This is a review of the interesting articles, Twitters, Facebook posts and more which took place this week in and around our Multilingual Living universe. Thank you everyone for sharing your tips with me! Keep them coming!
Join us: Language Challenge 101!
The time has come for the one and only Language Challenge 101. This will be 101 fabulous days of language learning. Have you been wanting to learn a new language? Have you been wanting to work on your non-native language? Here is the kick in the behind that you need.
- PLEASE pass the word to others: send a Tweet, post it on your Facebook page. You will be the inspiration others need to get on board and we’ll have more people to share the excitement!
- Our trials and tribulations will be posted once a week on Multilingual Living as well as specific resources we are using, what methods we find are working best, and an overview of our progress. Join us and others for this wonderful adventure!
- Will you be posting your progress on your blog? Send us the link!
New Reality Show?
Would you watch a reality show titled “Citizen of the World” where people have a certain number of weeks to learn a language, prepare specific meals, cultural dances, and more? Looks like a fabulous idea – hopefully Oprah will think so!
Family travel is the best education
Do you know about SoulTravelers3? If you don’t you should really check them out! They are a family of three who sold everything and have been traveling the world ever since. Such an inspiration!
- Check out their YouTube page with some great footage of their journeys.
- A wonderful tweet came from them @soultravelers3 this week about how family travel can be the best education in the world. Being that we are multilingual/multicultural families, we have much of the benefit right in our our homes. Let’s make sure to utilize it every day!
Education in the news
- When checking out preschool programs for your child, how much thought have you given to a teacher’s sense of confidence in his or her teaching abilities and her natural ability to give emotional support? It turns out that these qualities may make quite a difference when it comes to your child’s language and literacy skills.
- In an exciting new decision, South African children will spend their early years of education in their first languages, rather than English or Afrikaans, both languages inherited from the eras of colonialism and apartheid!
In the News
- From BBC News, a touching story about a milkman who breaks language barriers by learning Gujarati. This man is an inspiration to us all! Talk about living language as the best way to learn a language! He picked up the Gujarati language day by day from local people in the community while delivering milk!
- A new study shows that bilinguals are faster and more efficient in certain tasks due to a different form of cerebral control.
- If you are an English-speaker, does learning a language sometimes make you feel like “shoving a pencil into your brain”? If so, you are in good company. However, maybe the language you are trying to learn is part of the reason. Based on information gathered by the Defense Language Institute, some languages are just harder to learn.
- You might enjoy this interesting overview of the Great Belgian Language Battle from the same website as listed above.
- Minister Gan Kim Yong shares his reasons why he believes that being bilingual is no longer just a national education requirement, ‘It is now a life skill that we should all make an effort to acquire.’
What is the temperature where you live?
One of the most enjoyable interactions on the Multilingual Living Facebook page this week was a rundown of where families live and what the temperature was on that day. Fabulous! I was glued to Facebook all day curious to read each new entry as it came in. How hot was it in Dubai! Well, I agree with Philipp Tremblay when he wrote “@Lunanna Bicknell it’s freakin’ hot in Dubai, my GOD.”
Quote of the day
To finish things off, here is a wonderful quote that came to me via @readtoday on Twitter
Cultural relevance is important if we are to build a level playing field. Children need to love themselves–their cultures
Check out the Read Today website which provides information and support in English, German, French and Spanish!
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