“…This past February, my parents came for their annual trip over Chinese New Year, a propitious time to be with family. My growing spirit of adventure called and the warm beaches and clear skies of Vietnam seemed to be the answer. I was eager to spend this time of renewal and reflection with my parents. However, for me to look forward would require my father to revisit his past…something he had never wanted to do….”
“Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi?” on loop… that was my 90’s song from Patti LaBelle’s 1974 hit. Why that had to become my earworm to haunt my young adulthood says more about my aspirations than my reality, but it did pique my interest in foreign languages.
Flash forward a million years and I am a mother raising 3 humans in the 2000’s. I clearly went to the coucher 3 times, and it occurs to me that I’d really like my 3 citizens to understand that phrase above. Not exactly that phrase, but to understand French or Mandarin or any foreign language.
Cheap & Cheerful road trip never to be forgotten! We chose our destination, the Redwood National Forest, and mixed accommodations, travel, and food, high with low. Nature emerged the winner - stunning, truly breathtaking. Hide and seek amongst five foot ferns with trees towering above, it felt like the land of the dinosaurs. Our imaginations went wild as will every Star Wars fan who finds themself in the middle of Episode 6, better known as the Tall Trees Redwood Grove. This land was made for you and me...
Who says that travel is wasted on the young? I have never met a family that travelled whose children did not note the difference. Meet the Fitzgeralds... raising global citizens every opportunity they get. You can hear the experiences and empathy earned through their words and everyday actions. #TravelOn
Marking the 70th anniversary of UNESCO, the 2015 theme of the International Essay Contest for Young People was "Building Peace in Our Hearts and Minds." From among 12,960 entries from 148 countries, the winners were selected by the Goi Peace Foundation.
Ella Olivares Powell, age 8, born in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, won 2nd Prize in the Children's Category for her essay titled "Unlock Your Hearts For Peace".
Read her essay here...
Travel makes the ordinary suddenly become extraordinary.
A trip to the grocery store means identifying what such a store is called, learning how to navigate the noisy streets to get there, recognizing products and discovering new ones, and fumbling at the cash register with unfamiliar currency. Such a mundane, ordinary task becomes a pronounced victory, a savored moment of procuring nourishment in an unknown land.
I travel to remember what matters most to me.
I love music for the way it makes me feel, for the kindred spirit I feel with the artist as I sing-along. I listen to new favorite songs on repeat in my car to the chagrin of passengers and confuse lyrics all the time. Musicians make me weak in the knees, so that I can’t think straight. They have my whole-hearted respect.
What better way to bring languages to the world then, right??!
The first time I ran away from home, I didn’t go far, made it half-way round the block. But the distance didn’t matter to my eight-year old self. The fact that I let myself go, did.
The first time I ran away as a mom, I didn’t go far either, made it half way up my own state. But the distance didn’t matter to my 45-year old self. The fact that I let myself go, did.
Sometimes in life the right thing is running away. Sometimes when we say we are “just taking a trip” or “getting away for the weekend” we are, in truth, running away. It’s just when we grow up, running away loses the badge of honor it had when we were kids. When we get big, it’s no longer cool to run away. It’s even shunned upon, but that doesn’t mean it’s no longer needed.
I believed the glorious nature of the South could help heal my heart and reconnect all the broken parts. Douglas Tompkins once said, “There is still a need inside of us to see not every square meter of earth has been humanized.” That was always true for me, and Chile offered that promise. I got the feeling that I was in on a secret world. There you were able to glimpse a fleeting moment in time. There you would find a trail between trees on which perhaps no human had ever walked before. That would be the key to my reconnection.
...My daughter did not want to leave Estancia Harberton, Calvin dreams of returning to Estancia Santa Teresita for a month, and Jack might join that crazy adrenaline fueled climbing community one day in El Chalten. The main towns, where we landed, Ushuaia and El Calafate, aren’t my favorites, but they serve a purpose and I am intrigued. I'd love to get to know Ushuaia better – my over-active imagination suspects a darkness lurking in this port town that is drenched in wicked weather for 6 months at a time. Much more going on there than I was privy to, and the mere mention of Malvinas, a.k.a. the Falkan Islands to you Brits, strikes an empassioned chord in the hearts of every local. El Calafate caters to the tourist, but off the beaten track is where it's at. Both are the gateway to my most cherished days...
...The graciousness and abundance that filled the restaurant and our hearts that night is surely a good omen for 2016... but it hasn't all been roses and peaches and this is the face I most identify with, hmmm... pretty scary? funny and, ridiculous, like "Am I really doing this?"
