Bilingual Children Travelling to Minority Language Country. Diary. DAY 3

DAY TREE

Today is on the list:  Best place for adults and kids to visit in St-Petersburg  --- When music unites the cultures  --- Birthday party - how bilingual kids feel encountering other kids speaking their minority language.

( For those of you , who are just joining in: I am travelling alone with two 3 and 5 years old kids to our family minority language home country - Russia. This is a continuation. Read about bilingual kids travel day one  and day two.

The day was beautiful we choose to spend it outside and went to see the birthplace of St-Petersburg - Peter and Paul fortress.

Remembering my childhood and how much fun I had climbing on the cannons, I brought my kids to do the same on the grounds of the fortress and on the road to our next destination - the artillery museum.

Here are the pictures I have taken inside the fortress:

Rocket at front of the Museum of Space Exploration and Rocket Technology in Peter and Paul Fortress, St Petersburg, Russia 

There are many many more interesting museums on the grounds of the fortress. Here are some of them

View on the Peter and Paul Cathedral from Fortress wall.

Russian howitzer on the ground of Peter and Paul Fortress

15 -17 century cannons near Artillery Museum

Reading reading everywhere!

This is one of the reasons why you should start teaching your children letters early. Kids try to read signs around them all the time!  See post about teaching children to read.

Ice cream break! 

This was the first one for my kids to try. There was a choice of many different shapes and tastes. I bought  for my kids the taste of my childhood. Working hard in passing on my heritage ;)

In the artillery museum we saw the famous “Katyusha” ( rocket launcher used during the WWII). My trilingual children know the Russian song by the same name very well. They also know the song of Italian partisans "Fischia il vento" with different words by Felice Cascione but with the same music by M. Blanter.

At some point my son started to sing the Italian song and Russians around had a puzzled look on the faces. Every Russian knows the Katyusha tune, but they could not figure out what words , as it seemed, a Russian boy was singing. BTW it was in the bathroom... Fun times!

Here are both songs audio and text:

Катюша ( Katyusha) Lyrics: M. Isakovsky Расцветали яблони и груши, Поплыли туманы над рекой. Выходила на берег Катюша, На высокий берег на крутой. Выходила, песню заводила Про степного сизого орла, Про того, которого любила, Про того, чьи письма берегла. Ой, ты, песня, песенка девичья, Ты лети за ясным солнцем вслед И бойцу на дальнем пограничье От Катюши передай привет. Пусть он вспомнит девушку простую, Пусть услышит, как она поет, Пусть он землю бережет родную, А любовь Катюша сбережет.

Fischia il vento Lyrics: Felice Cascione Fischia il vento, infuria la bufera, scarpe rotte eppur bisogna andar, a conquistare la rossa primavera dove sorge il sol dell’ avvenir. Ogni contrada è patria del ribelle, ogni donna a lui dona un sospir, nella notte lo guidano le stelle forte il cuore e il braccio nel colpir. Se ci coglie la crudele morte, dura vendetta verrà dal partigian; ormai sicura è già la dura sorte del fascista vile traditor. Cessa il vento, calma è la bufera, torna a casa il fiero partigian, sventolando la rossa sua bandiera; vittoriosi e alfin liberi siam.

Finally evening was approaching and we had friend's kid's birthday party to go to. When I told my daughter let’s go she said: “Мама я могу только на тебе или на такси.” “Mama, I can do it either on you or in a taxi.” I was impressed with my great walker's ability of grasping the concept of taking a Taxi considering that she has not taken any before!

More sweets to taste - Birthday cake!

During the Birthday party my kids played with others as if they were natives. Nobody could tell that Russian is their second language. I guess the fact that they speak it to each other makes all the difference in their ability to use it in a free play. (Read about Multilingual siblings language choice).
Perhaps the only thing is giving them out - they are loud as all Italians are :)

A great company of friends is what kids and adults need :) We came back home way after midnight ...

More to come soon!


Want to hear how our trip has begun? Read:

Bilingual Children Travelling to Minority Language Country - DAY ONE.

Bilingual Children Travelling to Minority Language Country - DAY TWO.


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Best Kids' Books in Russian


Kids Radio Stations from different countries in different languages! 

