#kate mcdermott

[universitybookstore]

We want to eat at Kate’s house. New from Countryman Press and the author of Art of the Pie, Kate McDermott, comes Home Cooking with Kate McDermott.

[kate-writes-poetry]

When I was a child,

I learned about rocks.

The gravel in my front yard amazed me.

The earth made every pebble with time and

years of wear, just as it has made all of us.

If you think about it, we're all just pebbles.

We don't look too remarkable as a whole,

but each specific person is beautiful

and built from time and pressure.

[languagemysteries]

Multilingual education is a door that must stay open

A popular Chinese proverb says that, "To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world." Home to tremendous linguistic diversity, the Asia-Pacific region is seeing these windows closing rapidly.

THIS ARTICLE IS AMAZING

 Multilingual education can contribute to sustainability! 

“Linguistic diversity enriches us as it includes vital knowledge needed to navigate the complex global challenges faced by humanity. Many of the world's indigenous minority language speaking communities have profound insights into local lands, plants, animals, eco-systems, and ecological adaptation strategies” ... 

“When facing the long-term consequences of climate change, the cultural memory of minority languages, what the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) refers to as intangible  cultural heritage, carries a wealth of untapped insights that are relevant to our present-day challenges.”

And we know minority language speakers learn so much better when they develop academically in their first language, as they acquire a second language.

“...ensuring children learn in a language they understand is a prerequisite to support for children's right to education. Without learning in the Mother Tongue, children may spend three or more years in school but leave with no usable literacy skills. For many ethnic minority language speaking youngsters... education can seem irrelevant and this, along with typically long distances to schools, result in high drop-out rates. “This type of education should be a global priority. Students who develop strong academic skills in their mother language and then systematically acquire the national language advance more quickly in school than those forced to study languages they do not speak.”

...

It even quotes a language hero of mine, National Geographic Explorer in Residence Wade Davis. What’s not to love. 

Minority languages matter!

[kate-writes-poetry]

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[kate-writes-poetry]

The waves of the ocean beckon me as I watch them rise and crash in the distance.

"Come with us" - they whisper.

I imagine slipping beneath their dark alluring beauty and escaping the confines of living on the land.

The world is mysterious beyond the shoreline.

I know I wouldn't last long beneath the waves, but at least for that short time,

I am free.

- Kate McDermott

[kate-writes-poetry]