Sites of Interest

Two sites that are worth introducing: Balanced Reading is aimed at teachers teaching children to read and Expats Since Birth is a blog about raising bilingual children. Both are well written, both offer valuable advice.

The name Balanced Reading is based upon the debate over whether to teach reading from a) the whole language approach or b) the phonics approach. The about page here gives a detailed explanation of the distinction between the two. About the balanced approach, they say “Educators should not be asking whether a lesson is Phonics-based or Whole Language-based, they should be asking whether a lesson is going to help a specific beginning reader to learn to read.” The site offers advice, explanations and supporting literature. It is worth reading if you are just about to begin the fantastic journey that is teaching your child to read. I have found that a mixture of activities works well to keep my daughter engaged and stimulated, and will be returning to this site to read more (the assessment pdf is really interesting).

Expats Since Birth is written by a mum of three bilingual children and shares “experiences about being expat, raising multilingual children in a multicultural context, multilingualism in general, everything related to twins, parenting and much more.” The much more bit is true. A quick look through recent blog posts and you encounter content about Christmas in a different culture, mobile phones for kids, interacting with your children, the langauge(s) of bilingual siblings and yes, much more. Why Expats Since Birth? The author explains “I never lived in my parents home country – that would be Germany – but according to my passport I’m german. I’m also very italian in my heart, a bit swiss, french and dutch. A great mix of all the places I’ve been: I’m an expat since birth and am proud of having several places to call my home.” A fascinating blog with lost of very well written and informative posts.