foreignmama

Stuff White People Like Got me Laughing Out Loud

Thanks to Alltop, today I found the best reason to LOL my lungs open. A blog devoted to "stuff that white people like" has that ability to state the obvious truisms that everyone might notice but no one ever took the time to point out. Where I come from, we believe the the biggest truths lie within the best jokes.

His Full List of Stuff White People Like includes "Being Offended", "The Ivy League", "Bumper Stickers", "Outdoor Performance Clothes" and "The Idea of Soccer". The explanations are flat out hilarious (me, as a white person in the skin but an original Latina can relate very well to his perspective - how many times walking at the Marina in San Francisco I experienced the short lived feeling of being accepted, to only seconds later be denounced by my heavy accent and my swinging hips - and quickly be dismissed, sometimes with a measuring question: "Oh, I see you have an accent! Are you French?"). Sometimes I actually lie and say "Mais oui!" I gain the respect back immediately. And then I see the previous acceptance, which had quickly turned into suspicion, become admiration. Bien sûr!

His number 78 in the list, Multilingual Children, is so true. And if you can't afford The French School, my city has plenty of options for linguistic adventurous parents. And the so called white people are grabbing them by the horns. I have been visiting Spanish Immersion schools at the San Francisco Public School district, and the concern is everywhere: only-English-speaking children are outnumbering the kids that actually bring Spanish from home in enrollment, thus forcing school principals to revise their strategies. The original curriculum, which was planned to ease native speakers of Spanish into becoming fluent in English without losing their original language now has to become a Second Language learning system.

And as an additional option in the list of the even more adventurous parents with multi linguistic ambitions, just in case they don't get into the Spanish immersion ones? Chinese immersion schools (good luck for the kids...). As a principal told me, "we need more Spanish speakers in our Spanish immersion program!" I wonder how this babel generation will turn out. And I am very curious and hopeful for the outcome.

Should You Let Your Child Quit? (hint: hell no)

I've just received a GreatSchools newsletter where the main discussion was "Press On or Give Up: Should You Let Your Child Quit?" - the very common issue of kids getting sick and tired of ballet, karate, soccer, violin and so on, and how to keep them engaged. The article eventually  concludes that "At some point, you may just have to let them quit". Foreign Mama says: "Well, that's for quitters." Not with foreign languages, baby. In this arena, you've got the upper hand.

Kids may refuse to speak to you back, but as long as you keep talking to them, there is nothing they can do but learn. And if they are stubborn (like my son), "No, I don't want to speak Portuguese" or my neighbors' kid, "I just speak Spanish with abuelita or when we go to Mexico", all those excuses will only make you smile and laugh. Because in the morning, he wakes up and asks "Mamãe, I want mingau!" (Mommy, I want oatmeal). They don't know better. You are the care taker, the main source, the mothership (or the fathership, guys I did not forget about you). They will absorb like a sponge everything you give to them. Even if they don't talk back, they are registering and saving it all in their little empty and eager hard drives. Speaking a foreign language to them when they are as little as zero and as old as twelve will work like a 401k retirement plan: the earlier you start and the more consistent you are, the bigger value you will reap at the end. Like when they take College level Spanish at High School. Or when they are undergrads and become the most popular kids in the spring break at Puerto Vallarta just because they can get by. Or when they are hired for a job due to that little extra "fluency in a foreign language" detail in their Résumé...

So keep depositing those little language dollars in their heads. Your effort will have a big pay back, even if much later.

Three Must Do's When Raising a Bilingual Child

I received an interesting email and, when I was answering to it, I realized that many more people might need the same kind of orientation, so I decided to post it.

I stumbled across your site on alltop.com and I was wondering if  you could provide me with any direction (reference, another website, your own personal advise etc.) on how to immerse my daughter in the Spanish language.  I am not Hispanic; I do okay with the language but not fluent by far; am currently working on it (me getting better with the language; my daughter is 18  months old; I read her Spanish books, play Spanish videos and music for her.  I would love to put her in an environment where the people who care for, or rather, educate her are Hispanic but have been coming  up with no options.  I live in Richmond Virginia (but am from NYC). My mother watches her during the day for me and I like that.  I am looking into some preschool type environments for her and would love to find something that puts a high importance on foreign language.
Anyway, I feel like I'm rambling so...again, do you have any direction for me?

In California, where I live, there are plenty of options for bilingual preschools, and I believe if you have something like this in your city, you should take a look at it. Another alternative would be starting your own school, maybe a cooperative nursery school with some other interested parents and hiring a bilingual teacher.

