When it comes to planning an amazing family trip at home or abroad, it can be totally overwhelming when you realise everything that needs to be done.

What if I told you there was an easier way to travel with your kids? A way that will show you the pitfalls, the tips, and tricks, so you can start taking extraordinary vacations instead of heading to the same place every year.

Travel with kids doesn't need to be quite so difficult. It's the most incredible experience you can have with your family, and can be so much easier with the right tools, knowledge and helpful community. 

Today I'm bringing to you a conversation I had this week with Nicci from Trip Chiefs. We talk about how to reduce the overwhelm when it comes to PLANNING a trip. We talk logistics about how to PREPARE our kids for adventures and how to SAVE MONEY and make every penny stretch to create the most magical holiday for your family.

This week, I bring to you a conversation with educator and Trilingual mother, Madalena Xanthopoulou from The Alma Collective.

Born in Brussels (the French part) to a Greek speaking father and German speaking mother, Madalena experienced first hand what it's like to grow up with a multitude of cultures and languages. This has impacted her life significantly and is now defining her children's adventures too. 

For many of us, the thought of teaching our kids a foreign language can be overwhelming but especially when it comes to a language that includes characters NOT found in the English language. 

Today's interview with Jace Chong flips the script on what is possible when it comes to teaching kids Mandarin. As an educator and mama currently raising her son to speak English and Mandarin, she shares the tips that has worked for her own family, but also the the families of her students - kids aged 6 months to 10 years at her Mandarin Playgroup based out of London. 

The Cultured Kid Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/theculturedkid/

The Raising Cultured Kid Shownotes: https://www.theculturedkid.com/blog/rck-010-how-to-teach-your-kids-mandarin 

This week, I bring to you a conversation with educator and mum of 4, Amy Cox from Playful Little Learners where we talk about why play matters when it comes to engaging the little ones in our world and how we can practically encourage our kids to play, and learn independent play techniques.

Amy shares a little of how she ended up teaching English in China and how without understanding a single word of Mandarin, how she engaged her class through play and effectively taught the English language with ease.

1. How to create a home that's conducive to play.
2. Amy's top 3 toys that she highly recommends for kids
3. Why play is the universal language of kids
4. How she helps other parents engage their kids in play, even if they don't know where to start!

Have you ever dreamed of one day, moving to the other side of the world??? I know I have! The dream is filled with romantic notions of new food experiences, adventures in new towns and villages and the opportunity to immerse my kids in a whole new world of language and culture. 

This week on The Raising Cultured Kid's Podcast,  I caught up with one of my dear friends, Sally Haffenden as she shares a little of how an 8 year dream of moving to the other side of the world with her young family, finally became a reality. In 2018, Sally and her family moved from Sydney, Australia to a small town village in the heart of Austria. 

While Sally had a grasp of the German language, neither of her young children had been introduced to it... until now. I can't wait to share with you some of the adventures that Sally has had with her young family as she shares the highs and the lows of moving to the other side of the world with her family, and practical tips to help the kids not only navigate change but thrive in a brand new culture and how it's very possible for anyone to do it too.

Key Points We Discussed:

• Where did the dream to one day live in Austria come from.
• The best time to relocate to another country, with young kids.
• How she started introducing German to her kids before they relocated.
• What preparations did she undertake before relocating.
• How are they able to live and work remotely with her family.

Key Points We Discussed:

• Surviving the first week on the ground Deciding between a local German language school or an International Bilingual School.
• Resources that supported her kids language learning.
• How to navigate the emotions of kids during the transition. 
• Benefits of giving your kids the opportunity to live in another country and much more!

Images of Tirol, Austria via @allaboutmela

A huge thankyou to Sally Haffenden for sharing her experience with us. If you've ever dreamed of making the move to the other side of the world with your kids, you certainly won't find a stronger advocate for it. 

As always, I'd love you to take a picture of you or your surroundings and show us where in the world you are listening to today's episode! Don't forget to tag @theculturedkid on social media and maybe let me know where you would love to move with your kids one day - even if it's just for a few years

To find out more about how you can teach a language to your own kids from home, make sure you head over to The Cultured Kid where you can get everything you need to teach your own kids a foreign language from home. 

