year-old children in mouth and throat exercises designed to help their speech. Anna Demovidova, a mother from the District, was so impressed after touring the Metaphor Russian Language School last November that she immediately enrolled her 3-year-old son Dima. Demovidova plans to take her son to her homeland in the near future, and his ability to communicate with extended family is vital. “I want him to have a relationship with his grandparents, and they don’t speak a word of English,” says Demovidova. “The only way is through an opportunity like this.” According to his mom, Dima loves the school and brings his enthusiasm home with him. “Now he is encouraging my husband to learn Russian,” she says. “And it brings us all closer.”
Carrying on family traditions is also important to Marianne Scott and her husband Armando Guzmán. The couple met while Scott, originally from the D.C. area, was working as a foreign-service officer in Guatemala. “We met, fell in love and got married in Spanish,” she says. Both Scott and her husband come from a long line of educators, and both have lived, studied and worked in many parts of the world. Their daughter Stephanie was born in 1996 while the couple was living in Nairobi. Her bilingual education began during infancy; Scott spoke to Stephanie only in English, while Guzman spoke only in Spanish.
The family settled in Washington a few years later, and when they heard about the Oyster Bilingual School in Woodley Park, they jumped at the chance to enroll Stephanie in preK. Oyster is one of the few public dual-immersion schools in the country. Students who reside “in-boundary” can simply register, while “out of boundary” slots and all slots for preK are assigned via lottery. Because the lottery system had not been established when Stephanie applied, her father waited overnight in January, with dozens of other parents, to secure a spot for his daughter.
“It was very important to us that she be educated, not just speak and read, in both our languages,” says Scott. “The model of Oyster mirrored what she had been getting at home.” Now in her ninth year at the school, and one of 620 students enrolled, Stephanie is at the Adams Morgan campus for Oyster's 4th through 8th graders. Both her teachers and classmates are a 50-50 mix of native Spanish and English speakers. She is able to discuss the content of all her classes in both languages with her parents. “I can’t do math in Spanish, but she can,” says Scott.
The World Within Reach
The accessibility of world culture in Washington is something many of us take for granted. Depending on the day, we can drop into an exhibit on Ottoman embroidery at the Textile Museum, watch a free Russian guitar concert at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage or taste food from dozens of countries at a local street festival.
“We are phenomenally fortunate,” says Brandman, referring to the teaching resources in the area. The Smithsonian museums are just one of the ways Montgomery County public schools link field trips with their curriculum. Also, as Brandman explains, associations with embassies offer a great chance to learn. “There are opportunities for kids to have visits from members, to be involved in their events,” she says. “There is clearly a richness there.” Every May, many embassies reach out to the children of Washington through a festival sponsored by Meridian International. Last year more than 1,000 local children learned origami techniques, tasted crepes and watched Bollywood dancing. “Kids loved it,” says Beth Larson, Meridian’s director of educational outreach.
The natural way in which multicultural experiences present themselves is something Monica Lesperance enjoys about living here. “We fall into lots of things,” says Lesperance, a Silver Spring mother and a teacher at E.W. Stokes Charter School in the District. In the past year, her daughters, ages 4 and 18 months, have sampled Senegalese food at a neighbor’s house, learned Spanish phrases from a Salvadoran playmate and witnessed a tai chi demonstration at the Wheaton Library. “My older daughter was fascinated,” says Lesperance. “She kept asking, ‘Where is China?’” Lesperance appreciates Washington even more when out-of-town friends come to visit. “Of all my friends who live other places,” says Lesperance, “nobody seems to have these kinds of experiences.”
Erin Chlopak, a mom from Capitol Hill, agrees. “We seem to have a lot of locally organized activities that are available to everyone,” she says. Chlopak has taken her daughter to hear international singers at the local coffee shop and to see both African drumming and Puerto Rican dance performances at the Discovery Theater. Says Chlopak, “I feel grateful there is so much at our fingertips.”
Learning Through Living
A Capitol Hill family enjoys Bolivian cuisine while dining at the home of their nanny and her relatives. A Sri Lankan mother teaches enthusiastic moms at a downtown breastfeeding support group how to turn a scarf into a baby carrier. A Bethesda mom is grateful for an effective children’s sore throat remedy prepared by a babysitter from Guatemala.
Some of the most enriching experiences come from living side-by-side with those from different backgrounds. Aside from more traditional ways to encourage an appreciation of foreign cultures, the diversity in our midst offers Washington parents the chance to demonstrate both open minds and open hearts to our children on a regular basis.
“Through the bonds of friendship, that’s how you learn the most,” says Scott. She describes how Swahili friends from Kenya helped her family gain a better understanding of Muslim traditions. “That’s not our culture at all, but it is a culture we are now very familiar with and respect very much,” she says.
The opportunity for this sort of learning is here for all of us. “This is a city where you have people from all over,” says Scott. “You just have to open yourself up and reach out, and it’s amazing how quickly people reach back.”
Jessica Stockton Clancy is a freelance writer and mother. Raised in New York City and a longtime resident of Los Angeles, she currently lives in Washington, D.C. Her blog can be found at http://lightscameramotherhood.blogspot.com.