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It’s that time of the year again when the FIGT community thanks and gives our fond farewells to outgoing Board Members. In this post, we catch up with LaShell Tinder as she shares some of the highlights from her past 2 years as Treasurer.

LaShell joined the FIGT Board in 2019 and in these last couple of years, has seen some positive changes and growth in the organization. One aspect she is most proud of is “focusing on the sustainability of FIGT by looking at sponsorship, membership, and donations with a 360 view.” Specifically, this means considering “year-round activity instead of focusing solely on the annual conference. Also, ensuring compliance for tax reporting within the US to encourage outside donations, and collaborating on the first membership drive.” LaShell’s hard work and revisioning has paid off, as FIGT is “in a stronger position after 2 years, even without the major fundraising event of a live conference.”

As Treasurer, LaShell prioritized two other main goals. First, she wanted members to find the budget more accessible and  easier to understand. She worked to “simplify the treasury process and ‘normalize’ the way that we look at the budget and reporting” which has resulted in “members being able to celebrate our financial good standing.” Second, LaShell focused on “supporting initiatives to take care of our volunteers and improve our website to make us more relevant in this digital age.” 

She is quick to give thanks and appreciation to the FIGT community, and to the other board members, specifically, acknowledging their collective motivation and valued effort. “They make me so proud to be part of the organization. I am overwhelmed by the generosity of spirit and time committed by each and everyone of you! Much love to everyone!!”

Thank you, LaShell, for all that you have done as FIGT Treasurer!

Watch the FIGT Blog for upcoming posts welcoming and introducing to the community our new incoming board members. 

It’s that time of the year again when the FIGT community thanks and gives our fond farewells to outgoing Board Members. In this post, we hear from Megan Norton as she addresses the FIGT community about her time serving as Nominations Director.

Dear Global Friends,

It has been an honor and privilege to serve as the Nominations Director for the past four years. Serving on the FIGT Board has been more than ticking boxes, meeting a quota, or writing reports. It’s been an experience of creating a culture of radical kinship, courageous decision-making, and inspiring both trust and respect in our global community. It’s been an experience of listening and learning and of hearing and understanding. Being a part of FIGT leadership in this role has been so rewarding to me professionally and personally. I have felt valued and supported to have a deep sense of belonging and contribution.

The highlight for me has been to serve alongside leaders who build faith - not just trust - in a culture of radical kinship. In so many different ways and times and for different reasons I've stretched myself, leaned into discomfort, learned from mistakes, grown in confidence, built discernment skills, expanded my local/global community, and realized how giving-back is multiplied in hundred-fold blessings back to me. I'm not leaving FIGT, basically only the 2-hour monthly Board of Director meetings. :)

- Megan Norton, Nominations Director 2018 - 2021

It’s that time of the year again when the FIGT community thanks and gives our fond farewells to outgoing Board Members. In this post, we hear from Trisha Carter as she shares the three things she cherishes most from her time as FIGT Secretary.

Of the many positives Trisha says she bring away from her time on the FIGT Board, there are three main things she cherishes most.

"Firstly, and most profoundly, I am so appreciative for the relationships built working in a global team, across time zones, datelines, languages and cultural differences - all of us unified with a common purpose! These relationships have been the greatest treasure.  

Secondly, the opportunity to work for a purpose that I am deeply committed to - supporting people in global transitions / in cross-cultural experiences.  Building bridges of understanding has always been vital for me. 

And thirdly, these past four years working in a strategic team guiding this precious NFP organisation through the challenges of everything the world has thrown at us - this has been the greatest opportunity for learning and growth. I’m very grateful for all of it. "

It’s that time of the year again when the FIGT community thanks and gives our fond farewells to outgoing Board Members. In this post, we share a parting message from Matilda Criel-Ewoldt as she reflects on what her time as Scholarship Director has meant to her.

As Scholarship Director, I’ve had the honor to welcome into our community new thoughts and experiences, through the Pollock Scholars. That has been my main, and most cherished, role in FIGT. 

This has been quite the journey. My term was right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, from October 2019 to October 2021. I needed to re-think what the scholars look like in a virtual format and provide them with a new platform to work from. In doing so, both the role of the scholar and their engagement within FIGT grew. Scholars have an increasingly important role in our community, as we come to expand our knowledge of intersectionality. 

One thing FIGT board members rarely share is how much work the board positions require. We all put our souls and hearts into this work. We believe in this mission: bridging families, providing for and embracing global individuals. I will never forget that I have been a part of FIGT in a moment of monumental growth. 

