Categories for Blog

March 3, 2021

Time for some changes: Starting a new blogging journey

Dear Readers,

After writing our school’s blog for 5 years (and occasionally sharing it with other contributors!), I’ve decided that it’s time to start a new blogging journey. What?!?! Yes, a new blogging platform has been created 🙂  Why? To inspire you even more to travel, read and learn more!

What content will be shared on the blogs:

School’s blog

I’ll continue writing our school’s blog: the posts will be more about languages, language learning, language teaching, language tutors and language research. They’ll be posted monthly or bi-monthly.

Kinga’s blog

I’ll write about travelling (also with kids!), fascinating books, my personal stories / research about languages, adult and kids’ bilingualism. And an occasional off-topic might be shared there, too! It’s a creative and inspirational platform to get motivated, to share one’s experiences and to show the learning journey. Posts will be published fortnightly.

So we’re divorcing, but not entirely, as the school’s blog will still be active and my new blog will continue the school’s blog mission, but with a more diverse and personal touch.

I hope you’ll continue popping by to read our school’s blog. You’re also very welcome to join me on my new blogging journey.

Stay safe and well.

Thank you for being my reader,

Kinga

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January 16, 2021

Goodbye 2020. Hello 2021.

I think 2020 feels heavy, don’t you agree? It wasn’t my worst year, but it certainly was a challenging one.

Online teaching, financial challenges, home-schooling, less travelling abroad, less family & friends. And the restrictions. Would I want this global change not to happen? Yes and no. On one hand, I so dislike the limited freedom, but on the other hand, I’m so happy for the mental and spiritual work I did when in lockdown. I’m grateful how connected we now are with my family (oh, there were some good arguments, too!). I also became closer to some of my friends and every meet up is so celebrated and appreciated (like never before). I also became more connected with our amazing BLS teachers. This is my 2020 story, I bet everybody has their own personal experience which maybe also have changed the way they live or see the world.

What will 2021 bring? What do we plan?

For the immediate future, we know we’ll run our language courses online. Our winter term is coming soon 🙂 We’re so happy that we’ve created this space where you can learn and improve your language skills from the comfort of your home. Many of you say that your language course is something to look forward to every week. It is so nice to learn that we bring this positivity into your live. We’ll continue offering individual tuition, too. We also plan to blog more over here 🙂

What to wish you in 2021? To make the most out of it. Regardless of the situation, let’s create another great year! Let’s read more, travel more and learn more (languages at BLS)!!!

Happy New Year 2021!

I hope to see you soon.

Love,

Kinga

PS. Our winter language term starts on 18th January: Enrol now!

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December 9, 2020

Book review: 3 READING recommendations for Christmas 2020

I’m so thrilled to share the below book reviews with you today. They’re my ‘comfort’ reads, my inspiration and my intellectual treats 😉 Enjoy! 

Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman

Books wrote our life story, and as they accumulated on our selves (on our windowsills, and underneath our sofa, and on top of our refrigerator), they became chapters in it themselves. Anne Fadiman

It’s an intellectual treat; funny, thought-provoking & written so beautifully yet so effortlessly. For book lovers, book collectors, (common) readers or (university) researchers. It’s a wonderful read, I was bursting out with laughter so often that my children became a bit suspicious about this book (only text, no pics and I have so much fun?!). It’s about books (of course!): about marrying the books together, playing with words, compulsive proofreading (my absolute favourite typo: ‘Prince of Whales’), plagiarism aka ‘burglar[y] of others’ intellect’ (p. 86), having kids who read (a little spoiler: it helps when their parents read :), second-hand books (oh, the moment when we find a real reading gem!). I’d had this book on my bookshelf for a while and, this autumn, I suddenly had the urge to read it – and I’m so glad I finally did. Ex Libris is such an absolute pleasure to read and it’s pocket-sized, so good on the go / when travelling, too!

Afoot and light-hearted. A journal for mindful walking. by Bonnie Smith Whitehouse

You never come back from a walk feeling worse. Simon Armitage

This is my inspiration to walk more. To wander without any goals, to be fully present, to paint / draw / write a poem, to enjoy my own company, to have a forest-bathing moment, to exercise my body, my mind and my soul, to be inspired to create more. This is my walking journal: my space to take notes, to be creative, to comment on the views. There are quotations, little prompts, wisdom words: “(…) boredom, rest and idleness can be profound ways to stimulate the imagination and let our attention expand and unfurl.” (p. 84) I just cannot wait to fill the journal with some funny sketches 😉

Family adventures. Exploring the world with children.

