A former Marine print-photojournalist, former State Department Public Diplomacy Officer, former U.S. Air Force Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist, former USACE Public Web Lead & former Denny's waitress
It’s wonderful that the summer is over and Vee is officially in 1st grade. During the summer, Vee went to Springfield for 5 weeks of immersion Spanish with Langokids. While there, we stayed with Vee’s friend J, went camping, watched the Independence Day fireworks, swam in the Atlantic waterpark in Bull Run Regional Park, and most importantly chased fireflies.
After Virginia, we drove to LaSalle, Canada where Vee met her uncle and aunts for the first time. After we returned home to Maryland for 3 weeks of STEM camp at Oakdale Recreation Center in Urbana, MD, we went back to Canada. This time to Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto for a week of Happy Mandarin Chinese reading day camp. While there, we visited the Egyptian Museum which has a special display of King Tut’s tomb. We also went kayaking for 3 days and on the 3rd day, Vee went solo!
National Aquarium in Baltimore
National Aquarium in Canada
Vee did 5 weeks of immersion Spanish at Lango Kids in Springfield and while there went swimming with her friends J and Xiang and went camping, including roasting hotdogs and catching fireflies.
Sky zone with Lango kids
Swimming at Atlantis Waterpark in Bull Run Regional Park, Virginia
Watching Independence Day fireworks in Manassas, Virginia
Vee meets her uncle and aunts in Windsor, Canada
Vee visits the Egyptian museum in Mississauga, Canada, a suburb of Toronto
Vee went kayaking on a lagoon fed by Lake Ontario three times and on the 3rd day, she went solo.
Visiting the national aquarium of Canada in Toronto
Over the summer, Vee started learning Japanese kana letters so she could read the names of her favorite snacks from the Asian markets.
Vee hit the Rattlewood driving range before school on her first day
I haven’t yet seen any news reports or research or thought leadership books by techies about the impact of smart speakers on the fundamental structure of our social fabric. I think Alexa is a technical revolution as radical as Gutenberg’s press.
In 1436, Johaness Gutenberg, a German goldsmith, created the printing press. Before then, all texts had to be laboriously copied by hand. Corresponding this critical new technology, born in Eisleben, Germany, in 1483, Martin Luther disrupted religion by translating the Bible and removing control from the hands of the clergy. Since that time, the ability to read text on paper has largely determined economic potential and earning capability in the job market.
Right now, in 2018, there remain some 20% of the world’s population who are illiterate. Others born or who later became blind or severely sight impaired have also been limited in their economic potential due to their inability to access information.
Alexa and other technologies like her, Siri and Google Home, but more importantly, the computing power that has made text to speech and speech to text capability possible will make reading letters on paper altogether irrelevant with regard to accessing information.
I read a book by Microsoft MVP Ben Clothier who explained how to integrate Access and Sharepoint nearly 10 years ago. He seemed at that time to be the only person in the world who knew how to do what we wanted to do with our information. I reached out to him on the web and he said he worked for a consulting firm. I reached out to them and contracted him to help our project. I also contracted two American sign language translators because this brilliant expert was severely hearing impaired and had very limited sight. I offered to pick him up from his home on my way to work, because I learned from a tour at the Lighthouse for the Blind that getting to work every day is one of the biggest challenges in a car culture like ours for sight-impaired professionals.
Centuries or even decades ago, Ben would never have been able to access all the knowledge that put him at the top of his specialty. While limited options were available, like braille, few of the worlds books were available in braille. Because of the digital revolution, information is now available to almost anyone and the final wall is coming down with voice user interface.
At the end of this holiday season, some 50% of American homes will have a smart speaker. Amazon’s website likens it to Star Trek ship communication technology. Ease of use has never been more fluid. No manual required. Even my two-year old can activate Alexa, although she has yet to correctly format a request to get a response. Alexa’s ring turns blue, delighting my toddler when she says, “Alexa.” Amazon just announced Alexa is available in Mexico.
Once this technology is available worldwide and once the world is online, Gutenberg will finally be truly just a note in the history books. The world he created of text will no longer determine one individual’s economic potential by serving as the only path to knowledge and information and ultimately professional expertise.
I have long loved books, and I will miss Gutenberg dearly. Still I can see that Alexa joins the Internet as the most powerful flattening forces of my lifetime.
Give yourself, give a loved one, especially a child the ultimate cosmopolitan gift: Multilingualism.