The passion, the work, the camaraderie, the friendships, the community – I would do it all over again. I am so honored to have been Scholarship Chair and I will honestly miss it dearly. I am so glad that I am being replaced by the most qualified person and friend, Adam Geller. Good luck. 

What’s next for me? I don’t quite know. At the same time I was serving on the FIGT Board, I completed my doctorate. FIGT helped me comprehend the global individual, on a psychological level. I would not have been able to complete my dissertation without your input, for that I thank you all! I have decided to take a year off to travel and think of new ways to help people; simultaneously embracing my international, intercultural identity and rekindling my love of travel and novelty. 

It’s that time of the year again when the FIGT community thanks and gives our fond farewells to outgoing Board Members. In this post, we hear from Mariam Ottimofiore as she shares some of the highlights from her past 2 years as Membership Director.

Mariam states, "I joined the FIGT Board in 2019 to give back to FIGT; an organization that I first came to know of and love in 2016. But as usual, during my time serving on the Board, FIGT has given me more than I could possibly give it in return."

Mariam says that her time on the Board has been made even better by the amazing team she has worked along side. It has also been full of incredible learning experiences and positive experiences.

"There have been so many highlights over the past two years, it would be hard to choose just one!" There was one moment that stands out as extra special:

"Waking up on Day 2 of our first ever virtual conference to 365 messages on the FIGT Board Whatsapp group chat! With all of us spread in different time zones, we managed the annual conference around the clock as those in Australia/New Zealand fell asleep and those of us in Europe took over and then our US counterparts ended the day. It was an exercise in international coordination and logistics like no other and one which our global lives have prepared us for in so many ways. I am most proud of our teamwork leading up to the conference and beyond, but especially during those 3 manic days which I'll never forget as we problem-solved and burnt fires right, left and center!" She goes on to add, "huge thanks to every single FIGT volunteer who helped behind the scenes!"stood out as being extra special success, she remembers:

As part of our FIGT Focus on Play, educational consultant and FIGT member April J. Remfrey shares how an eye-opening personal experience, along with a lot of expert support, reinforces the idea that play is not just important, it is worth defending. 

FIGT Focus Blogs highlight the various voices of our community and reflect the personal views of the author, not necessarily those of FIGT. 

By April J. Remfrey, MS

Shortly after our daughter turned three, my husband and I decided to enroll her in preschool. She was an early talker and was showing interest in books and writing. Each night before bed, she insisted we read her a certain number of books. She also wrote on anything she could get her hands on – even the walls. It was obvious she was ready.

Our search began with three different local schools, each with its own unique method of early childhood education: religious, forest immersion, and Montessori. We researched the pros and cons of each but tried to reserve judgment until seeing them for ourselves. Having nine years of experience teaching general and special education, I developed my own opinions on early childhood education. However, I went in with an open mind, understanding that each child is different, and we were choosing a place specific to our daughter's needs.

The Idea That  Learning is "Academics"  

Our first visit was to a preschool right down the road from our home. It was late afternoon when we pulled into the school parking lot for a group tour. We were a bit nervous, palms sweating and all, as we stepped into the whitewashed building with its green trim, surrounded by towering pine trees. Our first impression was encouraging, the building looked clean and welcoming, and the head of school and bubbly tour guide seemed engaged and enthusiastic.

Everything was fine until we went into the first classroom. The room mirrored the exterior of the building: whitewashed with green trim. There were no pictures on the walls, no inviting, child-friendly seating, no toys stowed away in the corners. It felt like a classroom for fourth or fifth graders, not one for three-year-olds to grow and play. Trying to better understand what I was seeing, I asked about their daily activities.

In her overly excited voice, the tour guide told us that the program's goal was for all of the three-year-olds to master their letters and numbers by the end of the school year. Although I'm fairly certain I was not hiding my surprise, she continued her prepared speech. She pointed to a small circular table in the corner, informing us that teachers used it to work one-on-one with students who were not progressing in their learning. At this point, I know my face showed my disgust. Letter and number mastery at three years old? I looked around at the other parents nodding their heads in approval, but I recoiled at the idea of trying to teach three-year-olds the beginnings of academics. Would some be ready? Maybe, but it seemed like not only a futile act but possibly even detrimental since most kids aren't developmentally ready for this type of learning until they're between five and seven years old!

But Experts Agree...

In 2015, The Atlantic published an article aptly titled, "When Success Leads to Failure." In this piece, Jessica Lahey writes about her experience during a parent-teacher conference when she explained to a parent that "her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar of achievement." Ms. Lahey questions how our society demands success from students at any cost. She concludes that we, as teachers and parents, have taught children that achievement is the only acceptable option. 

