Old-fashioned technology

This video is priceless if you are from a pre-computer generation like myself. You know how kids get a kick out of it when adults can’t handle technology? Well, adults, this is for you...

Memorize with Memrise

Always wanted to learn a language without leaving home? Feel like catching up on your kids' technology? Need to know Harry Potter's spells (all 89 of them!?) Wish you could take your current course with you wherever you go... to the office, on holidays, to the mountains or to your in-laws?

I have stumbled across an app called Memrise where apart from learning new languages, you can learn how to pattern in programming, pursue the study of the galaxies, become an expert in the animal world, acquire skills in electronics or gain a better understanding in anatomy.

Why, you can even create your own course. Although there are thousands of public courses to choose from, there are many reasons why people create their own courses, for example:
- Memorizing new colleagues' titles or teachers' names
- Naming bike parts
- A simple list of vocabulary for a test

You can keep your courses private, share them with friends, or open them up to the world to let others learn from you. Creating a course is easy, Do you have a good idea for a course? Ready to make one now? Just check it out here: http://www.memrise.com

This app is free and you can take your learning on the go, with an offline mode also available for learning in those hard-to-reach places.

Just for the record I am in no way being sponsored for any of the products or apps I post on my blog. They are all creations that my kids and I use in our daily lives and like to share with others. We used memrise when Expat girl needed to choose a new foreign language for school and wanted to learn a wee bit before she made a choice. For those who are wondering: she chose Mandarin Chinese.

How would you rule Switzerland?

Ever wondered how you would rule an entire country? Here is your chance to rule Switzerland for the next 70 years... providing you speak French. Let me tell you about the first game of Swiss policy strategy called: Tabula Rasa

Before the 2015 federal elections, the objective of the Swiss Radio and Television (RTS) is to let all citizens rebuild their ideal Switzerland, and by doing this express their wishes and priorities. Tabula Rasa is a journalistic experiment and an innovation in the way to animate elections in Switzerland.

Lower the retirement age? Build new nuclear power plants? Increase subsidies in agriculture? Restrict immigration? As a Tabula Rasa player, you will hold political levers of Switzerland to make decisions in creating a country that meets your aspirations.

However, you must ensure that the created world is fully functional: it is not to be a utopia, but you are asked to make choices that will shape a Switzerland which, while reflecting its values, would be a viable state.

In a fun and accessible way, Tabula Rasa can also be used as a teaching tool to educate young people about political and economic life of their country. Sign in and see how you face Switzerland's future challenges.

Free online multilingual support

Reading is so important for language learning and there are several fantastic websites that offer free books and activites in several languages.

Maria has collated and excellent list of websites where you can find a suitable children’s book in your language:
http://www.trilingualmama.com/online-stories-for-children/

Michele has found Spotify to be useful for finding audios of nursery rhymes and stories – note that the stories will be interspersed with adverts if you go for the free option:
http://intentionalmama.com/home/family-friendly-french-spanish-music-for-children-recent-finds

Frances uses audio books to teach her children to read Spanish:
http://discoveringtheworldthroughmysonseyes.blogspot.fr/2014/05/using-spanish-audio-books-to-teach-my.html

In Amanda‘s post you can find information about her five top favourite Chinese learning apps:
http://www.misspandachinese.com/5-best-kids-apps-family/

Annabelle writes about her family’s favourite iPad apps to support her childrens language development:
http://www.thepiripirilexicon.com/2013/04/our-favourite-multilingual-ipad-apps.html

Play, learn, and explore together

It's been a while since I've posted some app suggestions for kids, so here goes:

1.) THE HUMAN BODY
The Human Body is the first app in the Tinybop Explorer's Library. Everything, from the bones and brain to cells and veins, is animated by particle physics in this interactive playscape. Children can poke, probe, and examine the skeletal, muscular, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems. Each app contains a recording tool so you and your child can ask questions, listen, and respond to each other.

2.) WORLD ATLAS
Barefoot World Atlas is a magical, interactive 3D globe that invites children to explore the regions and countries of the world, discovering 100s of fascinating features and immersing themselves in the rich wonders of our planet.

