Theguardian 2 June 2014
Vice-chancellor Leszek Borysiewicz wants education system to allow children to strive to become as bilingual as they can be.
Arriving at his Cardiff primary school aged five, the future vice-chancellor of Cambridge University had just one English phrase. Coached the previous evening by his Polish emigree parents, young Leszek Borysiewicz quickly tried out "Please can I go to the toilet?", before realising his classmates were only putting up their hands for registration.
At 63, the memory of that initial confusion remains, but so does the recollection of the dedication shown by teachers who taught the young Polish-speaker English, spending extra time after school or simply taking him for a walk and naming objects – grass, tree, stream.