Palme School: useful articles about teaching children the Russian language

The benefits of keeping in touch with your homeland

After living abroad for many years, we may think that we have become different people. We have indeed become different. There was no replacement of our personality, but an expansion of it. Our "Russianness" has not disappeared, has not been replaced by a new language or a new culture. Our brain and psyche simply put it on the back burner. It is necessary to keep in touch with your homeland, no matter how long you live abroad. And that's why it's worth doing it:

Maintaining a connection to our homeland helps us self-identify. We are absorbed in the hustle and bustle, trying to adjust to the new environment, taking care of the kids and the house, and working. We think that we are successful as parents, we have a successful career, and everything is generally good. But then inside there are questions like "who am I?", "what am I like?", "why am I like this?". And the answers to these questions lie precisely in our nationality. I am Russian, which means I am brave, generous, courageous, and hospitable, a protector.
We need to preserve the Russian language. And not just because we can communicate with friends and relatives who live in Russia. By preserving the Russian language, we preserve the Russian way of thinking. And by preserving this thinking, we look at problems differently and find effective ways to solve them.
By preserving the language, we preserve the culture. Using familiar turns of phrase, discussing landmarks, repeating history, admiring achievements, bringing in traditions and celebrations. By appreciating the past, we shape our present and future more successfully. And thus the future of our children.

Let your homeland into your life in the form of pictures, videos, memories, and trips more frequently. Ask your parents more often about your grandparents and great-grandparents, and study your family history. This is pride and self-awareness, an awareness of yourself as an individual and at the same time part of something important.

And we also have children growing up. They, too, need self-identification, Russian traditions, holidays, photos, and new experiences. Children need to know Russian culture and history. Because not only you are Russian, they are too.