NHS Students Attend World Language Day

By Eliza Hallabeck

Multiple presenters participated on a World Language Day panel for Newtown High School students Wednesday, December 7.

Peg Ragaini of the school’s Career Center said the event is held roughly once every four years so that each student who passes through the school attends one.

The panel speakers switched during the school’s rotating schedule during the day, and spoke about how knowing languages has helped throughout their lives.

During one rotation the speakers were Hill and Plain Elementary School counselor in New Milford Heliett Sanchez, Fairfield Public Schools teacher Desiree Galassi, Child Advocacy Center member Elsa Robello, NHS Assistant Principal Jaime Rivera, Danbury Hospital Doctor Eitan Kilchevsky, and NHS security staff member Edward Alicea.

The speakers took turns sharing their stories, and once each r had explained how knowing multiple languages has affected his or her career, students were allowed to ask questions.

Mr Rivera, whose native language is Spanish, spoke first. He shared how he learned English while attending school and eventually learned Portuguese as well.

“Languages are always important and it pays off,” said Mr Rivera, who taught as a member of NHS’s World Language Department before earning the position of assistant principal.

Mr Rivera told the students to be open to experiencing new cultures every time they travel, no matter the distance. “It has helped me a lot to understand different cultures,” Mr Rivera said.

Dr Kilchevsky was born in Israel and grew up speaking Hebrew, he said. By the sixth grade he was learning English. He then studied Arabic, and later taught himself Italian while living in Italy.

“It was much easier,” Dr Kilchevsky said with a laugh, “to order cappuccino when you speak Italian, so this was good.”

While working in the neonatal department of Danbury Hospital, Dr Kilchevsky said he started encountering mothers who he could not communicate with because he did not know Spanish.

One day, Mr Kilchevsky bought three audio discs from Costco and within three months he no longer needed an interpreter to speak to the women.

He told the students assembled in the school’s Lecture Hall that speaking different languages allows personal contact with people from different cultures.

“If nothing else,” he said, “think about how much easier it will be for you to get around in this ever shrinking world.”

Other speakers during the event, like Mr Alicea, said speaking different languages has allowed them to connect with people in a way they would not have been able to if they did not speak multiple languages.

Ms Robello said she works in the social work field and also translates for the Danbury Public Schools. She speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and English.

Communication, she said, is a key to life.

“It is kind of heartbreaking to see the limitations that people put on themselves,” Ms Robello said.