We've known that praising effort over intelligence is best practice for quite some time. In 1998, a New York Times article cited a study published years prior from Stanford psychology professor Dr. Carol Dweck regarding this idea. Since then, this research was preached repeatedly at school staff meetings and has been in my vernacular for the last twenty years. We know best practice is to praise effort but is that truly happening in school settings?

Fast forward to 2007, and I am physically dragging my husband out of a preschool tour because neither Dr. Dweck's research nor Ms. Lahey's insights had permeated their whitewashed walls. I can't even remember if we finished the tour or if we left right then and there. What I do remember was the hiss of my disapproving whisper into my husband's ear: "She has her whole life to hate school! Why would they want to start that at three years old?" 

Here in Switzerland, preschool and kindergarten emphasize socialization and developing self-help skills. A similar system can be found in Finland, which is known to produce well-socialized and emotionally intelligent students. You would never find a Swiss teacher forcing a three-year-old to memorize numbers and letters. For that matter, you wouldn't have found that in the US when I was a child either.

...That Playing IS Learning

We need to let children be children. We've become so afraid of them being left behind in a highly competitive world that we're setting unrealistic academic expectations for children as young as three years old. Instilling a love for learning and school starts very young, but approaching education the wrong way could teach children to hate school from the very beginning. Most parents and educators would agree that we want our children to love to learn. It's essential to recognize that we can foster a love of learning by providing opportunities not tied to success or failure, but to the sheer enjoyment of figuring out something new. 

So please, turn away from the preschools that lure families in with developmentally inappropriate promises. Look instead for the preschools that foster learning through play, social-emotional growth, and curiosity for learning and life. Thankfully, we found a preschool set back in the woods, where the children engaged in play-based learning, and our three-year-old loved to go to every day! I'm stepping off my soapbox now.

April J Remfrey, MS, is an educational consultant that focuses her time working with international schools and globally mobile families with neurodiverse children. She has created an ILP/RTI goal documentation cloud-based program for international schools called STEP and works with international schools to help improve their inclusive practices. 

She has a BA in special education and elementary education from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, USA and received a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA in Exceptional Education. She has been a teacher for over 20 years in three countries and has experience in the public, private, and international school environments. 

April serves on the International and European boards of directors for SENIA: Special Education Network and Inclusion Association.

Since 2013, April, her husband, and daughter have lived in the Zurich, Switzerland area. Never one to sit still, April likes to hike in the stunning Swiss Alps, cook gourmet food, and play clarinet in the local concert band.

See more at www.remfreyeducationalconsulting.com.  

Even in times of COVID, perhaps especially in times of COVID, FIGT member and international educator Jacob Huff explains why it is so important to "go play".

By Jacob Huff

While people of all ages can be involved in play activities, children have a unique ability to engage in play and a deep need to learn about themselves and the world around them in this way. Educators and educational researchers have long understood that it is a key element of growth and learning, but in 2013 the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 31 established an international understanding of the rights of children to play. While it may seem intuitive, in these strange times, it is important to deeply understand what kinds of play educators and parents can use to meet the needs of the children in our care because life in the age of COVID has brought many new challenges, new questions, and new solutions. 

I am an international educator. I am currently the elementary principal of an American curriculum school in Malaysia. I have served as an administrator and elementary teacher in Vietnam, China, the United States, and now Malaysia. When I think of play, one of the first things that always comes to my mind is the Vietnamese word đi chơi, which translates to “go play”. I have loved it as an expression of the purity and joy of play. As a parent, as an educator, and as a scholar I hope that I can help all children to đi chơi. To do so let’s have a look at the uses of play in our lives.

What is play?

Play can be broken into two categories: structured and unstructured. When we think of children at play many people typically think of unstructured play. 

Unstructured play is what children naturally do with or without guidance from adults. It has benefits in physical, social, and emotional growth. It can take many forms but must incorporate two essential elements, freedom and fun (Roche 2018). In play, children find joy but also learn about themselves and learn skills that they will use in their adult life. Self play provides opportunities to understand the physical world, use their imaginations, and increase their motor skills. Cooperative play brings social understanding, problem solving, conflict resolution, and collaboration into the mix. 

Structured Play is purposeful play time, often led or directed by adults. These can include formal games, puzzles, task-oriented play-based learning, organized sports, goal-oriented activities, etc. They are designed to be both fun and learning opportunities. Both structured and unstructured play are essential for children and adolescence to grow; both should be provided for and encouraged. 

At School

In schools when we think of play most people think about the playground. The playground, recess, between class breaks, PE, and sports are all important opportunities for students to experience a combination of both structured and unstructured play. Sadly, in our high pressure educational environment, many schools have done away with or shortened recess and school breaks. 