If you need some extra inspiration when it comes to teaching your kids a language, head over and join our 5 Day Kids Language Challenge and see how easy it is to teach 5 words in 5 days!

Don't miss out of what families from all around the world are already using to teach the foundations of a language with our preschool language videos and lessons!  Join The Cultured Kid today!

German Language Videos for Kids

You can find us on all the following social media platforms.

Web:  www.theculturedkid.com Facebook: @theculturedkid Instagram: @theculturedkidPinterest: @theculturedkid

If you've found this week's Podcast helpful, I would LOVE you to write a review!

Podcast reviews are super important to iTunes and the more reviews we receive the more likely iTunes will reward us with better reach. I want to help empower more mamas to give their kids a head start on their language journey and would love your help to make this a reality! I already love you forever, but I'd be extremely grateful if you would review me on iTunes!

If you've loved this podcast, never miss another one! All you have to do is SUBSCRIBE to the Raising Cultured Kids Podcast on iTunes.

This week on The Raising Cultured Kid's Podcast,  I caught up with Jess Swenson from Lets Adventure Some More and she shares in details about the last 12 months of traveling the world with her family of 5. 

Their first stop on their world trip took them through China. Jess shares both her apprehensions of traveling to such an unknown country beforehand but also the highlights she experienced once she got there with her family.

I have no doubt that Jess's adventurous spirit will challenge you to step out and find ways to immerse your own kids in cultures entirely other to their normal everyday life!

Key Points We Discussed:

• Why Jess decided to travel full time and 'world-school' her kids.
• Why China was the first stop on her 12-month itinerary.
• How the Swensons wereable to afford to travel the world as a family of 5.

Key Points We Discussed:

• How to prepare your kids to travel the world - practical tips.
• Top day trips to visit when in China.
• How her children handled the different food culture.
• Recommendations on what to do if you only have 3 days in China. 
• Common misconceptions traveling to China.
• Favorite memory of her time in China - It might also be one of the most dangerous too. 

One of the most well-known language strategies used to teach kids a second language at home is the OPOL Method. This most commonly refers to the One Parent, One Language approach where a parent speaks only one language to a child, ensuring maximum engagement in the target language. That is assuming you're fluent in a language

This week, I sat down with Tetsu Yung from Ask Tetsu and he shared his unique approach to the OPOL Method. He also shared how he's teaching his kids to speak 5 languages, even though he only speaks one specific language to his kids at home.

If you can only speak one language but dream of raising bilingual kids, then this episode is for you!   

Raising a child to be bilingual can be an intimidating task, particularly if you're not fluent in the second language.

Many parents are fearful of incorrectly pronouncing the vocabulary, or not being able to speak in the proper sentence structure and choose to hold off introducing a language until the child is old enough to go to school. The only problem with this approach is that the best time to teach a language is before the age of 7 when a child's brain is hardwired to learn one, or two or more languages!

If this sounds a little like where you're at, rest assured, you're not alone. There are many barriers that can stop you from taking your first step, particularly if you are a monolingual family. Here are a few tips to help you take the leap and introduce a second language today.

Today's guest is Aileen Passiello-Mcaleer - Venezuelan-Italian, mama of two, born and raised in the US. Aileen grew up in a Spanish speaking household but spent most of her life and school speaking English so while bilingual was the norm in her household, it wasn't until Aileen had her children, that she knew she wanted to pass Spanish onto them.

Carrie Smith, founder of "Our Crafty World," currently lives in LA but grew up in a border town in Arizona. At 15, her Mum saved up and sent her on a journey to Germany for a month and learned the basics of the German language and fell in love with the culture - it was there and then she believes she was "bitten by the travel bug."

She is an incredible educator with a story that inspires others to get out of their comfort zone and also shows you how easy it can be to teach your little ones about the world, inside the four corners of your own home. 

Carrie is passionate about bringing world culture into the homes of families and education facilities and I'm really excited to share her story with you and her tips along the way!