(…) safe has plans, crazy has stories. TK McKamy

This is an album of family travels: it’s a collection of stories about exploring the world with children. The publication is edited by Austin Sailsbury, an American writer who lives with his family in Copenhagen. The travel stories are beautiful, I know how cliché it sounds, but this is precisely how I see them. From sustainable surfing adventures in Europe, exploring the romantic Amalfi Coast, sailing and (jumping) in the Ionian Sea, finding the perfect wild swimming spots in Texas to beginning family and discovering community in Uganda. From finding peacefulness and quietness in the woods and escaping everyday business in the Canadian wilderness, to finding your ‘smultronställe’ (a Swedish word meaning ‘wild strawberry patch’ aka a place of comfort, worth returning to experience personal idyll). From experiencing the magic of stargazing in New Zealand to finding a new home. It’s also about feeling alive and adventurous, about discovering real family bonding and creating life-long travel memories. And the photographs: what a treat! BUT, there is one drawback: it’s so inspirational that you immediately want to pack your bags and explore the world! Even now, or more correctly: especially now 😉

What reading inspirations have you discovered recently? Please let me know in the comments below.

Kinga Macalla

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November 25, 2020

Book review: Multilingual is normal. An anthology of voices. Talking about talking.

#multilingualisnormal

What an amazing idea to collect voices about multilingualism. It’s so ordinary, yet so extraordinary. 60 stories about the pleasure, the fun, the enthusiasm of learning, knowing and using foreign languages. The book shows different life scenarios, career possibilities and language journeys. It’s a perfect read for those learning languages, as well as translators, polyglots, multilingual families, teachers and professionals working with languages or with multilingual students and families.

The idea to collect stories about multilingualism was born in the summer of 2020 and belongs to the wonderful Cate Hamilton. Cate Hamilton is so multi-talented: she’s a co-founder of Babel Babies and a leader of the Language Revolution Podcast. She has also started a postgrad degree at Oxford University (!!!). The book was actually created in just one month: from 10th July to 10th August 2020 (amazing, huh?).

And which story is my favourite? All of them! Just read below:

“It was during a parents’ evening, the first one I had been brave enough to conduct in Catalan, that I discovered the filler word I had picked up in the backstreet bars in town meant: ‘I shit on the Eucharist.’

The raised eyebrows from the first two parents didn’t alert me. Neither did the look of alarm on the pair I saw next. It was during the third meeting that I began to get the sense that something was going wrong. ” (Peter Munford, p. 45)

“I think the little monolingual boy who first opened Fun to Learn French would be proud of how far he’s come, and really pleased that he’s teaching children to love language like he does.

But I also think he’d be scowling at me and saying: ‘You’re not stopping at nine languages, are you?’

So I should probably crack on with Basque.” (Darren Lester, p. 75)

“Raising a multilingual family does not mean to choose a language strategy that everyone says will work but to choose one that allows you to go at your own pace. Find a way where you could teach your languages to your children that follows their interests.” (Adrienne, p. 173)

And finally, a little hint, you’ll find a story about my language journey there, too 😉

Enjoy reading!

You can get your e-book here and a paper version here.

Kinga Macalla

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November 4, 2020

Travelling corner: I fell in love with Exmoor

Why? Because, it has so much to offer! I re-discovered this beautiful region last winter and want to share with you why I find it so special. Below you’ll find my favourites of Exmoor:

Green

Exmoor is green. Even in winter, lower parts of the forests still remain green. It’s (almost) covered in trees and consequently, the air is very fresh (yes, you can feel the difference immediately). What I found really fascinating is that we weren’t so weather-dependant, even if it’s cloudy/rainy, it doesn’t impact our desire to go for a forest walk. Perfect solution!

Quietness

I love the business of everyday life, but I also like to be away, in nature, somewhere quiet. And I definitely slowed down in Exmoor. This region is not so commercial, so not too many tourists. It feels remote, yet local; a good combination.

Landscape

Beautiful. I found it so diverse, from stony beaches and paved walking paths to wild & muddy forests and windy sea shores. Its diversity makes it so unique and it gives you an appetite to explore further.

There is so much more to discover and I plan to return to Exmoor at different seasons to have a fuller picture of this beautiful region. Do let me know if you recommend any books on Exmoor or authors who explore this region. Let me know in the comments below.