Geographer and BBC TV presenter Nick Crane is your guide as you fly at will around this beautiful globe, created by artist David Dean. Explore the world’s continents, great oceans and changing environments. Meet different people around the planet and find out about their way of life. Encounter amazing wildlife, and discover landmarks, natural features and famous buildings.

The pack comes in English, French, Spanish, Catalan, Japanese, German.

3.) Mini-U: ZOO ALPHABET

Inside the app you’ll find 29 game cards, each illustrated with an animal and a letter. Each screen contains its own unique animal game, with each animal representing a letter. ZOO Alphabet invites your child to play along with these animals as they run, jump, hide, play, hunt, and even change color. ZOO Alphabet features two modes of play. Children can practice and learn the letters in the study mode or take a quiz in the quiz mode. Quiz mode provides your child with immediate feedback – helping him or her correctly memorize the letters.
And the best part: it comes in 11 languages including Russian, Chinese and Japanese.

4.) NINE IN ONE childrens' games:

This free games package brings 9 of our cool children games for you to try at no cost!

You'll find:

Logic and Logic Advanced games

Peekaboo: Find Hidden Characters game

Tangrams game

Mosaic game

Memoria game

Juicy Math and Juicy Math: Multiplication and Division games

Mathlandia game

Have a good time and enjoy playing with your children!

Lugano - the city of children

The City of Children is the lugano.ch site dedicated to children, their parents and teachers. It is a very rich site, which is destined to grow, thanks to contributions made by all those - children, parents and teachers alike - who send material or who simply provide advice. You are kindly invited you to visit the site and send them your comments!

The site contains areas, information and content specially devised for youngsters (between 5 and 11 years old). It is a virtual area, which youngsters and their parents and teachers can explore to find out even more about Lugano and all it has to offer. You can also have fun with online and traditional games, studying themes linked to the world of children and their relationship with computers. In addition, you can find out about elementary classes and class activities and much more.

Take a moment to check it out here: http://www.luganounder12.ch. The website is in Italian but site’s structure, and the graphic, technological approach adopted as well as the text, content and everything "behind" the creation of the City of Children, have been specially devised in order to facilitate navigation and to stimulate the curiosity of all those, young and old alike, who are involved in some way in the world of children.

Sunday morning leisure

With hubby working, Expat boy busy watching football and Expat girl away at a sleepover, I have a Sunday morning all to myself... and my computer. I feel rather chuffed with myself since I have single-handedly doubled my Ram memory and updated my i-Mac from the ancient Leopard version of 2008 to Snow Leopard without a hitch. I have opted not to update Mountain Lion (yet) since I have read in many forums that it rather slows down your computer. I am no expert but with certain things I can be very Swiss, i.e. let's wait and see how the rest of the world fairs before we starts changing our ways.
So there you go, this moring I was playing around with the "new" Applications icon in my dock and here is a sample of an app called Collgelt:

Communicating with my Kids

Following my International Children's Day post, I thought I'd share my enlightenment of this weekend.

My adolescent son is the proud owner of a portable phone since we moved to Paris. He never needed one in Lugano - in my opinon, although my son might beg to differ - since I could see his school out of my front window and hear the boys playing soccer in the schoolyard during breaktime.

Ikr = I know, right?

Anyway, with a new environment come new habits, along with a new phone and a whole new language. It is a language totally new to me. I always insisted my kids spell words out when writing and do NOT use abbreviations. I am sooo outdated! After receiveing various cryptic messages from Expat boy I needed to reseach some basic internet slang so I could communicate with my own son via SMS and WhatsApp. Did you know the latest abbreviations? Here goes.

UCAP - Up Close and Personal
HF - Have Fun
YDU - You Don't Understand
HTBT - Had To Be There
WHYB - Where Have You Been?
IDWTK - I Don't Want to Know
KMU - Keep Me Updated
TMMS - That Made Me Smile
OCN - Of Course Not
JLUK - Just Letting You Know
HAYT - How Are You Today?
IDWT - I Don't Want To
IHYDM - I Hope You Don't Mind

Did you know that according to the Urban Dictionary Moms is a respectful term for a parent? I won't go any further.....

Stay Connected to Expat with Kids

"Your blog is your unedited version of yourself."