I once worked in a school as a teacher that had discontinued recess because the administration was unhappy with the number of office referrals that came after them. Other schools have removed recess because they feel that they cannot meet curriculum demands if they give up class time for recess. My suggestion is for parents to avoid sending their child to a school that makes this decision because unstructured play is mission-critical for learning. 

As important as unstructured play is for students to engage in during the day for socialization and brain breaks, schools use many different forms of structured play to specifically target various goals in the school. Much of what you will see in the school would fall under the heading of Guided Active Play. Broadly speaking guided play has two forms; adult-designed activities and child-directed activities. Adult-designed guided play is an exploration in which an adult has set the parameters and determined the objective. Child-directed guided play involves activities in which adults didn’t set the parameters but ask questions, encourage exploration, ask-open ended questions, focus student attention on new knowledge, or provide reinforcement (Weisberg et al., 2016). 

A wonderful example of this is play-based learning in early childhood programs but it can be done at all grade levels. One popular example would be Marker Spaces and Genius Hours which allow students to explore science, design, computing, and engineering through play and exploration. 

At Home

I always tell parents that one of the best things they can do is to play with their children. That sounds simple but sometimes simple things must be remembered and nurtured or they do not happen. In our highly competitive modern lives it can be very easy to overschedule our children and have limited time as a family, but just like in school it is a mistake when families do not allow for both structured and unstructured play for children. 

Sports can be a great opportunity for structured play but I always encourage families to invest the time to give children and adolescents unstructured playtime and also to be directly involved in structured playtime together. It is fun and also gives families bonding time. Another point to consider is the amount of television, video games, and other screen time that students get. 

It is far too easy to let children spend too much time on devices at the expense of real-world interaction and physical play. This is not to say that children should not be allowed to use devices for playtime, in fact, games like Minecraft, Roblox, Tinker, and Scratch can be wonderful expressions of creativity. But it is to say that families should have discussions together about limits to device usage and alternatives should be sought. 

In my house, we practice a ritual called No Tech Tuesday. When we do this, we put down our devices, turn off the TV, and do analog things together. We try to do it every Tuesday evening. We read together, play card games, and take walks. It can include any activity which is done together, is fun, and doesn’t involve devices. We don’t always succeed but it is a fun work in progress. 

Play in the age of COVID 

COVID has changed everything. There have been lockdowns, movement restrictions, school closures, and many more stresses that we have never before had to deal with on a society-wide scale. While all elements of life have been impacted by COVID, play has been one area that children have suffered the most. Lockdowns and school closures have severely hampered children in their opportunities to engage in all types of play. Collaborative unstructured play is the most easily visible area of this but structured play has also been highly limited. 

Teachers and parents have had to be inventive to combat this, but out of hardship novel solutions have emerged. PE classes have gone online. Programs like Kahoot!, Quizlet, Prodigy, and Blooket are great ways to add gamification to learning. Teachers have made fun videos for their students (see this video my teachers made for our kids). They use videos from platforms like GoNoodle to get students up and moving. They use video sessions to have students do talent shows. The list is endless. There are struggles but if there is one thing I have learned as a principal it is that teachers have an endless supply of clever and innovative ideas to help make learning and play accessible to students. At home parents have helped to set up video play dates, let their children play games with friends while talking to them in a video chat in the background, and set aside time to board play games as families. 

It has been a hard time for everyone, even more so for international families who have not been able to visit their home countries or see families, but in challenging times we find strength together. I would encourage all families to evaluate the importance of play, understand their children’s needs, discuss it as a family, and seek opportunities for play. Play together, learn together, grow together, and I will see you on the other side because sometimes we all need to đi chơi!

Works cited

Roche, M. M. D. (2018). Children’s Right to Play. Journal of Moral Theology, 7(1), 124–140.

Weisberg, D. S., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., Kittredge, A. K., & Klahr, D. (2016). Guided Play: Principles and Practices. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25(3), 177–182. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963721416645512

Jacob Daniel Huff is a seasoned international who is now in his third decade living internationally. He currently lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with his wife and daughter, where he works as an international school principal. He was a 2020/21 David C. Pollock Scholar and is presently writing his doctoral thesis on international school teachers' perspectives on TCK identity development. His next project is a collection of vignettes from ATCKs about their travels through the perspective of items they chose to bring with them throughout their international moves and the items they have lost along the way. If you would like to contribute to this project or contact him you can reach him at his LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-daniel-huff/ or his Twitter @mrjacobhuff

Families in Global Transition wishes to thank multi-year Gold Sponsor CrossBorder Living Institute for ongoing support of our organization and our broader globally mobile community.

