Preparing for the inevitable on a journey abroad Last week I wrote about how to offer emotional support to friends who are living abroad. But it’s just as important to prepare your own homesickness plan before you head off on a grand adventure. When I was younger I assumed that
Turning an email into a loneliness antidote One of my closest friends is leaving for a long trip abroad tomorrow. I was on my way to meet her today to say goodbye, and my bus was late. I stood for 20 minutes in the rain, wearing inappropriate shoes and wondering whether I should final
Reality Check, Are Our Bilingual Goals Realistic? Last week I said that the best time to start bilingual education is now…but maybe we should set out some bilingual goals before jumping in head first. Having realistic objectives that can be revisited and revised will help our fa
Tip for students: Audio record your lessons I haven’t spoken Moroccan Arabic in three years, but I plan to relearn it in a few days. How, you ask? With the audio recordings I made from my lessons. While I was living in Morocco, I began studying Moroccan Arabic, also called Darij
Keep Language Learning Relevant and Interesting Last week I posted the Spanish for Social Justice Quiz (the answers are below). I used this activity with students who were passionate about social justice activism, and they really enjoyed it. It has been shown that student motivation a
Reading in Second Language to Achieve Bilingual Goals Books, like music, in your child’s second language are great resources to support your bilingual action plan . And my 4 year old, like most children, loves all books. My wife attended a program with the Canucks Family Educat
Simple Social Justice Lessons from the Spanish Classroom In earlier blog posts, Mary and I have described what we mean by Progressive Language Teaching and Social Justice Education. Today I would like to share a few examples of how I teach Spanish for social justice. It’s actually qui
Choosing a Second (or Third) Language for Your Child At first I felt like this was a big decision, choosing a language. However, choosing a language for your child is just like choosing any other academic, artistic or athletic activity for them. And just like piano or skating, results
