After three years of work, the original vision of sharing the successful experiences of a wide range of parents raising bilingual and multilingual kids came to a fruitful conclusion with the release, in July, of Bilingual Success Stories Around the World: Parents Raising Multilingual Kids Share Their Experiences and Encouragement. Honestly, at times I thought I would never complete this book project…and yet I finally did! As I often say about the bilingual journey itself: there’s always a payoff to perseverance. From here, they can continue making active use of English, and advancing their ability, through the rest of their lives.Īfter nearly 18 years of daily steps on this bilingual journey, I’m quite satisfied with the progress they’ve made, and the proficiency they’ve attained, in both languages. They both need to improve their range of vocabulary and their writing skills, but given that they haven’t had much academic experience in English-since they’ve only attended Japanese schools-they’re at a good place. He hopes to go to the same high school as my daughter and join the same “international course” which offers more intensive English.Īt this point, their English ability is roughly at the same high level. This means that we’re now discussing college (college!), which awaits her in the spring of 2023.Īt the same time, my son will start high school in a matter of months.

Over the years, I’ve often mentioned that when my kids turn 18, this milestone would basically mark the end of my bilingual journey…and now suddenly it’s almost here. In October, we brought home another bearded dragon, a baby we named Yogi. When I was a child, my family had a couple of pets, but I never felt directly responsible for their welfare and so my feelings didn’t run as deep as they do now.įifa will always have a special place in our hearts, but after several months of mourning her loss, we decided to love again. This experience has made me much more empathetic in terms of human emotions toward animal companions. I know she was “just” a lizard, but I loved her deeply and felt intense regret over being unable to save her. Fifa was the first pet I had as an adult and this loss hit me very hard. In July, my family suffered a heartbreaking loss when our sweet bearded dragon, who was the little star of our family for two years and a creative muse to me, suddenly fell ill and passed away on the third day. I was there solo, just for a change of scenery, and the scenery was refreshing indeed: sunny skies, gorgeous autumn leaves, and beautiful old temples and gardens. In November, though, I did spend a few days in Kyoto, my favorite Japanese city. Looking ahead to 2022, I’ve been invited to a conference in Germany in May…but, as much as I’d love to make the trip, it may be difficult considering Covid conditions in the world. Of course, it was another year without the pleasures of international travel. My own family has stayed healthy and, in fact, with so much masking, I’ve managed to avoid the sinus infections that typically plague me two or three times a year. The number of Covid cases has remained relatively low and much of life has carried on, though with widespread vaccinations, masking, and social distancing.

To date, Japan has been more fortunate than many other parts of the world. In this post I look back at my mostly home-bound life, both the highlights and lowlights I experienced over the past 12 months. Another challenging year has come to an end.

Highlights and lowlights