Bilingual Children Travelling to Minority Language Country. Diary. DAY 1

I am travelling alone with two 3 and 5 years old fully bilingual kids to our family minority language home country - Russia. Sounds interesting? Keep on reading!


Day One.

Here you will find: One parent travelling with two children. Airport and air plane experience. Significance of the trip.


Almost 3.5 hour flight went well. The kids were extremely well behaved (Surprise!). They even were able to negotiate on who takes the window seat without letting the entire airplane know about their discussion.

The moment we approached the boarding area my son commented about people: “mama, they all speak Russian!” and I realised that here is the start point for learning about Russians and Russian culture. The kids were studying peoples faces and were paying attention to other people’s conversations.

The next early encounter with Russia was in the air - kids reaction to the airline food. Russian black bread, butter, cheese … and pasta and chicken dish, which my kids picked.

I was curious to see how my Italian kiddos will react to pasta. The very hungry kids finished all the chicken, but the little one left the pasta and ate all our white bread instead. My sweet tooth girl did not want to eat a cake either.

We landed.

Did you know that such a simple thing like “venik” (a short brush of bound straw) can make a kid happy?

This was one of the most exciting moment for me and my kids. The older child noticed "venik" at the back of a bus that we took to get from our plane to a terminal. His eyes were shiny from happiness. He said “ Mom, this is a "venik"!“ (“Мама, это ВЕНИК! “) .

Right at this moment I understood the great significance of our trip - it is a real life encounter with everything they read about and talked about all those past years.

This first trip to Russia is much much more than just a visit of friends and family. 



Read next post:  Bilingual children Travelling to Minority language Country.Diary. DAY 2.
How playgrounds in Russia look like. Great book for your independent reader and  for reading to your child (available in Russian and English). St-Petersburg's Circus - a must see when you are there! 

Or jump to DAY 3  - Bilingual Children Travelling to Minority Language Country - DAY TREE.
Best place for adults and kids to visit in St-Petersburg --- When music unites the cultures --- Birthday party - how bilingual kids feel encountering other kids speaking their minority language. 


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Listen to kids' Radio in English , Russian , German , Spanish, French, Polish, Serbian , Slovak , Dutch, Lithuanian, Turkish, Czech, Norwegian, Italian, Greek, Albanian , Hungarian 


Watch Russian cartoons online. 


Best children's books to read in Russian.


Image source: wikipedia

Multilingual Families: 8 Quick & Effective Ways to Learn Your Spouse’s Language, For the Busy Parent

by Paul Martin

A great thing about multilingual families is that the children have the invaluable opportunity to learn any of the languages that the parents speak. However, this comes with a tradeoff: if mom and dad speak different languages, one parent might struggle to understand the communication between the other parent and the child. This can inhibit family bonding time, and can be frustrating for everyone involved.

But don’t worry! There are plenty of easy-to-implement tips and tricks that can help you sneak in some extra practice in your spouse’s language. Even for parents who are pressed for time, this list will help you improve your language skills each day -- and more importantly, will make it easier for the whole family to communicate.

1. Make labels around the house

A great way to internalize names for useful, everyday objects is to make labels for various items around your house. For example, if you’re trying to learn French, ask your spouse to put labels with the French names on your appliances around the kitchen. This way, you’ll be constantly exposed to basic words in your target language, and you’ll memorize them without even realizing it.

2. Read comic books in the target language

Comic books are an especially great language-learning tool for two reasons. First, they’re fun, engaging, and quick -- they make for a perfect read when you have a few spare minutes at home, or on the subway on the way to work. Second, they are highly visual, so even if you don’t know some of the words, the pictures can help you figure out what they mean.

3. Watch movies and TV series with subtitles -- and pay attention

DVDs for most recent movies and series come with subtitles in several languages. If you’re just starting to learn a language, try watching your favorite series with subtitles in the target language. But be careful! It’s easy to get wrapped up in the action, and ignore the subtitles. Make sure that you’re really engaging with the subtitles to see how common words and phrases are pronounced in your target language. Pause frequently to make sure you understand what you’re reading, and when there’s something you don’t understand, make a note to ask your spouse for clarification.

