DRIVEN TO DISCOVER

... is the motto Samu and the University of Minnesota share. There is a lot to discover in our backyard:

 And there is a lot to discover on campus:

GIFTS

We feel like it's Christmas! First, Samu got this awesome car from our lovely Korean neighbors. Thank you! He loves it!

 Simply cool.

And then, we/Samu got one of the best gifts ever: A doll that is him! Including the same hat that was, like the doll, made by wonderful artist-friend Ingrid. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We just can't stop laughing at these two cute round blue-eyed faces staring at us...

STARTALK!

We are so excited that Hanna's summer job got funded again. During these very intense two weeks, Chinese teachers and teacher educators think about questions like these: How can culture and language learning be integrated? How can we avoid essentializing culture and complicate it instead? How can we  produce authentic materials for culture and language learning? How can culture learning be scaffolded and differentiated? ... - a lot of deep thinking and negotiating is being done! 

Co-instructors Yeh Laoshi and Kaishan.

This year's course is also being researched by the instructional team and some other researchers. Andie is one of our observers.

Happy hour in the shade :)

CLICK ON THIS!

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cehd/news/2012/06/ci-welcomes-visiting-scholar-marko-kananen.html

SUMMER FEELINGS

Right now, we are back at work for the next two weeks before we start our big European holiday. However, we did get some sort of Minnesotan vacation as well. Sometimes only a few hours can do the trick. 

When this one sleeps ...

these two can sit back and breathe for a while.

Or hang out with friends.

When he's awake, he wants to be entertained. Providing new and exciting environments and stimulations has been our main job lately. This boy has unbelievable energy. At Lake Phalen, he pushed his stroller around for a long time, swam, played in the sand, ran around ... the result? Tired parents. ;-)

 Father and son