Kinga Macalla

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October 21, 2020

Travelling corner: I fell in love with Exmoor

Why? Because, it has so much to offer! I re-discovered this beautiful region recently and want to share with you why I find it so special. Below you’ll find my favourites of Exmoor:

Green

Exmoor is green. Even in winter, lower parts of the forests still remain green. It’s (almost) covered in trees and consequently, the air is very fresh (yes, you can feel the difference immediately). What I found really fascinating is that we weren’t so weather-dependant, even if it’s cloudy/rainy, it doesn’t impact our desire to go for a forest walk. Perfect solution!

Quietness

I love the business of everyday life, but I also like to be away, in nature, somewhere quiet. And I definitely slowed down in Exmoor. This region is not so commercial, so not too many tourists. It feels remote, yet local; a good combination.

Landscape

Beautiful. I found it so diverse, from stony beaches and paved walking paths to wild & muddy forests and windy sea shores. Its diversity makes it so unique and it gives you an appetite to explore further.

There is so much more to discover and I plan to return to Exmoor at different seasons to have a fuller picture of this beautiful region. Do let me know if you recommend any books on Exmoor or authors who explore this region. Let me know in the comments below.

Kinga Macalla

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October 21, 2020

Book review: Gdziekolwiek mnie rzucisz by Dionisios Sturis

Dionisios Sturis was born in Greece, but grew up in Poland. He’s a documentary writer. After graduating from university, he moved to the Isle of Man to work in a shellfish factory, as many other Poles did back then. However, his story is different, because after a few years he left the island, returning to it regularly to work as a writer. This is when the book was born, a story about war, politics, Polish migration, ordinary everyday life, love, and death. It’s like reading about a big world being shrank into a tiny island. Fascinating. It somehow reminds me about Central Europe, where geopolitical, economic, and cultural ideas influence each other to create a pot of different flavours: important and trivial, grande and petit, global and local. It’s all so mixed up that it’s sometimes difficult to distinguish what’s important. Does it feel the same or similar on the Isle of Man? I don’t know. It’s probably a good question to be answered by the author himself.

Do you read books in other languages? In which language(s)? Let me know in the comments below.

Kinga Macalla

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October 7, 2020

Travelling corner: Baltic Sea in Poland

You know I love being by the sea and am even planning to move there one day (!). So when we planned our stay in Poland, we knew we wanted to go to the seaside, too. As the whole summer of 2020 was planned rather chaotically and last-minute, we chose the best location and summer chalet we could find! But, it turned out to be a beautiful spot which we explored intensively and greatly enjoyed. Where did we go to?

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea in Poland is a long shore of sandy beaches, forests and dunes. Some of the beaches have beautifully looked after white sands, like in Karwia. You can also find islands, e.g. Wolin and peninsulas, like Hel. The sea has relatively cold waters, but it doesn’t stop swimmers from enjoying some wild swimming or children from splashing and jumping through the waves. You can go on a boat trip or have a longer cruise to Sweden, Finland or Denmark. There are 9 different countries that have access to the Baltic Sea: Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.

Beaches of the Baltic Sea: Urban, Wide, Wild, White

What a choice! When visiting the Baltic Sea this summer, our base was just outside Ustka, a small town located in the middle of the Baltic shore. There was a long stretch of the urban, sandy beach going up to Orzechowo (a small picturesque wild beach). On one of our cycling trips, we discovered beautiful silver-blue waters and a wide beach in a village called Poddąbie. When visiting our friends in Jastrzębia Góra, we stopped for breakfast on a beautiful beach of white sands in Karwia. What are my favourite beach memories: swimming (of course!), walking (very relaxing!) and sitting and waiting for the sun to set (the explosion of colours!).

Cycling

Nearly the whole  Baltic seashore is surrounded by forests, lakes and rivers. Beautiful nature to be explored on foot, but also on bike. We rented bikes for a few days to explore local forests and beaches and found the whole experience wonderful! The cycling paths are occasionally a bit sandy (careful cycling important here!) and quite uneven (countryside roads). The paths are well marked, but occasionally, we had to ask somebody for directions. We cycled towards Orzechowo to visit inland dunes (on a very hot day!), explore a wild beach (beautiful colours of the sea), as well as go picking wild-blueberries (you sometimes need blue fingers!). We also cycled further away, to Poddąbie where the beach was wide with white sands and silver-blue waters. After a long cycle, it was a real treat! One happy observation: I think cycling in general and with kids is more and more popular in Poland (!!!).

