Winnipeg teen talks the talk on diversity — in 5 different languages
Erick Wright immerses himself in languages and the cultures they came from
Erick Wright introduces himself in English, shares his age in Ukrainian, and describes his pastime in Icelandic. And Spanish. And Punjabi.
No surprise, his pastime is learning languages and, at just 17, speaks — or is learning to speak — five of them.
"Most of my friends are bilingual and I just felt a little behind by only speaking English," Wright says. "I kind of just learned some phrases and got excited to be able to speak it."
But Wright (whose own background is multi-cultural) is doing more than just learning "some phrases." The Winnipeg high school student has made a point of immersing himself, as best he can, in the culture of each language's country of origin.
In 2024, Wright spoke at a Holodomor commemoration ceremony in Ukrainian.
"That was a big moment for me because I had to learn a new way of speaking Ukrainian in a professional, formal way," Wright says.
Orysva Petryshyn agrees. Petryshyn, who taught Wright Ukrainian to Wright, calls him "unique."
"He can dance, he can actually speak, he can actually do a variety of different dialogues with others," she says. "And he was able to learn about the countries, learn about the traditions."
Wright figures learning both the language and the culture is a package deal.
"Immersion is the best way when it comes to learning a language," he says.
Wright is now the subject of a three-minute documentary by students in the Create program at Winnipeg's Sisler High School, a post-high school program that trains students in the creative digital arts, including filmmaking.
Create students Semira Abolore, Venice Pasaraba and Justina Finch produced the short video.
Meet the filmmakers
More about Project POV: Sisler Create
CBC Manitoba's Project POV: Sisler Create is a storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBC Manitoba journalists to produce short docs. You can see past projects here.
The Winnipeg School Division's Create program is hosted at Sisler High School and trains post-high students in the creative digital arts.
During fall 2024, CBC journalists taught storytelling to filmmaking students and led producing workshops at Sisler.
Create focuses on education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.