Second language is always a plus. If the
house is bilingual or multilingual the child acquires the second or third language
without a big effort and any limitations.
By setting an example and speaking your
native language at home you encourage your child to use your mother tongue. Your
child can connects to you, the relatives, their culture, history, identity and
religion.
Find ways to help your child maintain and
improve their mother tongue. Involve your child in simple tasks and use your
language in carrying them out - whether it’s making a shopping list, preparing
a snack or cooking traditional food from a grandmother’s recipe.
This time my daughter made Polish Potato Pancakes (similar to latkes), literally translated in Polish as "Placki Ziemniaczane."
Recipe for "Placki Ziemniaczane"
(English version will be easier for you to
understand the steps she had to follow in Polish.)
One onion, two eggs and two spoonful of
wheat flour per each kilogram of potatoes. If you are allergic to flour you don't have to add it, replace it with one extra egg.
Pinch of salt (and pepper) for flavor.
Accompaniments: sour cream and applesauce
Peel potatoes and onion and grate or ground them.
Transfer the mixture to a fine colander or
strainer to wring out as much of the liquid as possible.
Keep the liquid
in a pot for a minute. Drain off potato juice leaving potato flour. You
will add it to the other ingredients.
Mix grated potatoes with the other
ingredients and shallow-fry on hot oil.
Served plain, or sweet with sugar, sour
cream, and apple sauce, as well as no sweet with mushroom sauce, goulash,
or bacon crisps.
Paczki - Polish Doughnuts