People who speak two or more languages have significantly better overall cognitive abilities than those who speak one. Learning another language is one of the most effective and practical ways to increase intelligence and keep your mind sharp. Language study buffers brain against aging. Start today with Creations by Crouch bilingual picture books.
Adele Marie Crouch created her bilingual picture books in the hope to bring the world together and keep unique cultures alive. The German-American grandmother’s children married Italian-American, Mexican-Apache, Nez Perce and Chinese. “Now my grandchildren look like the United Nations,” says the 68-year-old former realtor.
In retirement, Crouch starting writing picture books. She is deeply committed to providing language training assets in the form of bilingual books, especially for languages which are less available, such as Swahili and Marshallese. She is also deeply concerned with disappearing languages like tribal languages for the Native Americans of North, Central and South America as well as the Pacific islands and African tribal languages.
“One of the problems I’ve had is finding native speakers to provide translations,” she explained. Some languages like tribal languages are difficult to find professional translators for and others may have multiple dialects. This means that people from other dialects complain that the books are not correct. Her books have now been translated into more than 40 different languages.
“I wish I could have learned my family’s language,” says German-American author.
Like so many parents in so many ways, Crouch wanted to give future generations of her family more opportunities than she had herself.
Although Crouch is a German-American, she never learned to speak her family’s language due in part to the reputation that the German nation had earned at the end of World War II. Many German immigrants tried to hide their ancestry and they did this by making sure their children spoke only English. “My grandma didn’t want any of us to speak German,” she explained.
Adele Marie Crouch, author of bilingual picture books in 40+ languages. Photo by Douglas Paul Crouch.
Today, many Asian and Latin American families who have been United States citizens for many generations still speak their family’s language at home. “I wish I could have learned a second language,” Crouch laments. “I wish I could have learned my family’s language. I will make sure my grandchildren and many other people’s children have the option and the opportunity to learn more languages if they want.”
Crouch is also a self-taught artist, working in: Acrylics, Oils, Colored Pencils, Graphite and Charcoal. She has been selling her work for more than 40 years. Her interest in art was inspired by a history lesson which featured Michelangelo when she was nine years old. Her artistic interest became another asset when she started writing bilingual picture books as she illustrated several of her books herself. However, in the beginning she didn’t feel confident enough to illustrate her own books so she hired a professional illustrator, Megan Gibbs.
Megan illustrated How the Fox Got His Color and Where Hummingbirds Come From. Within a week of completing the Hummingbird bird, Megan passed away. Adele was at a loss at first and then decided to try doing her own illustrations and has been doing them ever since.Three of Adele’s relatives, her grandfather and two aunts, were also artists. This helped give her incentive to study and develop her skills in illustration.
Adele sits transfixed for hours just inches away from her easel. Her paint laid out in various tubs and tubes splayed around her. In the quiet room 17 miles down a dirt road, the only sounds are the wind outside and occasional sound of her brush strokes or sighs of happiness or frustration with her painting efforts. Yet, she said she loves her paintings as much as she loves her books and grandchildren.
Crouch’s bilingual language study books include:
How the Fox Got His Color is a delightful little story that tells of a young girl’s time with her grandmother as she relates a legend of how a mischievous little white fox with all his grand adventures going over and under and through became the red fox we all know today.
Where Hummingbirds Come From continues the grandmother and granddaughter characters as grandmother explains how the magic waters of a bubbling spring spray forth into magical, beautiful birds.
The Dance of The Caterpillars is a fun way to teach prepositions. This exciting children’s book contains twenty-two prepositions, one two-word multiple, and two three-word multiples.
Alphabet Alliteration puts a twist on learning the English alphabet.
The Gnomes of Knot-Hole Manor is a chapter book that focuses on word pairs that have the same pronunciation, but different spellings and meanings.
Crouch has always been fascinated with language and learning, including the structure of the English languages, so her books focus on the unique language elements while weaving them into entertaining stories.
Get started improving your brain today! Buy and read a bilingual book yourself or buy one for your favorite elder or young family member. Language study gives your brain a workout that improves the cognitive abilities of children, increases intelligence, and keep a mind sharp for everyone and buffer the brain against the effects of aging.
In retirement, Crouch starting writing picture books. She is deeply committed to providing language training assets in the form of bilingual books, especially for languages which are less available, such as Swahili and Marshallese. She is also deeply concerned with disappearing languages like tribal languages for the Native Americans of North, Central and South America as well as the Pacific islands and African tribal languages.
35-Year Public Affairs & IT Professional 