Showing posts with label Valerie Besanceney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Valerie Besanceney. Show all posts

Monday, 23 January 2017

Book Review: B at Home, Emma Moves Again by Valérie Besanceney

To start with I would like to wish you all happy new year. I hope it will be a year that you and your children will thrive and be resilient. I hope to write more about resilience in another post. In case you are moving with children this year than the book B at Home, Emma Moves Again might be just the book you need.

Emma is 10 years old and has already moved twice. At the start of the book she lives in the Netherlands. In the book her parents tell her that the family is moving again. She has mixed emotions and turns to B, her faithful teddy bear. Together they make the move.
Children can identify with the girl in the story. It can help them to feel that they are not alone, that there are other children who have gone through the same things. It can help children give words to the emotions they are feeling.

There are discussion questions at the end of the book. Parents could use the questions to chat with their children about the upcoming move. An example of a question is: Emma and her friends talk about how certain smells bring back memories. What are some smells that bring back strong memories for you?

The author Valérie Besanceney was born in the Netherlands, grew up as a third culture kid, making several international moves as a child, she is an experienced international school teacher and is raising two TCK daughters. She definitely knows what she is talking about. In addition to the book B at Home Besanceney has created a workbook My Moving Booklet. This is a great tool for parents and schools to ease a transition for a child. The children can share their emotions and there is also lots of room for creativity.

I had the privilege of meeting Valérie at the Families in Global transition Conference in Amsterdam in 2016.

Have you or one of your children read the book B at Home, Emma Moves Again? Are there other books that you would recommend for kids making international moves? Please share them with us.

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Saturday, 14 February 2015

Highlights in 2014?

It's been a while since I wrote on this blog. 2015 is a new year and I hope to surprise you with more posts than in 2014. I only wrote twice last year so I am sure I can write more this year. Even though I do not write frequently it is good to know that there are still constant vistors finding this blog daily. Thank you all for coming by and reading on this blog I hope you found words that were helpful or useful.

I would like to update you on things that are happening in the third culture kid world. There is an interesting and very informative review on the Tckid website with a review of the many events that took place and new books that were published. It's worth reading the TCKid 2014 Year in Review.

Coming up soon is the Families in Global Transition Conference 2015 it is from 6-8 th of March in the USA. I wish it was here in Europe, it would much easier to attend. Hopefully one day I will attend the Figt conference. The theme this year is Finding "Home": Amidst Global Change. If you want to have an idea what the figt conference is like read an except of the soon to be published Figt year book. The except is on Cultural Complexity and Hidden Diversity: Exploring today's TCKs. Are any of you planning to go to the figt conference 2015? Do let us know and maybe you can share your most valuable insight here.

Recently I was asked whether there are meetups in the Netherlands for third culture kids or adult third culture kids. For those who are interested there is a facebook group called: TCKid Netherlands. There are plans to organize new meetups.

By the way one of my personal highlights in 2014 was visiting Havana, Cuba with a group of medical students. It was a great priviledge to meet the Cuban people and to see how the healthcare is organized. Maybe I will tell you more about this trip in another post. As an adult TCK I still like travelling, tasting new food, meeting new people and experiencing new cultures.

Havana Cuba, photo by DrieCulturen
What was your personal highlight in 2014?

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