Ever since I started my Lugano blog, one of the things that fascinated me most was a feature called "Google Friend Connect". Basically it lets you click "Follow" on the Blogger tab if you like a blog.

And wow, it opened a whole new world to me. I could browse through all the blogs that tickled my fancy - and had therefore connected with - by going down my personalized reading list.

I must have been saying something right, something funny and/or something noteworthy since over 100 people are following my Expat with Kids blog about Lugano. This gives me tremendous motivation and is one of the things that keeps me going. For that, "Google Friend Connect" followers, I thank you from the bottom of my happy heart.

I recently found out that blogger is removing this feature effective March 1, 2012, this means if you follow me through "Google Friend Connect", chances are beginning March you won't be able to receive updates from me. The good news for “Blogger” (Google hosted blogs) is that it does not appear that they will be losing GFC.  I don’t know what the future holds for that decision since it is clear that Google is not getting out of the product what they had expected.  Read Google’s announcement.

Don't you worry, there are lots of ways to stay connected with Expat with Kids!

See the nice looking row of "Subscribe now" buttons on the sidebar on the top right of my blog? Head on over to it and click one (or it would make me happy if you click and subscribe to all) to keep updated.

Read: http://www.expatwithkids.blogspot.com

Subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/expatwithkids

Tweet: https://twitter.com/#!/ExpatwithKids

Like: https://www.facebook.com/ExpatwithKids

Network: http://www.networkedblogs.com/blog/expatwithkids

Gplus: http://www.Gplus.to/ExpatwithKids

Google+: https://plus.google.com/115605545544247454376

Pin it: http://pinterest.com/expatwithkids/

e-mail: expatwithkids@yahoo.com

It is my greatest wish that those of you that have been kind enough to take an interest and follow through GFC, will make the transition to follow through another avenue.  I will be leaving the GFC at the bottom of my Lugano blog as a reference for publishers while it lasts, but I am asking my faithful followers to use one of the other following options to keep abreast of what is going on at Expat with Kids.

Expat with Kids blog 1st birthday!

Happy Birthday to Expat with Kids

Tomorrow is a birthday! It is not my birthday and not my children's birthday! There are no decorations hanging across the house and no birthday cake decorated. Nevertheless, I feel as happy as if it were Christmas Eve tonight. There will be no presents to open tomorrow and many of my friends won't even realize that tomorrow will be a very special day for me.

One year ago, on October 27th I entered a new universe, submerged myself into it and never looked back. I started blogging. I cannot even tell you why I began. An American girl I had met a month earlier during a dinner party had spoken to me about her blog. I had no clue what blogging meant. On that Wednesday afternoon while staring into my computer screen I decided to test my IT knowledge by creating a blog. It started as a challenge and became an obsession. I googled endlessly for tutorials. Every single part of my blogdesign as well as all the lists are homemade. I did not stop rearranging the layout until I had it just the way I wanted it. At this point blogging had turned into a passion!

Further I realized that I had stumbled onto a market niche. What was the likelihood of finding an English-language guide on Lugano? Et voilà: Expat with Kids was born! I tried to come up with a mix of useful information about life with kids in Lugano, yummy recipes, inspiring photos and fun facts that would make readers smile and want to come back for more.

I refused to have any advertising. This blog is MiNE!!!

I have been posting nearly every day. To date my count is 369 posts in twelve months. I have never run out of ideas to write about and I love sharing wacky information. Did I mention that I moved away from Lugano four months ago? Never mind: my heart remains in Lugano and so does my blog.

I am grateful for all my readers that follow me. 101 connected on Google friends, 82 via facebook, 68 by twitter and 26 through Networked blogs. Feedback and comments are not frequent but via the grapevine I do get the impression that my blog has made its way into blogger's world thanks to 43'000 pageviews.

Another fantastic fact about blogging is the first-hand information that is available. When moving to Paris this summer I never even bothered buying a guidebook. I discovered all I needed to know thanks to my blogging "friends" and believe me there is a whole army of them in Paris! There's lots of good advice out there - you just need to ask! Discovering other blogs and bloggers is half the fun.

While Expat with Kids is a personal blog, I try not to make it too personal. No portrait photos, no names. I guess if I had to put my feelings into words, I'd say that this blog is a story about our lives, not the story of our lives. A little bit of distance works for me. Nevertheless my personal branding is bright and clear: it's PiNK. Haven't you noticed?