If you don’t have subtitles for a particular movie or series, try searching for them online: there are several free websites that have subtitles available to download in many different languages. And once you’re comfortable enough to watch movies in the target language, check out some film suggestions for language learners , specifically selected to help you learn a plethora of new slang and colloquialisms.

4. Listen -- and sing along -- to music in the foreign language

Music is a great way to understand both the cultural and linguistic features of a given language. And with the internet, it’s available everywhere -- for almost any language, there are plenty of great resources with song suggestions from past to present. Songs are excellent for language learners, as you can follow along with the lyrics to learn new words and grammatical constructions -- all while enjoying some catchy tunes.

Load up your iPod with target-language songs to squeeze in some practice when you’re on the go -- and don’t forget to sing along! This way, you’ll be practicing both your listening and your speaking skills.

5. Release your inner child

Reading books can be challenging for language learners, as they’re often filled with complex language and advanced grammar. There’s an exception, however -- children’s books! Reading children’s books is a fantastic way to learn the basics of a foreign language, while at the same time revisiting some of your favorite reads from your childhood. Once you’re familiar with a book, show off your newfound knowledge -- and get in some speaking practice -- by reading it aloud to the whole family.

6. Find a pen pal

If you don’t have enough time to meet regularly with a language teacher and your spouse is not willing to take a role as such either, consider finding a pen pal on the internet with whom you can practice writing in the target language. Websites like Conversation Exchange allow you to create a free profile with speakers of any language, and communicate via email or Skype. It’s a great way to talk with native speakers, as well as practice your writing.

7. Set a regular time to speak the language at home

Once you feel comfortable enough to hold a conversation, set a fixed time each week to speak the language with your family. For example, if you’re trying to learn Chinese, you could make a household tradition of speaking only in Chinese at dinnertime on Friday. Or if you’d rather test the waters first, try spending a few minutes each day before bedtime speaking in the target language with just your spouse.

8. Track your progress

Learning a language is a slow process, and it’s easy to feel discouraged or get bogged down by details. Every few months, take an online level test to see how your language skills have progressed. You’ll be surprised by how much you’ve improved! And in addition, you’ll be able to see which areas you still struggle with, so you can focus your efforts on what needs the most work.

When learning a foreign language, practice makes perfect. But even if you don’t have hours to devote to studying a language, these tips and tricks will help you engage with your spouse’s language in your everyday life. With a little bit of effort each day, you’ll be well on your way to communicating more openly and freely with your family -- in whichever language you please.

Paul writes for Language Trainers, which provides individually-tailored language training on a one-on-one or small group basis worldwide. Language Trainers offers several free educational resources, such as audio-recorded listening tests. Don’t hesitate to email paul@languagetrainers.com or visit Language Trainers' Facebook page for more information. 




Note: The photos are provided by the author. The cover photo is a cut from the original one taken by  Lucia Sanchez and is licensed under CC by 2.0.

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Multilingual Family Interview: When your home languages are different from community language. Plus resources for teaching phonics and reading to children in English.

You are a bilingual or a trilingual family living abroad.  You and your spouse have been speaking your mother tongues since the child’s birth.  And here you realize that the school time is approaching soon. You are worried how your child would do at school, since you did not teach your child the country language. 

How would he go to school in the community language?  Will he be able to communicate?  What can I do to help him?  These and many other questions I asked Richard and Agnieszka, English and Polish speakers, who found their home in Spain.  They are successfully raising trilingual children, who speak English, Polish and Spanish everyday. 

Question 1:  Where do you live now and where did you live before?

Answer:  We live in Madrid. We moved here from the Netherlands in 2006 when our eldest was 18 months. He was born there. We moved without children to the Netherlands from Poland in 2003.

Question 2:  How many children do you have and what are their ages?

Answer:  Gavin will be 10 in 2 months , Veronica is 7 1/2, and Nicolas is 3 1/2.

Question 3:  Please describe your multilingual family language situation. Who speaks what language? What language approach do you follow?

