kuwait moms guide newsletter - issue #27

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Issue #27 February 3, 2015

NEWSLETTER

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GUIDE

Everything moms in Kuwait need to know.





The start of a new month and a chance to look at the world in a new way. This issue weve got an exciting interview with a mom food photographer and world-famous Instagrammer in Kuwait. Jaclyn Garcia shares a bit about her passion and reminds all of us moms to make time for ourselves and our hobbies and interests.

We also discuss in this issue a few ideas about how you motivate children to learn especially focusing on the issue of external versus intrinsic motivation. We would love to hear feedback from any moms or teachers who know more about this subject or can recommend further techniques for

encouraging intrinsic motivation. Please email us [email protected].

In line with this we are also glad to share an article on teaching children to be bilingual, an issue many moms in Kuwait must deal with.

Finally we look forward to the variety of fun activities that will be on offer this month. Kuwait Moms Guide would also like to take this opportunity to wish all of Kuwait a Happy, Joyous and Safe National and Liberation Day holidays at the end of the month.

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EVERYTHING MOMS IN KUWAIT NEED TO KNOWLocal events, news and information for moms and kids about life in Kuwait

or Facebook (www.facebook.com/kuwaitmomsguide) and be sure to check our website, www.kuwaitmomsguide.com to stay up to date on schedules of upcoming events and activities.

Warm regards, Kuwait Moms Guide Team


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ENJOYING THE REHEARSALINTRINSIC VS EXTERNAL MOTIVATION AND CHILDRENS LEARNINGBy Jamie Etheridge

How do you motivate kids to learn? Its a question Ive been struggling with lately as I try to entice my daughter to enjoy learning Arabic.

The problem began simple enough. She liked Arabic in KG1&KG2 but at the start of Grade 1, she had no clue what the Arabic teacher was saying. This completely turned her off of the language and suddenly she started asking to go to the nurse or the bathroom every day during Arabic.

Realizing there was a problem, we hired a tutor. Sadly this turned out to be a huge mistake. The tutor only taught by rote memorization and was incredibly boring (I nearly fell asleep listening to him one day as he taught her at the kitchen table).

In two short months, he failed to teach her one single thing about Arabic except to hate it completely.

Rather than give up, we found another tutor and this one, thankfully, is a Montessori-trained teacher who engages

our daughter with activities and games. Shes still not where she needs to be but at least she no longer hates Arabic lessons and some days even looks forward to them. I realized after this episode that I needed to think more about how she learns and what motivates her to learn. She does




well in school and loves art and books. But we also hope to enroll her for a music program in the summer and I dont want another battle on my hands.

Intrinsic vs external motivationMost teachers are probably familiar with the ideas of intrinsic vs external motivation. Im neither an academic nor a teacher and so Im sure there is a more detailed, articulate definition available. But from what I gather external motivation, simply put, is reward-based. You encourage a child to learn his ABCs by offering rewards like chocolate or a trip to the zoo or even a star on a wall chart. Grades and good job praise and school trophies are considered external motivators. They can work but they also create limits. Once the reward has been achieved or the praise received, there is no incentive for the child to continue the activity or learning.

Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is derived from an internal desire to participate in an activity simply for the pleasure of doing it. Childrens intrinsic motivation develops and changes over time. A baby, for instance, will learn to

crawl or grasp at toys not for the learning value or skill acquired or even the praise from parents but because they enjoy doing it.

As children get older, however, and they are exposed to external motivations, they may lose some of that intrinsic desire to learn. Intrinsic motivation also needs a constellation of factors. Children need to feel confident that they can do what they are trying to learn, even if its difficult at first. They also need to feel a sense of autonomy, that they are the ones driving the learning (not being forced by type A parents like myself), that they are encouraged and supported in their learning and being given opportunities for learning and necessary guidance.

In a 2014 article in Psychology Today, author Gareth Sundem notes an additional factor that needs to be present or at least seems to have some direct effect in helping children develop intrinsic motivation. He discusses a research study conducted at Northwestern University where researchers focused on the question of how to keep a childs sustained interest in an otherwise boring task (like piano practice or conjugating Arabic verbs).

