Countdown to Kindergarten I can’t believe it but this week we are registering for Kindergarten. Our little one will turn 5 this coming April, and if we were still living in Mexico she would have started going to public school at the age of 3! Thankfully here in British Columbia
Emotional literacy Knowing that we had been struggling with our strong-willed four year old’s emotional outbursts, my sister gave me a parenting book for my birthday. My sister, a yoga teacher and prospective counselling psychology student, could not have given me a better gift
Celebrating Life and Death To honour my cousins’ grandmother (‘granny’ – my adopted grandma) who passed away this past weekend I’d like to share how my family has experienced the celebration of life and death known as Día de los Muertos both in Oaxaca and
More Than Bilingual After a few months of surrounding myself with information about bilingual kids, it’s time to talk about multilingualism. There have been many news stories recently about the benefits of bilingualism (for both adults and children), but what about those of us w
The World of Barbapapa I came across Barbapapa at World Kids Books in International Village just before I wrote my first post about Books for Bilingual Children. I went in looking to buy a book for my daughter in French, and Barbapapa by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor caught my intere
My First Visits to Intercultural Bilingual Schools in the Cusco Region Last week I ventured into rural Cusco with the local UNICEF team to visit schools that we have shortlisted for our study on Intercultural Bilingual Education. Several rural schools in Cusco are among those with the
Raising Kids in the Digital Age So far we have been a bit hesitant to introduce our four year old daughter to apps and computer games because they can easily take time away from physical activity or face to face interaction. Common Sense Media, my favourite go-to website for resources
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
Set a Start Date Step number 4 on the Bilingual Family To-Do List from Dr. Naomi Steiner’s book 7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child talks about when to start bilingual education. The sooner the better According to the Multilingual Children’s Association, the longer you wa
Bilingual Cities I love bilingual cities. As someone who is obsessed with language, I am fascinated by a place where people can switch back and forth from English to French with fluidity and ease. At the parliament buildings in Canada’s capital our daughter was also intrigued as she h