As you can see the Baltic Sea has a rich offer for nature lovers, as well as for those after more active holidaying. We had a truly wonderful time exploring the seashore and have already made some plans for our future travel adventures by the Baltic. Have you been to the Baltic Sea? Which country did you visit? Please let me know in the comments below.

Kinga Macalla

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September 23, 2020

Book review: The Bilingual Brain by Albert Costa

“(…) bilingualism is the rule rather than the exception in the sense that the majority of the world’s population can communicate in more than one language.” Albert Costa

What a fascinating read! To be honest with you, I didn’t expect to be taken on a such an interesting journey learning about the science of language! While reading it, I was laughing, putting exclamation marks, taking side-notes, discussing it with my friends. I completely and entirely immersed myself into reading this wonderful publication.

Why is it so fascinating? I think mainly because, on one hand, we have a truly profound knowledge about bilingualism and, on the other, there are so many unanswered questions. So if there are any uni students or researchers reading my review: there is definitely some potential in the subject of bilingualism / multilingualism.

The book covers topics such as bilingual development in babies, bilingual brain vs monolingual brain, bilingualism and other cognitive skills, bilingualism in the social context, etc. What hides under those academic topics are some most interesting experiments, research and discussions about language and bilingualism.

Let me now share with you some of the most interesting findings (in my opinion!). Do you know that babies as young as six months of age, can have already developed a complex (!) knowledge of a language, including some words?! What is more, babies as young as 2 days (yes, days!) can differentiate between two different languages. Those findings only confirm that language development and the bilingual journey starts as early as in pregnancy.

Another fascinating topic is language attrition: the loss of the native language. What?! Can one forget their native language? Actually, yes. One can completely ‘forget’ their native language and swap it with the new one. I think learning a language is a truly complex phenomenon which as you can see from the above starts prenatally and requires our constant work (whether we’re aware of it or not). Hence, if you know more languages, the importance of maintaining the foreign / native language skills on a regular basis.

And finally decision-making and bilingualism: “(…) moral judgements do change according to language.” (p. 143), when facing a problem in a foreign language, we make better decisions (p. 137) and finally language can also influence how we’re seen by others (social marker, p. 144).  For example, we can be seen less trustworthy when speaking a language with a foreign language. This might be one of the reasons why people don’t want to have a foreign accent and are after accent reduction lessons. On the other hand, does trust increase, if there are more people speaking with foreign accents and this becomes a norm? Interesting, huh?!

One final point, the research brings as many questions as answers and it seems that there is a long way to verify and objectivise some of the findings and research. There is most certainly a huge potential in the subject of bilingualism and multilingualism, so am hopeful for more passionate and fascinating books to be published in the future!

What’s your current read on language or bilingualism? Please let me know in the comments below.

Kinga Macalla

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September 9, 2020

Travelling corner: My summer travels 2020

I think for many of us our plans for summer holidays / travels changed this year. We had planned to go to Portugal but, due to travel restrictions, we cancelled the trip. However, that wasn’t the only reason why we decided to cancel it. We also felt that we so wanted to see our family and friends in Poland this summer, so we booked our flight tickets to travel to Poland. Then those flights were cancelled, too, just two weeks before! Fortunately, a different airline had tickets still available, so we booked our flights with them. Phew! I think travelling became more challenging this year, but I’m grateful that we still could travel, even in this much limited capacity, don’t you agree?!

We loved our stay in Poland. The weather was beautiful. Most days: sunny, warm, cloudless. We went to see our family in Silesia, our friends in the mountains, then we travelled to the seaside to visit some other friends and spend some time splashing in the water and building sand castles. We went away for three whole weeks (omg how long?!) In the past, we would usually go away for maximum of 10 days, but this year we needed to be away longer, to properly re-charge our batteries after a very intensive and stressful spring. And to be honest with you, we really enjoyed this longer time away. We managed to use this time to the fullest, but also managed to get bored and look forward to coming back home.

In Poland, we spent most of our days in nature: by the lake, in the forest (picking up wild blueberries) and on the beach (oh, the pleasure of walking barefoot on the soft sand…). We also found a wild beach, searched for white sands and explored dunes in the forest. I’m preparing more travel stories for you, so do expect more posts on our summer travels in Poland.

Lazy and slow, this is how I’d describe our summer in Poland.

Let me know in the comments below how was your summer 2020?!

Kinga Macalla

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