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September Meeting
Thursday, 2 September 2010, 12:57 pm by mlebarWe will meet at Starbuck’s in Barrington, the one on Route 59, in town by the bank.
Address: 125 South Hough Street Barrington, IL 60010
Thursday, Sept. 23 730p-830p (they close at 900p)
Please bring money if you want to buy a drink. Come meet the others in the group and hang out a while to chat.
As always, please let me know if you will attend or not. You must attend 10 of 12 meetings in order to complete your year successfully.
Mary
Au Pair Luau a fun End to Summer
Thursday, 2 September 2010, 12:43 pm by rcroninLast Saturday was out Annual Au pair Luau organized by LCC Nick and Kristen Bell and it went off as every year with a big bang.
‘Au pairs from Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania came together to celebrate. Au pairs brought food from their home country and a food competition left judges with some tough choices.
Check out the Video of the amazing assortment of dishes … YUM YUM
Au pairs also Sang karoke and danced as well as meet with Au pair from all over the region
Our Wonderful Program Director Veronica Thibodeau was there and also the other area LCC.
A big thanks to Nick and Kristen bell for all there hard work and also to Terry Bell for hosting the event. We can’t wait till next year
Enjoy the pictures
Looking for Babysitters: Foreign Language a Must
Thursday, 2 September 2010, 9:10 am by scottonAugust 18, 2010
Looking for Baby Sitters: Foreign Language a Must
1st day of Preschool.
When Maureen Mazumder enrolled her daughter, Sabrina, in a Spanish singalong class a year ago, she hoped it would be the first step in helping her learn a second language. But the class did not seem to do the trick, so Ms. Mazumder decided to hire a baby sitter, one who would not only care for her daughter but also speak to her exclusively in Spanish.
“It was a must that she speak Spanish,” said Ms. Mazumder, who said neither she nor her husband was fluent in the language. “We feel so strongly that our daughter hear another language.”
Ms. Mazumder, whose daughter is nearly 3, has company. Although a majority of parents seeking caretakers for their children still seek ones who will speak to their children in English, popular parenting blogs and Web sites indicate that a noticeable number of New York City parents are looking for baby sitters and nannies to help their children learn a second language, one they may not speak themselves.
That has certainly helped Elena Alarcón, a nanny born in Mexico who attended school in the United States. Ms. Alarcón recently completed 15 interviews with parents living in Brooklyn, and all of them insisted that if hired, she speak only Spanish with their children.
“I thought I would have to speak English with the families,” Ms. Alarcón said. “I was surprised they wanted me to speak only in Spanish.”
Ms. Alarcón now works for Yashmin Fernandes, who became fluent in Spanish living and working in Latin America. Ms. Fernandes speaks in Spanish with her daughter; her husband, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, speaks in English. “His family is the Spanish-speaking side,” Ms. Fernandes said, “but I was more adamant about getting a Spanish-speaking nanny.”
Parents cite different reasons for hiring baby sitters and nannies to speak a second language with their children. Some struggled to pick up foreign languages and want to make life easier for their children. Some believe it makes them smarter. And naturally, this being the melting pot that is New York, many parents have a connection to another language and want to reinforce it.
Simona D’Souza, 38, grew up in Kuwait and Canada. Even though her parents spoke Konkani, the language of Goa, India, to each other, they insisted that their children speak only English. “They didn’t realize it would be beneficial to us to learn another language,” Ms. D’Souza said.
Indeed, not long ago, many parents insisted that their foreign-language-speaking nannies refrain from using their native tongue and speak only English with their children, for fear that another language might muddle their English-language development.
Ms. D’Souza has taken a different tack with her own three children. Her husband is German and speaks to the children exclusively in German. Her nanny of five years spoke only in Spanish with the children. “We would not have hired her if it wasn’t for the Spanish,” she said. Now, she is contemplating putting the children in a French immersion program.
“Once you are trilingual,” she said, “your brain can break down new languages that make it so much easier to learn your fourth, fifth and sixth languages.”
In fact, research shows that learning a second language makes it easier to learn additional languages.
In recent years, a number of neuroscientists and psychologists have tried to untangle the impact of bilingualism on brain development. “It doesn’t make kids smarter,” said Ellen Bialystok, a professor of psychology at York University in Toronto and the author of “Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy and Cognition.”
“There are documented cognitive developments,” she said, “but whatever smarter means, it isn’t true.”
Ms. Bialystok’s research shows that bilingual children tend to have smaller vocabularies in English than their monolingual counterparts, and that the limited vocabulary tends to be words used at home (spatula and squash) rather than words used at school (astronaut, rectangle). The measurement of vocabulary is always in one language: a bilingual child’s collective vocabulary from both languages will probably be larger.
“Bilingualism carries a cost, and the cost is rapid access to words,” Ms. Bialystok said. In other words, children have to work harder to access the right word in the right language, which can slow them down - by milliseconds, but slower nonetheless.
At the same time, bilingual children do better at complex tasks like isolating information presented in confusing ways. In one test researchers frequently use, words like “red” and “green” flash across a screen, but the words actually appear in purple and yellow. Bilingual children are faster at identifying what color the word is written in, a fact researchers attribute to a more developed prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain responsible for executive decision-making, like which language to use with certain people).