Causally rich informationThe researchers found that offering causally rich information significantly improved the childrens engagement with an otherwise boring task. [You can read more about the study here https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-trust/201403/new-kind-reward-increases-intrinsic-motivation and here http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12151/abstract] Causally rich information can be anything that adds to the childs understanding and comprehension of the thing to be learned. In our case, it would be information about the history of Arabic, maybe details about the different spoke Arabics (dialects) and even some funny words or phrases or rhymes in Arabic. I have a book of illustrated Arabic sayings and since she loves art, I thought I might try to teach her the sayings by letting her draw them. I am also looking for an Arabic calligraphy class for kids in the hope that this will trigger a desire by her to learn more. Im not sure any of this will work and she may never be fluent but I figure this exercise can be useful for other activities in the future as




well. My husband and I have a list of things we plan to teach our kids. Mixed in with basic lifeskills like cooking and our values are a handful of skills are also the notions of grit and determination. To me these seem like essential life skills that will help her when times are challenging.

Like learning a language or playing the violin, however, they are learned through practice, practice, practice. My goal now is to figure out how to help her enjoy the rehearsal.

References for further research

Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, structures and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology 84, Pages 261-271. Barrett, KC & Morgan, GA. (1995) http://www.education.com/reference/article/intrinsic-motivation-children-education/

http://geekdad.com/2014/03/trick-a-child-into-violin/




DOS AND DONTS OF RAISING A BILINGUAL CHILD

Those of us embarking on the journey of raising bilingual kids know that even though we wouldnt have it any other way, it definitely is not an easy thing to do. Not only does it require commitment, ingenuity, planning and consistency, but also a sense of hyper awareness

because were always placing language input as a day-to-day, moment-to-moment priority. In other words, we really never turn off the raising-bilingual-kids chip!

Theres tons of useful reads on the topic that motivate, encourage, and give you the

tools needed to come up with a good plan. Ill add to that a simple, yet precise list of dos and donts to keep in mind for parents raising kids in two or more languages.

Do expose him to the language in ways that are fun, playful and

By Ana Flores




daughter was 4 years old and I had become vehement about the Spanish-only rule in our house because her exposure to English had increased so much at preschool. She realized it was a passion point for me, so she rebelled and used it against me. I call it the bilingual rebellion stage.

Do start immersing the child in the target language as early as possible. The earlier they start receiving consistent exposure to a language, the better.

Dont believe that theres an age when its too late to gift your child a second language. It will be a bit harder the older they get because theyre not passive learners anymore, but with a good plan and constant exposure, its still possible especially if the target language can be spoken by at least one parent at home all the time.

Do be proactive in creating a bilingual family plan and committing to being consistent in the quality and quantity of language exposure that will be given to your child. Choose one of the methods of raising a bilingual kid and stick to it.

Dont underestimate how important commitment and consistency are in successfully raising a bilingual child. As with everything in life, plans change and things need to adapt, but as long as you remain convinced that bilingualism is an important gift you want to give your child, youll always find a way to remain consistent.

Do surround your child with people and moments that will create for him aperceived need to speak the language. It helps

immersive. Find playgroups of kids who are being raised in the same languages, or maybe a fun activity that can be done in the language. There are also lots of multilingual apps, movies, and books that should be part of your arsenal.

Dont force or coerce a child to speak back to you in the target language. They easily become unresponsive and can even become rebellious because it puts them in control. This happened to me when my




mixing languages. Its very common for children growing up with two languages to select words and phrases that work better for them in each language. Its a phase they will outgrow and its actually a sign of a powerful bilingual brain that can easily code-switch between the two languages it knows well.

Do look for playgroups, day cares, preschools and/or dual language immersion programs in school to increase their exposure and help them become bi-literate as well. Immersion in a language is key to long term development of it and children learn best when they dont realize theyre learning. Thats the beauty of learning a language at a young age through immersion!

Dont assume that the exposure they are getting in another setting is enough to become completely fluent in the language its a complement. Commit to finding ways to travel to immerse them even more, buy books in the language, find friends and/or family members so they can have exposure in a more natural, non-academic way as well.