Here are three basic steps in raising a child bilingual:

- At least one hour a day, 5 days a week, of exposure of the child to the language. You may like having the grandma watching her, and that is great that you have it, but you may think of a fluent Spanish speaking nanny that could stay at least one hour interacting with her (even under grandma's watch - that could actually mean a well deserved break for grandma during the day!) If the city where you live is not so diverse as California (where Spanish is the second language spoken) you might want to try to find foreign students willing to take on such job (you can even offer them English instruction in exchange, or as a perk - I did that once and it worked great).

- It is best if one language comes always from the same person. If the mom is the one in charge of Spanish, let daddy be the one that brings home the French. Or German. Or Japanese. Kids love to have a secret, special language shared with this one special person. Like a sort of secret code.

- Use the language in your daily activities, attaching meaningful actions and interactions to words and sentences. Books, music and video are great resources, but the best way a child learns a language (even their mother tongue) is by interaction. At the table, during meals, potty time, at the playground... Using always the same sentences, you can help your child connect the words to the facts, while experiencing the language in its alive form. Spread the hour a day throughout the day. "Buenos dias. Quieres cereales para el desayuno?"  "Abra la puerta mi amor, para salirmos" "Vamos a poner la arena al balde?" (and pardon my Spanish, cos I myself am no fluent...). Repeat the same sentences, with the same intention in the daily routine, and introduce new things every once in a while, remembering to apply the new things in more sentences until they become familiar. Repetition and surprise, familiarity and novelty.

Magnum:Keyword:Windows

I. Am. Speechless.

Pedro & Frankensheep

A cautionary tale (actually, a cartoon) that should help kids see the value of a good night's shut eye. Featuring: a crazy guinea pig scientist and his cyborg pet sheep in a sleep related adventure. Made by The Brothers McLeod for Children's BBC.

Completely in Regressive Love with Juno - the Movie, that is

This weekend I watched Juno, what put me in an incredibly regressive mode. First, I paid to get into a Movie Theater (long time did not do that), second, the next day I had to run to Amoeba to buy the CD with the soundtrack (another thing I thought I was not going to do ever again). I can't stop listening to it, I've already ordered Diablo Cody's Candy Girl (and I can't help but be jealous of someone almost exactly 5 years my junior with such a successful writing career  already - but as my hub replied "She did sit down to write, didn't she?" - but I digress...) and I am in love with Michael Cera - too bad we are 15 years apart...

Tetti loved the soundtrack - his favorite song is Vampire, by Antsy Pants. Last night as, I played the record for the third time, he set up the living room for a show - dining chairs in rows, a bodyboard as stage, the Amoeba logo cut out of the store wrapping paper stuck in our main door to announce the happening... It is funny, since he did not watch the movie, how the compilation inspired him into such performance. Maybe drama is not dead yet, after all.

My favorite song is "Anyone Else But You", by The Moldy Peaches. (beware spoiler coming up!) Take a peek at Cera and Page ending the movie with it:

Bébé Lilly - Les Pirates

Bébé Lilly is one of my son's favorite web videos. When he saw this new one, he exclaimed: "Oh, this is in French". ForeignMama never got so proud! He is getting into recognizing languages - not only the Portuguese that I hammer in his head everyday, but pointing to things like: "oh, this is Spanish", "this song is in Arabic" and now, he noticed French, although we don't practice the "frogs' dialect" with him and we rarely mention that something is being said in French. That comes to prove that an early bilingual education opens mind roads to not only one extra foreign language, but several, allowing awareness of the "otherness" in communication early on!
Have fun with Bébé Lilly:

Animated Video for Renee and Jeremy's It's a Big World by Hsinping Pan

Beautiful, lyrical animation for  a  very nice lullaby. Made by an old friend of a new friend of mine.

Patent Pending

After noticing some acne going on my chin, Tetti got upset:

"You need to have your skin back. You need to put something..."

"I know! You have to put SunScreen Skin Back!"

Eco friendly cleaning products and tips, from my French friend Sophie

 Bellow is an email I just received from my friend. I liked it so much I decided to share it with the web:

"Mike asked me to do some research on house cleaning non toxic products, so I thought I would share these tips with you.
        Or maybe he was just trying to entice me to clean more ha !
        Ciao
        SoF

        “The average American uses about 25 gallons of toxic products per year in their home (Source: Prosperity Without Pollution, by Joel S. Hirschorn and Kirsten V. Oldenburg, 1991).

        EPA studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor air levels of many pollutants may be 2-5 times, and occasionally, more than 200 times higher than outdoor levels. Cleaning products and other household products are among the many culprits. (Source: EPA)

        Cleaning products can be among the most hazardous chemicals in your home or office and are therefore regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. These products create hazardous waste -- threatening human health and the natural environment. Borax, ammonia and baking soda are safe alternatives that can clean and disinfect to meet hospital standards and are much cheaper than name brand cleaners. There are many green products available that are just as effective as traditional ones.
        With a little effort, you can make your home a truly clean haven rather than a chemical storage tank.