Ms. D’Souza said that both of her sons lagged their peers by almost a year in verbal development. Her pediatrician recommended speech therapy, and one son’s preschool teacher expressed concern that he did not know the alphabet. But when both started speaking, at around 3 years old, they were able to move fluidly among three languages. She said that her older son tested in the 99th percentile for the city’s gifted and talented program.
“The flexibility of their thinking helps them in nonlinguistic abilities like science and math,” she said, speaking of her children. “But at the same time the normal things - the alphabet - they have trouble with that.”
One arena in which being bilingual does not seem to help is the highly competitive kindergarten admission process.
“It doesn’t give you a leg up on the admissions process,” said Victoria Goldman, author of the sixth edition of “The Manhattan Family Guide to Private Schools.” It is one piece of the bigger puzzle, which includes tests scores, interviews and the ability of a child to follow directions. “Speaking another language is indicative that you are verbal, but you have to be behaved.”
George P. Davison, head of school at Grace Church School, a competitive downtown school, said that bilingualism tended to suppress verbal and reading comprehension test scores by 20 to 30 percent for children younger than 12. “If anything, it can have a negative effect on admissions,” he said.
Ms. Bialystok said that for a child to retain a language, a nanny probably would not do the trick. “It’s an interesting solution; it gives young children a consistent exposure,” she said. “But how long will the nanny be around, and who else will the child use that language with?”
Some parents have taken that into account. Nir Liberboim and his partner hired a Peruvian nanny to speak only Spanish with their son William, who is 1 1/2. Mr. Liberboim grew up in Texas and struggled to become fluent in Spanish because he was taking only a few classes a week. Knowing how hard it is to learn languages at older ages, he wanted to help his son early on, an opinion his partner shares. “We view it as a gift we are giving him,” Mr. Liberboim said.
They have decided to keep the nanny, if she is willing to stay, even after William has started school. “There’s a financial implication to that,” he said, “but we don’t want him to lose it.”
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 23, 2010
An article on Thursday about parents in New York City who are looking for baby sitters and nannies to help their children learn a second language gave an incorrect name for a language of Goa, India, spoken by the parents of Simona D’Souza, a mother whose nanny speaks only in Spanish to her children. It is Konkani, not Konkanese.
Below is the link to the New York Times website. Interesting article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/nyregion/19bilingual.html?pagewanted=2&_r=3&ref=todayspaper
Welcome
Wednesday, 1 September 2010, 11:29 pm by istravelli
Welcome to our group Inga from Germany and Lukasz from Poland who are arriving this weekend to their host families. We wish you both a successful year with your host families and looking forward to meet you.
Lukasz from Poland
Family reunites with former au pairs
Wednesday, 1 September 2010, 10:58 pm by istravelliFor most families choosing an au pair starts as a necessary means of a childcare. However, most families learn as they go along that it is not just childcare with cultural exchange, it also is life long friendship and great travel opportunities.
You might have noticed one of my previous posts about one of our host family who was traveling around the Europe to meet all of their au pairs. If not, scroll down to see their blog and check it out.
Here is another article from msnbc.com about the family that had a similar trip to Europe with the goal to reunite with the former au pairs. It just shows that au pairs really become part of the family, even if they move back home and live far away over the ocean.
Family reunites with former au pairs in Germany
Image from the original article with former au pairs.
August meeting at Woodbury Days
Wednesday, 1 September 2010, 5:06 pm by afenner
November Meeting
Wednesday, 1 September 2010, 4:08 pm by Jennifer PetingaHi Everyone,
In November we are looking to a 5k Turkey Trot or some type of run. I have been looking into different runs and looking for the most cost effective and convenient. I will keep you posted.
LCC Appreciation Week–Thank you,everyone!
Wednesday, 1 September 2010, 2:55 pm by lrappaportPlease check on link:
http://buzz.culturalcare.com/post/1020968930/cultural-care-au-pair-host-families-and-au-pairs
Tanya From Germany Arrives This Friday!!
Wednesday, 1 September 2010, 1:56 pm by krelstab
Tanya From Germany arrives on Sepember 3, 2010
Sept Au pair meeting - 9/25 10 -2 pm
Wednesday, 1 September 2010, 12:49 pm by mwaddoupsColorado Cultural Care Au Pair Scavenger Hunt
When: Saturday September 25th, 2010
Where: Confluence Park in Denver, CO
Registration: 10:00 to 10:30 AM
Scavenger to start promptly at 10:30 AM (don’t be late or you will miss out!)
The event will finish at Civic Park at 2 PM – The teams with the most points will win fabulous prizes!
Friends from other au pair agencies are welcome!
Points will be awarded for those that wear their Cultural Care Au Pair T-Shirt.
Please bring a lunch or money to buy lunch.If you have a blue Cultural Care t-shirt already, please wear it (you will earn points for your team for wearing a shirt). If you don’t have one, don’t worry, we will provide some shirts for those that need them, but you need to arrive early to get your shirt and your points!
Please arrange to carpool with another au pair if you need a ride or take the light rail to the Pepsi Center station.
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