Other Collaborations
Being cross-cultural
Cross-cultural awareness is another one of my many interests, and I am a qualified International Youth Trainer helping children in families moving between countries and cultures.
Through FIGT I was fortunate to make friends with many experts in the topic of global mobility, among them the wonderful Ruth Van Reken, who coined the term “Third Culture Kids”. With David Pollock, she has co-authored the ground-breaking book “Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds”. I am happy to have had the opportunity to contribute a little bit about bilingual children to the 3rd edition of it.
The definition for a TCK is “an individual who has spent a significant part of the development years in a culture other than the parents’ culture”. Another term that is increasingly being used is “Cross-Cultural Kid” (CCK) which is an umbrella term for any children who grow up with more than one culture, independent of where they live or whether they have moved between countries.
From 2016 to 2019 I was the vice-president for Families In Global Transition (FIGT) which is a forum for globally mobile individuals, families, and those working with them.
FIGT promotes cross-sector connections for sharing research and developing best practices that support the growth, success, and well-being of people crossing cultures around the world.
I also met Mariam Ottimofiore through FIGT and I am happy that she asked me to contribute to her book “This Messy Mobile Life” with my knowledge and experience of bilingual and multilingual children.