Answer: My (Richard's) native language is English. Aga's is Polish. But we both speak these languages and Spanish pretty (Aga very) comfortably. My Polish is the worst, but still I almost never fail to understand conversations involving our kids.
Aga and I both only ever speak our respective native languages to the children (unless, rarely, we want some third party to understand). And the children universally speak to us in that same language.
The children (notably Veronica at the moment) do however quite often mix languages - but the syntax and base vocabulary make the language that they are fundamentally speaking very clear. The mixing is largely attaching endings from one language to words from another and in non-basic vocabulary.
Agnieszka and I speak to each other in Polish and English in roughly equal proportions.

Question 4:  At what age did your children get exposed to the community language and how (daycare, playgroups, television at home…)?

Answer:  Our kids were all introduced to Spanish in nursery school. All went for at least a year before starting school proper - which starts very early here - almost universally in the September of the calendar year when the child turns 3. Neither Gavin nor Veronica had any problems of note by the time they reached school (not even much in Nursery). Nicolas seemed to adapt similarly well to Nursery. But when he just recently started school he was slow to start speaking to his teachers. This problem seems now to have considerably faded.
Television I see as an important way to broaden their exposure to English (and Polish). But they do watch a reasonable amount to TV in Spanish.

Question 5.  What language Gavin and Veronica started speaking to each other? Did their language preference change over time?

Answer:  Until I guess about 18 months ago they still spoke to each other regularly in all three languages, Spanish having arrived last, but around then I noticed that they switched to almost always speaking Spanish.
I suspect that the first language that they spoke to each other was probably Polish, but in fact I don’t remember, so it may be that they used Polish or English depending on the context. I guess Polish because Veronica had a Polish woman looking after her during the day when she was 1-2. But at this point Gavin’s English may still have been better than his Polish.
Currently Gavin and Veronica Speak only (or almost only) Polish with Nicolas.

Question 6:  How old were the children when started a nursery school? Did I understand right that they were about 2 years old?

Answer:   Gavin was about 20 months, Veronica about 28 months, and Nicolas about 27.

Question 7.  What school did your children go to (bilingual immersion school, regular school...)?

Answer:   Bilingual in theory – part of a Madrid programme for bilingualism in state-funded schools. They are taught almost half the time in English (from 6 years old). But there are almost no other non-Spanish-native pupils, and English is not used at all apart from in lessons.

Question 8.  What languages as subject do they study there?

Answer:  English is taught from 3, and more seriously from 6. I worry a bit that this could bore our kids, but it doesn’t seem to have been a big problem yet. Gavin, I believe, has mostly learned only spelling in lessons at school, so I expect it is or will be, at best, a significant waste of time.
They are also taught French, at low intensity, from 6.

Question 9.  When your children went to school, how did they integrate? What was their proficiency level of community language? Were you and / or teachers concerned?

Answer:  We had sent them to nursery specifically to help avoid this sort of problem. And it seemed to work better than I expected. Even just one year.
The teachers were a little concerned initially – but positive. Gavin’s first teacher – a veteran of probably 30 years’ experience and a very good teacher it turned out – shocked me by telling me that he had NEVER had a non-Spanish-native child in his class. There are almost no immigrants in the area we are in.
However Gavin and Veronica may have been a little quiet at first, but when I ask about their level of Spanish I was told it was indistinguishable from that of the other kids. As mentioned earlier, Nico was even more quiet, but is now improving.

Question 10.  What did you do, if anything, to support your children at school?

Answer:  I use Khan Academy with both Gavin and Vero for maths. But with regard to language there has been no need.

Question 11:  What language do you speak to them, when you help them with homework?

Answer:  (Richard) English, throwing in the odd Spanish word to make sure they know it for class. Except when (only occasionally) helping with Spanish language homework in which case I speak Spanish mostly.

Question 12:  What do you think is important for a parent to do or pay attention to in order to insure that children’s knowledge of the community language is enough for performing well at elementary school?

Answer:  For us nursery was enough. More recently I also allow them to watch a fraction (maybe 1/3) of TV in Spanish. This primarily so they have the vocabulary (mostly character names etc) to talk to their school-friends.

Question 13:  Many parents are worried, that their child might have a communication problem with peers. That they are going to be teased because of an accent or inability to express her/himself in the community language at the same level as kids of their age do. Could you share your experience in this regards?