        Tips:

            * Choose products that are biodegradable and non toxic to humans and aquatic life.
            * Choose concentrated products, and be sure that they can work in cold water.
            * Choose products with VOC concentrations of less than 10% of the weight of the products when diluted for use as directed.
            * Choose products with a neutral pH.
            * Choose products in recycled, recyclable and refillable containers and packaging.
            * Avoid petroleum-derived ingredients. Instead choose surfactants derived from vegetable oil. Look for d-limonene and pine oil solvents.
            * Avoid containing EDTA and NTA. Look for alternatives with sodium citrate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, and sodium silicate.
            * Avoid phosphates, Choose products with a phosphate concentration of 0.5% or less by weight.
            * Avoid products containing chlorine bleach or sodium hypochlorite.

        Healthy alternatives include white vinegar,  baking soda, salt and lemon

        Vinegar:

            * Eliminate soap residue by adding 1 cup of white vinegar to the washer's final rinse. Vinegar is too mild to harm fabrics but strong enough to dissolve alkalis in soaps and detergents
                        + DO NOT USE VINEGAR IF YOU ADD CHLORINE BLEACH TO YOUR RINSE WATER.  IT WILL PRODUCE HARMFUL VAPORS!
            * To remove decals and non slip bathtub strips saturate a cloth or sponge  with hot vinegar and squeeze over decals.
            * Stick-on hooks come off from painted surfaces if  you squeeze a few drops of vinegar behind the hook
            * Remove price labels by coating the label with several coats of white vinegar. Let it soak in and after several minutes the label will rub off
            * Lime deposits around faucets can be softened for easy removal by covering the deposits with vinegar-soaked paper towels. Leave the paper towels on for about one hour before cleaning. Leaves chrome clean and shiny.
            * Vinegar removes deposits which clog your metal shower heads and sink aerators. Combine 1/2 cup white vinegar and one quart water submerge the shower head or aerators and boil 15 minutes.
            * If you have a plastic shower head, combine 1 pint white vinegar and 1 pint hot water, completely submerge the shower head and soak for about one hour
            * Since vinegar also breaks down uric acid, add 1 cup vinegar to the rinse water for babies' clothes.
            * Wool and cotton blankets soft and fluffy add 2 cups white vinegar to a tub of rinse water
            * To make a homemade anti-fogging glass cleaner try 1 part white vinegar to 3 parts water and mist,  This also reduces ice build-up on the outside of cars.
            * For rust stains and hard water deposits apply vinegar full-strength until spot disappears, then rinse. Repeat if necessary
            * Mix vinegar with salt to create a paste for a good surface cleaner.  It really cleans tarnished copper
            * Remove stubborn hard water sprinkler spots and streaks on glass with undiluted vinegar.
            * Aluminum care is another great area for vinegar. Brighten aluminum utensils by cooking acid foods such as tomatoes, apples, or rhubarb or by boiling 2 tablespoons vinegar per quart of water for  10 minutes in the pan. Prevent discoloration in the bottoms of double boilers or egg poachers  by adding 1 teaspoon vinegar to the water in the bottom pan.
            * Heating a solution of 1 tablespoon vinegar per qt of water in each pan until discoloration disappears.
            * Clean aluminum coffeepots and remove lime deposits by boiling equal pans of water and white vinegar. ( Boiling time depends upon how heavy the deposits are.)
            * Clean tea pots by boiling equal parts of vinegar and water for several minutes and let stand an hour.  Then rinse with plain water before using tea kettle.

        Baking Soda

            * You can cut the amount of chlorine bleach used in your wash by half when you add 1/4 cup to front loading washers and 1/2 a cup to top loading machines
            * This will also make your clothes smell clean and fresh
            * Dissolve 4 tablespoons baking soda in 1 quart warm water for a general cleaner
            * Use baking soda on a damp sponge to clean and deodorize all kitchen and bathroom surfaces
            * Baking Soda and Salt paste will cleans baking dishes - enamel, ceramic and glass,  coffee stains from cups or counter tops and be a great soap scum remover
            * For sluggish or clogged drains pour 1/2 cup baking soda down the drain. Add 1/2 cup white vinegar and cover the drain if possible.  Let set for a few minutes, Then pour a kettle of 6 or more cups of boiling water down the drain  to flush it. The combination of baking soda and vinegar breaks down fatty acids into soap and glycerin, allowing the clog to wash down the drain.
              DO NOT USE THIS METHOD AFTER ANY COMMERCIAL DRAIN OPENER HAS BEEN USED  OR IS STILL PRESENT IN THE STANDING WATER.