Phillip and Rebecca Mefford

Gaining cultural and linguistic fluency through play! Children attentively listen to the sing-songy voice of their teacher. As she asks a question to the class the students eagerly raise their voices and forefingers for attention, vying to be the one chosen to answer. Parmak kald ı rmak , raising one finger, is a gesture common to young Turkish students to signify that they know the answer to a question, want to ask a question, or make a request (like asking to go to the bathroom). The five-fingered hand-raise is less common, but also practiced. That was one example of a gesture we learned from our children’s involvement in Turkish school, but there are many others that we have learned along the way. For example, to decline something someone is offering you—say, another glass of tea-- putting your hand to your heart indicates “no thank you.” That is simple enough. As another example, a swift jerk of the chin up might mean “what’s up?” in America, but in Turkey it means “no,” p

"Take off your shoes and put them in the right place" Merhaba, Ho ş geldiniz! Buyrun. Hello, Welcome! Please come in. The first contact with the house is the front door. We warmly greet our friends here and patiently wait as they wrestle off their shoes before giving a kiss on each cheek. Shoes are deposited outside, jackets strung on the coat rack inside, and everyone is ushered into the sitting room. We have to admit, we are a bit rebellious about the shoes-outside-the-door cultural rule. The stubborn Americans that we are, we kind of have the “mud room” mentality, and wear our shoes into the entry way of our apartment. We even bring our stroller into our apartment. And we do the daily vacuuming (or should) to prove it. Even though, in the end the practicality of herding our little troupe into the home before taking off shoes wins out, we do appreciate and strive for the strict code of house cleanliness that most Turkish families hold to…at