Answer:  Our kids have not to our knowledge experienced this sort of problem. Any trouble with peers has been for other reasons. We may be helped in this regard by the fact that 'school' in Spain starts so very early. Some kids are still well short of turning three - and so presumably some native monolinguals also barely speak.

Question 14:  How did you help the kids to understand how to separate 3 languages and improve their speech skills?

Answer:  We didn't do anything specific here other than try to expose them to plenty of all three languages through different media.

Question: 15:  In what language did your children learn to read and write first? Did you teach them? If yes, how did you do it?

Answer:  English. I taught Gavin and Veronica before the school started on reading. But I taught only reading - almost no writing. I used phonics books from a couple of different series (Jolly Phonics and Oxford Songbirds principally) then used a lot of Usborne graded readers. In addition I used flash cards (also from Usborne), showed then a nice BBC series, Alphablocks, and more recently used the online learning game Reading Eggs.  (Click to read more about mentioned phonics resources)

I would like to thank this wonderful family for the interview and for this unique opportunity Richard and Agneszka are giving us to learn more about what awaits us, parents to be and parents with small kids.

If you would like to share your family experience,  whatever it is good or bad,  feel free to contact me. 

Are you successfully raising bilingual or multilingual children? or do you have regrets about something you have not done on time? Please do not keep it for yourself, share it with other parents, by writing a comment or by contacting me for an Interview or by joining great contributors in the Life Story series. You will help thousands of readers!

Resources for Teaching Phonics and Reading to Children:

Alphablocks is children's educational television program. It aims to teach children how to spell with the use of animated blocks representing each letter.

Phonics with Alphablocks on Amazon

Alphablocks on YouTube




Jolly Phonics is a systematic synthetic phonics program designed to teach children to read and write. Children learn the letter sounds, rather than the alphabet. They are then taken through the stages of blending and segmenting words to develop reading and writing skills.

Jolly Phonics on Amazon

Jolly Phonics on Youtube

 
Oxford Songbirds make phonics fun! Series of 60 stories by Julia Donaldson. Levels 1 to 6 .

Oxford Songbirds on Amazon








Usborne First Reading - book series by Usborne publiser that is based on the principles of synthetic phonics. There are 7 books in each series and each book in the series builds on material in the previous books.

Usborne Very First Reading on Amazon 
Usborne Start to Read pack on Amazon

Usborne Very First Reading website -  learn more about the books, how they work. Information for parents and teachers. Plus resources with extra reading and wring practices. Printable sheet of practice words, fun activities and recording of the sounds of 44 phonemes



 
Reading Eggs - online reading application, where children are able to progress at their own rate.

Visit Reading Eggs website for more info.

Reading Eggs on Amazon




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What language multilingual family speaks at the table?

 

Every evening the whole family is gathered at the table. We speak to each other. Kids laugh at their misbehaves.  I am getting stressed that they do not eat and that my son, who is learning to cut food with a knife, periodically waves with it and his sister follows him with a fork.  All things are like in a common family with two or more little children on board. The only difference, we add more turmoil -- we speak three languages at the table.  My children and I speak Russian to each other, my husband speaks Italian with them and English with me. Sometimes we become as laud as Italians in a restaurant, when one table tries to outshout  the others, with the only difference -- we are all seating at the same table -- in our home!

Soon our children, who are 2 and 4 years old, will grow up. The chaotic dinners should get more civilized tone. (I started writing this post some time ago, now the kids are almost 3 and 5 years old and have made significant behavioral progress :) ) Every month we are slowly getting  a chance to discuss topics that are interesting to all four of us. We use our "language scheme" (Father + Child = Italian, Child + Child and Child+Mother = Russian, Father+Mother= English) and it works for us so far. We do not get bothered by not speaking the same language. The questions I have:

Would things stay the same way after a couple of years?
Would we all feel comfortable having a conversation in all three languages at once?

It won't be a problem for me as I speak well our trilingual family languages Italian, English and Russian. It might be a slight problem for my husband. Hopefully his level of Russian will improve together as children master the language.  Everyday he tries more and more to join our conversation in Russian. The children are slowly learning English and, who knows, one day they might actually join our, for now parents only, conversations in English.

I wonder how other multilingual families "language at the table" situation evolved over time. Did you come to the common denominator and stop on one language? Or you still use all the multilingual family languages? Does it bother you not to have one single language at the table? Please leave a comment for me and readers to know what you think.

