Several years ago I deeply struggled with goodbyes. It was a year where many friends moved away, some left without telling us on time that they would leave. They didn’t take the time to say goodbye, they simply disappeared from our life. This made me and my family experience something that I called the goodbye-shock. It was a sense […]
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What Americans miss about home…
In this interesting infographic you can find out what Americans miss about home, and what they don’t miss…The research was carried out by Aetna International, a Fortune 500 company and leading provider of international healthcare, who aims to create a better understanding of how US expats view life abroad and their home country. The participants of this research came […]
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How to avoid misunderstandings in international settings
At the Families In Global Transition (FIGT) Conference 2017 in The Hague, I had the honor to hold a panel discussion with Ruth van Reken (co-founder of FIGT and co-author of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds) and Rita Rosenback (author of Bringing up a Bilingual Child). The title of our panel was Finding […]
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Language Assessments for Bilingual and Multilingual Children
Parents of multilingual children worry the most if their children will be able to keep up with all the languages and have a sufficient knowledge, proficiency, academically speaking, once they go to school. Schools do regular language and literacy assessments and even international schools tend to assess the school language only or at least also the dominant language – […]
Continue readingWhat is your (international) village? (part 1)
You’ve probably heard the African saying “it takes a village to raise a child”? I usually extend this to families and say “it takes a village to lead a happy family life”… What is normal and natural for families living in their home country surrounded by extended family, is very difficult for internationals. Finding a […]
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