Longtime member and Gold Sponsor of FIGT, Jennifer Patterson has lived abroad more than half her life. Together with her dual-national husband Jeff, they know issues surrounding cross-cultural living firsthand, having raised two tri-national children while working for Patterson Partners, their advisory firm for international clients.

Over time, Jennifer realized more needed to be done to help educate and guide those living and working across cultures, and the financial practitioners who support them. 

She created CrossBorder Living Institute with two aims in mind. The first is to provide events and training for the globally mobile to create, grow and manage their financial assets – regardless of how much or how little they might be – in a way that best supports how they want to live. 

The second is to teach cross-border technical and practice-related topics to financial practitioners who serve such clients. 

Jennifer has been a regular attendee and sponsor at FIGT conferences for several years. When we caught up wither recently, we asked about her perspective of our recent first-time online conference, FIGT2021.

“Congratulations to the FIGT Team for a job well done,” Jennifer shared. “In many ways, you managed to make a virtual conference more intimate than an in-person one.”

“I’ve made a number of connections over the years and I always hope to catch up with everyone, but rarely ever achieve that goal – partly due to so many competing conversations, activities, and the actual logistics of travel. This year, however, the virtual environment made it very easy to connect with attendees whom I might not have in an in-person environment.”

“As a sponsor,” Jennifer continued, “we were able to be of more help. For example, during the conference we were able to reach out and obtain answers from several of our professional contacts to obtain clarification on a couple of important detailed financial matters for a couple of attendees in a timely and efficient manner.”

“We also heard from a number of attendees that they really appreciated our conversation starter handout and looked forward to using it, which we were very excited to hear!”

FIGT appreciates all Jennifer and CrossBorder Living Institute have done in support of FIGT’s mission over the years, and is grateful for their continued sponsorship. 

As part of this year's conference closing ceremony, our members create a piece of community art in line with FIGT2021's theme, "Embracing and Bridging Differences".

As part of FIGT2021, artist and FIGT Member Camille Deniau facilitated a session to allow us to create our first ever piece of community art.  Under Camille’s guidance, attendees each created an element of the final piece; leaves, branches, or a part of the trunk. According to Camille, "Everybody did it in their own ways, expressing their own personality and what they wanted to contribute to the conference". She then brought the individual pieces together. "It was a massive puzzle," she explains. "I tried to link [each piece] wherever I could find those bridges". The final creation is the FIGT Tree, which we are displaying here for the first time.

We encourage you to zoom in or enlarge the FIGT Tree to see how the pieces connect.

To learn more about the story behind the FIGT Tree, please watch this short video conversation with Camille and Valérie Besanceney, our former Programs Director.

To learn more about Camille’s work, visit https://projectrootsart.com/ 

Families in Global Transition is grateful to Cross Border Financial Planning, a Silver Sponsor over the past two years. We value their participation in our organization, and their support of financial planning for the globally mobile.

Cross Border Financial Planning specializes in providing financial advice to those who live, work and move across borders. 

 

Growing out of their specialized skills in this field and an interest from all of their partners to live and work abroad, according to CBFP’s Edward Cole, their focus “has and always will be to provide financial advice to a large but often underserved group – globally mobile people.” 

 

The financial planning solutions they develop take into account the tax, currency and legal implications of clients’ current country of residence, as well as past and future plans. Additionally, they’ve developed a trusted network of professionals across the world that they work with in areas such as tax advice, legal services, immigration advice and property finance.

 

CBFP sponsored and actively participated in FIGT2021, our first ever online conference held in March.

 

“The virtual conference provided sponsors with an opportunity to make information about their company and services readily available for people to explore in their own time,” Edward shared. 

 

“Although it will always be hard to replicate the benefits of a proper stall that you can have conversations with people at (i.e., in person), the ability to upload brochures and have a virtual stall at the conference was a well thought through alternative.”

 

Regarding FIGT’s conference platform Pheedloop, he indicated that it “was easy to learn, and made interaction with other attendees a simple process. It was also a good platform for sponsors to have their logo on display throughout the conference.”

 

Edward also gave an enlightening Power Presentation on Saturday, March 13^th, entitled Whilst You Move, Your Money Stays Still: Understand and Simplify Global Financial Planning, in which he drew upon a range of country-specific topics as well as discussion covering broad themes and ideas relevant for most or all countries. Conference attendees may still access the FIGT2021 platform to check out this and all other presentations until September 15^th.

 

FIGT appreciates Edward and Cross Border Financial Planning’s two years of partnership as one of our Silver Sponsors. Many thanks for your support of FIGT, and we wish CBFP much success.