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What language should I speak to my child in public? - Multilingual parent dilemma.

Long time before my first child spoke his first word, I asked myself: What language should I speak to him in public, when I am surrounded by other people who do not speak my language? Should I switch the languages and speak to my child the community language so everyone understands? There should not be any harm if I do it (right?), since I am bringing up my child trilingual anyway.

However, after giving this matter a thought, I decided to always speak the minority language to my child and this is why:

A family vacation, multilingual style. Are you in?

Would your family go on a joined multilingual family adventure? Are you afraid that vacation fun will be lost in translation, if you try to share with other families whose children speak a different language?  Read on, there is something to think about before you plan the summer vacation.

Who does not like summers? A summer beach vacation is one of the greatest experiences for every member of the family.  Parents are more relaxed (if not, getting a drink at the beach bar would really help!) and do not nag the kids. The kids are playing with a sand, water, and do not bother the parents. No one gets bored on the beach!  And this is where I am heading to.
 
Last summer we went on vacation with our English speaking friends. It is an English and German speaking bilingual family that consists of father, mother and two cute girls, who are about our Russian-Italian speaking children's age.  It was interesting to watch how the kids' relationship developed. All children spoke their native languages at first, but then, after realizing that "the message" does not get through, they started explaining themselves in the language their friends would understand. Our kids tried to speak English and the friends' kids - Italian. The sign language  combined with the native language worked well to fill the language knowledge gaps! They had so much fun playing in water , building sand castles and sharing toys.

 The children loved the time they spent together, and now are looking forward to another joined vacation this year.

This kind of multilingual vacation is good because:

- it widens child's horizons. The child learns about other languages and cultures,

- it generates an interest and creates stimulus to learn a new language and to proficient the already acquired ones,

- it develops communication skills.

It is important to make children aware of the existence of other languages not only by talking about them, but also by bring them in direct contact with their speakers. It will help kids later at school to realize why they need to learn all the verb conjugations. Kids always need to be challenged to promote development. In fact our friends' daughter is really eager to learn Italian now. She is only 5 years old and Italian language is already on her to-do list!

If you like beach as a destination for your vacations, another good way to expose you children to other cultures and languages is just by traveling with them to other countries' beaches.  For Portuguese you could go to Brazil (easy to access from the Americas) or Portugal, if you are in Europe. For Spanish - beautiful Mexican, Argentinian and Spanish beaches. For English - Florida, California or Hawaii.  For German - beach of the Northern and Baltic Sea would do a great job. For French - Cote d'Azur, Bay of Biscay, Tahiti. For Italian - hundreds of beautiful Italian beaches and amazing islands.  For Russian - the Baltic and Black seas, for Hebrew - the Red Sea of Israel. For Croatian - Croatia.   For Greek - Greece and hundreds of fantastic Islands.  For Arabic - Egypt's Read sea, Tunisia or Morocco. There are so many countries with beautiful beaches!

Where have you been with your kids around the world?
Our family already visited beautiful beaches of Italy, France and Portugal. Where should we head next?

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When to give your child Christmas presents - an international family challenge.

As many multicultural families, our family was also challenged with making a decision about how to celebrate Christmas. Before the children were born I did not think about when I should receive and give Christmas presents. I lived so far from my country of origin, from my friends and from the traditions I grew up with, that I simply joined my husband and our friends for December 25th celebration. But then the kids were born and this has change me 180 degrees. I wanted so much to share with them the joy that I lived through year after year in my parents home. I wanted to see my children's smiles as they discover the presents under a Christmas tree, as I did back then. I wanted them be exited to decorate a Christmas tree. I wanted them to look forward to the winter holidays the same way I did.  Not only because it was a present time, but because it was the time full of magic!

Before my son's first December has approached I talked to my husband. We discussed our values. I told him what was important for me and he shared what was important for him during the Christmas time and this is how we decided to celebrate our Christmas and New Year.