Do find a supportive community of parents that are as passionate as you are about raising bilingual kids. This community can be online or offline, the important thing is to be able to share stories and hear from others so you know that its all just as it should be.

Dont listen to uninformed people that think they are providing you with thoughtful information about the negative consequences of raising a child in two languages. Most of them are referring to common myths. The truth is we still havent found an anecdotal or scientific argument against bilingualism.

http://www.babble.com/babble-voices/7-dos-and-donts-of-raising-a-bilingual-child-2/

them to be in situations where they need to be proactive about choosing to speak the language and feeling accomplished that they are able to do it on their own.

Dont underestimate how capable he is of using the language when he needs to, even if with you hes just been refusing to speak it. Hes still absorbing the sounds of the language and developing retention. He might just surprise you one day!

Do make sure the language exposure that different people provide is consistent and they dont switch from one language to the next. This will help your child form the language relations he needs to thrive.Dont panic if your child starts




CREATING TABLESCAPES THROUGH FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY Getting to know Kuwait-based mom instagrammer, TenThousandthSpoon

Mom of two Jaclyn Garcia turns cooking for her family into an

artform through her love of food photography. Her photographs

are landscapes of culinary desire, an homage to her homeland and a playful arrangement of flavor,

color and tastiness.

Her photos of traditional Filipino foods like siopao asado

or ice buko have won her international recognition and her work has been profiled in international blogs and

magazines like Mr Porter.com, which ranked her among the top 8 Foodstagrammers You Need to Know [http://www.

mrporter.com/journal/the-report/foodstagrammers-you-need-to-

know/163] in the world.




Kuwait Moms Guide spoke with the 36 year old stay-at-home mom and foodstagrammer about her art and passion. Originally from the Philippines, Jaclyn is homeschooling her two girls in Kuwait and uses food photography as a creative outlet and me time hobby.

Kuwait Moms Guide: Tell us about your blog? Jaclyn: Tenthousandthspoon is my blog and Instagram account where I share some of our favorite food and recipes. Its sort of my playground where I can practice composing and styling images.

KMG: How did you get into food photography? What was your inspiration and how did you learn to do it?

Jaclyn: Ive always wanted to study photography when I was young but I never had the opportunity to do so. At first, what I really wanted to do were street photography and landscapes. But it really didnt fit my lifestyle, as Im mostly at home and Im too shy to approach strangers for their photos. So I decided to practice with what I have around me and what we have a lot of, has always been: Food.

I think my appreciation of food photography started with the beautiful food photos of Aran Goyoaga, Kulsum Kunwa, Naomi Robinson,Katie Quinn Davies, Linda Lomelino, Helen Dujardin, Aimee Twigger, Beth Kirby and Beatrice Peltre that I would see in Pinterest before. Their photos taught me about lighting, composition and the beauty of still life.

I started with Filipino food as I was feeling homesick at the time and also, I felt there werent enough beautifully taken Filipino food photos at the time. So it became sort of a little project to try and present Filipino food in a non-traditional way.




KMG: Do you cook every day just for the photo opportunities or do you eat everything you cook/photograph?

Jaclyn: I do cook everyday because if I dont we will starve! Hehe. Most of the things I cook, dont even make it to my Instagram, they are eaten instantaneously. We do eat everything I cook and shoot. Only some of my photos are planned, most of them are spur of the moment kind of things. The shoots I do plan, I would prepare the ingredients and props beforehand, and try to think of the theme or color I want.

KMG: What is your favorite photo and why?

Jaclyn: Most of my favorite food photos are those of our breakfasts because its also my favorite time of day. I love the light and the simplicity of bread and eggs.

KMG: What is your favorite Filipino food and can you share the recipe?

Jaclyn: I have lots of favorites. But the Filipino food thats being requested a lot lately in our

household is the Champorado or the chocolate rice pudding/porridge. Its one of my childhood favorites and it brings back a lot of memories of home. Its perfect for the cold weather were having these days.

KMG: How do you involved your children in your work?