So, if you happen to bump into me tomorrow and my smile is plastered across my face from ear to ear, all you need to say is HaPpY BiRtHDaY!!!

Keep calm and carry on!

The Keep Calm and Carry On Poster, which was originally posted around Britain during World War II, has been making its rounds in the blog world in various versions for months now.

Upon the outbreak of World War II the British Government's Ministry of Information commissioned posters to be distributed throughout the country as a means of allaying public fear. Three different posters were produced and while the first two designs were widely distributed the third poster, simply bearing the words 'Keep Calm and Carry On' along with the royal crown, was held in reserve intended for use only in times of extreme crisis.

Although hundreds of thousands of these posters were produced, only a handful ever saw the light of day. Even now 'Keep Calm and Carry On' is a phrase which perfectly encapsulates the traditional British 'stiff upper lip'.

Posters are available in nearly every color imaginable on etsy.com! From rugs to t-shirts, the age-old expression has made its way to every home and fashion accessory you can think of. Even plasters...

I'll do admit that on some of the slogans, I can't help but smirk at the interpretations of the poster. It has now made it to my computer with the "Keep Calm and Carry" On Laptop Decal.

Expat with Kids logos

Today is a v e r y lazy Sunday and I have been playing around with logos for my Expat with Kids blog. I just can't seem to find one that convinces me. For the time being I have changed my signature. 

I am thrilled to announce that you can now print my posts directly from Expat with Kids blog by clicking on Print PDF below the signature of each post. Should you wish to e-mail a specific post to a friend of yours, please feel free to click on the enveloppe right after the comments.

Apple i-cloud explained in 5 simple points

“Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet, 1803-1882

There is no doubt you’ve heard something about Apple’s upcoming iCloud release. The tech world was all abuzz as the rumor mill churned out some interesting speculation as to what exactly it could be. And thankfully the wait will soon be over as Apple introduced the service at the beginning of last month, claiming that it would be available in the fall coinciding with the newest iOS 5 release. But what exactly is iCloud and how can it change your life?

1.) At the most basic level the iCloud is essentially an extra hard drive where you can store your important files like music, apps, photos, documents, calendars, contacts, and more. But it really does so much more than just store data.

2.) It syncs all of the content across all of your devices so that the days of manual syncing are over. Everything is available at all times across any device. It’s actually incredible in it of itself. But there’s more.

3.) Apple is allowing users to download already purchased songs for free across your computers. This has since been unheard of and now will likely be revolutionary for those of us who never wanted to bother copying music for each device, like myself.

4.) Another amazing feature will be the ability to share multiple calendars so families or friends can know other’s schedules.

5.) Lastly, the backup is extremely helpful. You should know by now how important it is to backup your computer regularly. Now iCloud will do it for you. iCloud boasts that it can backup your music, apps, books, photos, settings, apps, texts, ringtones, and more without you doing a thing.

The files will be available whereever and whenever we need them. A great idea, if you work across computers and mobile devices but scary if you think our entire life will be stored by an entity that we have never seen nor do we know where it is physically located!!!

Holidays without internet - Switzerland tourism

"Switzerland is a country where very few things begin, but many things end."
 F. Scott Fitzgerald

For all you Switzerland fans out there. You can now connect with Sebi & Paul (remember the Swiss farmers of my previous movie posted) via facebook.

During the following film launched by the Swiss Office of Tourism you can click on "facebook connect" and the film will then be personalized for you. The data that appears will only be visible to you and will not be stored or given to third parties.

When you connect to their ‘chat window’ using Facebook Connect, the result is a conversation featuring you and your Facebook page! The chat not just pulls your name as part of the conversation but makes some witty comments about your status updates and photos. The lead up is to convey a message that you are spending way too much time on Facebook and its time for you to head to the Swiss mountains – a promotional contest message follows.

So go ahead and Sebi & Paul will put a big smile on your face! Click here.