We are back-packing, essentially, with three kids and that in itself is an art. We forgot to prep them and some of us are slightly less than organized... it's really hard to find clean underwear these days, for everybody. I'd be lying to omit that I stepped out on the stoop in the sweltering heat with a glass of cold chardonnay to debate verbally if this vacation was really the best idea in the world - and that was at the end of Day 1. One thing for certain, next time I will definitely ensure us an air-conditioned unit as was recommended when traveling south of the border mid-summer. Duh.
Alas, a good sleep and never mind, I've already come full circle! I may never come home! I am loving the intimacy of such travel with my family and yes, I feel totally blessed.
...I’m a romantic but I’m also a pragmatist. Romantically, I’m up for anything…case in point, 3 kids later! With kids, however, I think most moms feel that they must have solid plans for travel...After B.A., we fly to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world to see Penguins. Even though it will be their summer in Tierra del Fuego, it will be cold since we’re so far south, so we’re only spending a few days before flying to El Calafate. We’re looking forward to giant glaciers and panoramic scenery in Patagonia. This is also our respid, so we’re hunting down a traditional Estancia or nature Cabana...
“Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities.” ~Dalai Lama
Elliot Smith, one of my favorite songwriters of modern times, died by suicide October 21, 2003. I was devastated. I had been living in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico since the end of 2001 after the attacks on 911. Elliot Smith’s music had been a true place of solace for me. Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) was coming soon, and I and my boyfriend, who later became my husband, wanted to make an ofrenda (offering) in honor of Smith and others who had crossed over.
We lived on Calle Recreo (recreation street) and our large bay-like window was perfect for an altar....
I come from a culture of sad mourners. If we had stuck with the pure Irish way, maybe we’d be better off – with whiskey for water and three-day wakes. But my mix of ancestry as a typical American mutt seems to have cut out all of the celebration and left me with a sad funeral coupled with unsatisfied crying. Tears and an occasional song or quote is all that is left to comfort me through the funeral day, the only day when our community mourns together. As an antidote, I give you Dia de Los Muertos!
I am not a sadist mama, but to hell with a BOWL of cheerios—I only give my toddler one cheerio at a time. Why? Because, they always want more. And therein lies my trick; never mind that it happens to mirror theories for learning according to Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences.
It’s tactile learning at its best: multi-sensory in every way. She picks it up, looks at it, feels it, puts in on her tongue and it either melts into sogginess or she chomps it to dust. Sometimes, her little pincer fingers demolish it before the hand is ever raised. And I look her in they eye and ask, “Más? Quieres más?” while offering up another little round O.
She might not even exactly understand my words, but she trusts me and understands my body language, so she nods and she reaches out. The more I ask and repeat “más?” the more she finally comes around and repeats the answer with me, “más,” and I give it to her.
Done. She’s learned her first Spanish word of the day.
Using Everyday Activities to Teach a Foreign Language
It’s a fun little game we play at the table, in the car, at the playground, or even in the store. My daughter has started to point at other things and say “más” now, and I give them to her. This is a classic example of reward-based learning.
There’s basically nothing she can do that’s wrong. She trusts me and I deliver. Even if she repeats me with a different sound, I just look at her and smile and repeat it back correctly. There is no fear or consequences for the mistakes made, just reinforcement of the positive. I add other words: “por favor” or “gracias.”
Their little brains are ripe for the picking! Just ask Noam Chomsky.
The Easiest Way to Learn a New Language
I recall a favorite adage that the easiest way to learn a new language is to fall in love. Constantly, people query me to find out why I know Spanish, “Is your husband Latino?” “Does your husband speak Spanish?” Apparently the chemistry that is exchanged and created in the process of falling in love motivates your brain to work overtime to best understand each other.
People have been known to learn a whole new language after meeting the person of their dreams, or a person of their then-dream.
My toddler is no different. She’s the love of my life, no doubt, but every day we are learning more about one another and I want to know what makes her tick, what she likes. She trusts me for all of her needs and she wants me to be happy, too. We are in love. And that, ultimately, is why it’s so easy to teach her.
I have a middle schooler who used to be my toddler and my guinea pig for all things parenting. Lucky for him, I was obsessed with bilingualism when he was young and we lived in San Pedro, CA, having just said my goodbyes to adventure travel in Central America. Luckily for me, he was a quick study, which made it all the more rewarding and, unwittingly, spurred me on to learn more.
Here are 10 easy ways that anyone can teach their child a second language:
