About The Book
SEVEN ENCOURAGING GRADUATION SPEECHES FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE!
Besides the English-only edition, this booklet is also being published in bilingual editions in which the contents are written in English and in another language. Fifteen to twenty bilingual editions are currently being considered for publication. The first five bilingual editions will be published this spring (2026). They are: English - Spanish; English - French; English - Farsi; English - Filipino; and English - Swahili.
Virginia, where I teach, is home to about 9 million people. Roughly 1.5 million Virginia residents speak a language other than English at home. In these families, Spanish is spoken by 40-45%. Other languages vary depending on where in the state one lives. These other languages include Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, and a variety of other languages.
Students at my Title 1 high school speak over three dozen languages. I applaud students in my school who not only are learning English but also are tackling subject matter in English. (How would we English speakers like to be taught science and history and other subjects in a language other than English, and then be graded on how we performed in that "foreign" language?)
These English learners sometimes are the best English speakers in their entire families. What better way to help such families bond, to provide the opportunity for entire families to discuss timeless motivational truths and support their new graduates, than to offer the same material in two languages? What better way for graduating teens to help their elders become more proficient in English than to talk through these encouraging speeches in two languages?
What better way for English language speakers now learning another language to carry forward that new learning than providing this motivational material in two languages?
As shown by the representative bilingual edition cover, the English-speaking high school graduate, for example, could open the book and read a speech in English, or read through the English text from beginning to end. The graduate's parents or grandparents, who are less proficient in English, could flip the book, open it, and read the same speech, or the entire text, in their home language.
Every family will find these books useful. Families often will have multiple copies. This is a gift that keeps on giving, providing encouragement and support decade after decade.