Popular Kids, Accents, and Use of English

We have noticed that international school students' use of English can be one of the ways teenagers divide into social groups. Those with better English and more neutral, "international school" accents sometimes form a group of popular students, while those with less advanced English gravitate to national groups.

Danau Tanu wrote about this in her chapter "The Hidden Diversity of TCKs" in the book Third Culture Kids by David Pollock, Ruth Van Reken, and Michael V Pollock.

Heather Hansen's post (linked below) made us wonder - What can we as international schools do to help students recognise their own bias regarding language and accent? How can we help students connect with each other?

And on a personal level, it stood out to me that we want to really listen attentively and warmly to all students (and adults) around us.

Hat tip to Robert Gibson - thanks for reposting an article about accent bias by Heather Hansen that inspired this post.