I'm an Organizing Junkie - organizing Recipes

"Thought is the organizing factor in man, intersected between the casual primary instincts and the resulting actions."
Albert Einstein

My friends call me organized. Admittely my Swiss upbring rubbed off and I like my "stuff" in order. I am a big lover of containers. I have silver metal tins, floral print hat boxes, leather trunks, white cardboard boxes, pink wicker baskets, plastic storage fold-ups, OXO kitchen cubes just to mention a few. These also come very handy when moving around the globe, although the movers aren't always happy since MY boxes don't fit in theirs....but that is their problem, frankly!

Anyway I came across this fantastic site this morning which I just had to share with you. It is full of fun, easy, effective organizational ideas. It's called: I'm an Organizing Junkie.

One post that caught my attention was how to gather online recipes (from different sites) in one place rather than just tagging them on every single host website.

Laura uses Microsoft's OneNote but Springpad and Evernote are two free alternatives. OneNote enables her to keep notebooks for endless topics. She has a personal notebook with a section for recipes. When she finds a recipe she wants to try she can either print the entire page to OneNote, so that it looks just like the website or do a simple copy/paste of just the recipe. With either method the original website link is also included so you know where the recipe came from. OneNote also lets you make notes about changes or record how you actually cooked the recipe and how it turned out.

Now, I think that is a brilliant alternative to printing and binding every recipie that tickles your fancy online. Thank you for sharing Laura. Needless to say, I do also love my recipe binders full of printed, stained recipes sitting on my kitchen shelves looking organized! ;)

For MAC users there is a similar programme called "Notebook" by Circus Ponies. Also take a look at http://www.cookmarkit.com. It’s a new social bookmarking site that focuses on recipes. Really easy to follow your friends and see what they’re cooking. Happy cooking everyone!

Where is your favourite blog spot?

"Blogging is an art, same as any other method of self-expression. Some are better at it than others."
Hugh MacLeod

The Blog Guidebook has launched an investigation. The question is: Where's Your Best Blog Spot? Tell us about yourself...we want to know more about how, where, and why you blog.

Since I spend a fair amount infront of my computer doing all kinds of projects - from photo albums and movies to party organization - I was thrilled to discover blogging because it channels all my ideas and productive output  into something I can visualize. I get tremendous satisfaction from feedback, comments and number of page views. I know where I sit and write but I always wonder where other people sit and blog. What does their work space look like? When does most of their blogging happen? How do some of those blogging ladies manage to balance hubby, kids and household while doing such a professional job at posting their ideas, opinions, thoughts, crafts, photos, etc?

Well, I'd like to show you where my blogging happens but I'm in the middle of a move, therefore bear with me. I used to blog out of a lovely "grotto" with a cosy fireplace looking onto my beautiful garden and a view of the Monte Bré. I still need to carve out my work space in our new home. In the meantime, we're on holiday and I'm blogging with Expat son's computer whenever he lets me use it. Mine is in the move somewhere on the road in Europe at this very moment. I can, however, show you where all my magic will be happening for the next two months!

So, where in the world do you blog?

The New Google +1 button

"The difference between what the most and the least learned people know is inexpressibly trivial in relation to that which is unknown."
Albert Einstein

Upon viewing my blog today I came across a new button that I had NOT added. Therefore, after having done my research, I decided to introduce Google's latest gadget to my readers.

Google have been experimenting with their +1 (Plus One) button for a while and today they released it for websites and blogs.The plus one button lets you recommend things you like to friends and they will see your recommendations in Google search results and over time in Ads and possibly other places.In search now you can see the plus one's of your friends, contacts from Gmail, Google Reader and Google Buzz.So it makes sense to allow readers to plus one your content and recommend it to their friends. Adding the button to your blog will give the readers the option to plus you up!

Therefore, go ahead, plus me up ;)

Happy blogging. Happy reading!

Learning the ABC with your kids!!!

“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
Chinese proverb

When we started school many years ago, we had to learn the ABC... kids still do, but the only thing that stayed the same is that A still stands for Apple. Have a look for yourself!

We better get invovled FAST!!!!

Follow along Friday from Lugano around the world!

It's Friday therefore kick back and pop by some funny, quirky, inspirational, exceptional blogs and leave a comment. Then add yourself to the list and see how many visitors have a peep at your blog.

Feel free to grab my button which you'll find half-way down the side bar.

Have a lovely Friday!