Since I grew up during the Soviet time, there was no Christmas celebration. Everyone celebrated a New Year. Everything Western world does for Christmas, Russians did  and still do for a New Year. There are big family gatherings, dinners, parties, fireworks, carnivals you name it! Everything but there was no church of cause.  The Italian traditions are different from what I am used to. One day I will write a post about a Christmas  celebration in Italy to give you more insides. ( And here it is! CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS in ITALY ) So we had to compromise and this is what we settled on.

Our international Italian-Russian family starts decorating the house inside and outside in early December. For the moment we do not do the nativity scene, that is called "presepe" in Italian, but a Christmas tree. And we decorate it with ornaments  that I picked at the local store and that my parents brought from Russia, my very very old child-safe paper and plastic ornaments that are so dear to me. (The glass ornaments have to wait until the kids are older). Even though the Christmas tree is ready for December 24th, the children can find presents under it only on New Year. They still receive plenty of present from Italian relatives on Christmas day and do not feel excluded. I would not want them to!

We celebrate Christmas Eve within our family by preparing a nice traditional dinner and join our Panettone and Pandoro. (see a full list of Italian traditional Christmas sweets here). The time we spend in Germany made its imprint on out taste buds. We do not see Christmas table without Lebkuchen and Stollen, the German traditional sweets! This year I plan to include my family tradition and bake some sugar filled "Plushki". Just writing this brings me back to the time I spent with my grandfather  preparing the sweets. He actually was our family's great cook!
Italian relatives for lunch on Christmas Day. Christmas sweets list for us does not became exhausted with two Italian traditional sweets:

The New Year celebration is a little party for our family with "Spumante" ( Italian champagne)  for the big once and sparkling water for the small. The kids stay up until they feel tired and ready to go to bed on their own will, just to wake up in the morning to tier apart the wrapping paper from the gifts. Big thank you to Russian "Ded Moroz" or Italian Santa for brings presents to us, parents, as well and hanging chocolate mini-Santas all over the tree to make the kids day! 

The new year started, but winter holidays celebrations for our family are not over yet. January the 7th is the Russian Orthodox Christmas day, which we also celebrate with a nice meal, even though I never celebrated it as a child. I believe children need to know that other religions do exist, and they can start learning about their differences from this simple thing - different days of celebrating birth of Christ.

Now you have learned how our international family celebrates Christmas and New Year. If your multilingual family is faced similar challenge and have to make a decision, I hope answering the following questions will help you:

What celebrations and rituals are important to you?
What can you do to support your spouse traditions?
When do you give children presents and how would you do it?
What do you need to explain your children about your traditions and possible differences?

Happy holiday season to you all!





You might also like reading:

Can babies distinguish foreign languages?

Pros and Cons of Raising a Trilingual Child.

How to prepare yourself to be a speaking model for your child. 

How to read to a baby?  

Visiting Italy in Spring. Your picture guide.

Why You Should Visit Italy During Winter Holiday Season and Why You Should Not.

Virtual babysitters or Preserving grandchild - grandparent bond and keeping up the minority language with video calling

I love modern technology!
One mouse click and your loved ones are in the living room with you.
The distance between people shortens in a second making the grandchild-grandparents relationship possible to develop even when they are far away from home.

The grandparent-grandchild bond is very important especially for a child's minority language development. The grandparents can help you in your task of multilingual education. Grandchildren can see and talk to the grandparents, share their special moments (for example, Birthdays, New Years, you name it!). Grandparents can always be  near your the child from the infancy to the adulthood.

Since the children were born, my video calling usage increased dramatically.  My parents help me a lot via Skype. They keep the kids happy and occupied with activities when I am busy preparing a meal or stepping out to get a mail. Both of my kids liked to be soothed to sleep by the grandma while sitting in the swing, it was giving something special to both of them and for me - some free time to do the house errands.

I lost count of how many evenings the grandparents were watching after and reading a bed story to the older kid, while I was feeding and putting to sleep the little one. 

My parents talk, read, sing, play musical instruments via Skype.

Do not underestimate what your parents or relatives can do for you from far away. Try to connect with them more often using video calling.


You might also like:


Raising a Bilingual Child : Setting Your Priorities From The Start. 


Check out Kids' Radio Stations from around the world!  


9 Steps of Raising a Bilingual Child Successfully. How to Start So You Don't Feel Giving It Up Halfway Through.

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