Jaclyn: Actually, I prefer shooting when they are all still asleep. So I can be done and packed up when they wake up. But when I shoot in the afternoons they do help me by holding my reflectors or by being my hand models.

KMG: What have you learned and what do you find most rewarding about food photography?

Jaclyn: Food photography has actually forced me to bake and cook new things. See, I would sometimes learn a new dish only because I want to make a photo of it. Hehe. It also helped me style and compose an image faster. What do I find most rewarding about it? Hmm, I like learning new things about food and culture. It gave me the chance to meet other chefs, photographers and other foodies all over the world through Instagram.




KMG: Have you ever considered doing it professionally? Or have you any experience doing it professionally?

Jaclyn: I have no real intentions of doing it professionally. Its really just something I like to do on my spare time. But Id love to do collaborations though. Because I still have a lot to learn and shooting with other creatives would teach me a lot.

KMG: What advice would you offer other moms interested in food photography?

Jaclyn: My advice would be to start with the basics of photography first and get to know your camera well. When youve learned to take sharp and properly lighted images, then you can start to study about composing and styling images. Browsing through photos of your favorite food photographers will also help you understand how to style food photos. Try different styles first then choose which fits your best.

Check out Jalyns blog at http://tenthousandthspoon.blogspot.com/ or follow her on Instagram @tenthousanthspoon

ChamporadoBy Jaclyn Garcia

Ingredients:1 cup glutinous rice cup cocoa powder cup sugar3 - 4 cups water ( add more or less, depending on the cooking time of the rice)milk of your choice ( evaporated milk, fresh milk, condensed milk, coconut milk etc) to pour over the cooked champorado

Procedure:1. Bring the water to a boil.2. Mix in the cocoa powder and sugar in a bowl.3. Add the glutinous rice in the boiling water and stir continuously for about 12-18 minutes ( stirring is done to avoid the rice getting burnt) or just until the rice is cooked. You will see that the rice has popped. Add the cocoa and sugar mixture. Stir until the porridge has achieved a thick and creamy texture.4. Serve in bowls and drizzle with your choice of milk.




WE ALL WANT THE BEST FOR OUR CHILDREN, RIGHT? SO HERES THE CHALLENGE . . .Start the New Year with a new resolution and provide your child/children with the opportunity to:

learn more about the culture around them, make new friends, develop team work, critical thinking, problem-solving and other 21st century skills necessary

for success as students, adults and professionals, discover the joy of being creative, and have fun in the process

Teamwork Creativity Innovation

Academicians, sociologists and the HR departments of most Fortune 500 companies agree, Creativity, along with innovation are critical skills for achieving success in the 21st century workplace.Creativity is the ability

to produce new, diverse and unique ideas. Thinking creatively means looking at things from a different perspective and not be restricted by rules, customs, or norms.Innovation is the implementation of creativity -

the introduction of a new idea, process, or product. Creativity provides the necessary spark to get the ball rolling.

The Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah has programmes for children




between the ages of 18 months and 12 years old. The programmes are tailored to the appropriate age groups and are designed to encourage the participants to explore the Amricani Cultural Centre, the exhibitions housed inside, and other cultural organisations in Kuwait to use their creative genius during specially planned art activities.

The Childrens Art Workshop (CAW) programmes (CAW Tots ages 3.5 to 5, CAW Jrs ages 6 to 8, and CAW ages 9 12) focus on critical thinking and applied creativity. The sessions are held on Saturday mornings, from 9:30 11:00,

at the Amricani Cultural Centre. The schedule is available on our website (www.darmuseum.org.kw).

Amricani Minis, the programme for children 18 months 3 years old (with a family member), mixes literacy, story-telling and creativity. The sessions are held at the Amricani Cultural Centre one Tuesday morning per month, from 10:00 11:00.

So, you could let them sleep in on Saturdays (or Tuesdays) and then, maybe, spend an hour or so watching television or playing with their iPad. Or you could bring them to the Amricani Cultural Centre where they will

expand their knowledge-base and enhance their important 21st century skills. Best of all, theyll enjoy it so much theyll thank you for it.

Come and join us; theres plenty of room at the table!

For more information, email [email protected]




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