Maintaining Contact W/ Non-Taiwanese Heritage

[Timabee]

I am a U.S. citizen and my wife is a Taiwan citizen. Our children (2) have dual citizenship. We are planning to move to and live in Taiwan in the next 4-6 years. Our children will be school age (< 10 years old) when we move. I am curious about the experience(s) of other multi-national families living long-term in Taiwan and specifcally how they maintain a cultural connection to the non-Taiwanese heritage.

I appreciate any suggestions you may have.

[horo36]

I am sure your wife has been doing something while in the States to maintain contact with her heritage. It will be the same thing for you while in TW.
We try to keep in touch with people from our countries and speak our mother tongues on daily basis. Sometimes it may be more difficult, e.g. you can't find anyone who speaks your language. This you should not worry about, there are plenty of Americans in Taipei.
Try to find another American (or American-Taiwanese) family and meet them regularly. For children: cartoons in English, books in English, international school (if possible), playgroups with foreigners. If you have family in the US, let children have a regular contact with them over the Skype (so that they can see each other). I must say that Skype helps a lot in our family. Our almost 2 year old would never remember anyone from our families, if it weren't for Skype.
Maintain your traditions while abroad, whether it is Christmas, Hanukah, etc. always celebrate it. It will be different away from home, but the important thing is: do not forget about these important dates to you. In Taiwan you won't have holiday for Christmas, so it is more difficult. Depending on the job, you can always try to arrange a free day during that time.
We will be also moving in a few years time to my husband's country. Seems that mixed marriages must take into account moving to different places. We believe that this is the only way that children can learn about their heritage. We will see if it works.

[Timabee]

Thanks for the reply Horo36. Good suggestions re: maintaiing cultural holidays etc. it will be difficult given that most are not actually celebrated in Taiwan. I agree that Skype is indispensible to an international relationship/family. How have you or how do you plan to educate your children about the history of your (or your spouse's home country)? I am thinking that some home schooling will be needed to educate about important dates and events of U.S. history.

Timabee

[horo36]

I agree that homeschooling is a good solution for families with different backgrounds. You can design your child's education according to your plan. Not everyone can afford it, as it requires one parent to be full time at home and to be involved actively for almost 24 hours in teaching/designing materials/planning and spending time with children.
There are some families in Taipei that homeschool their children exactly for these reasons (I can give you contact). Until I met them I never believed that homeschooling can work. I had, as most people do, many stereotypes in my head about this way of educating kids.
I know you did not mean full time homeschooling in your post, but you can meet families that homeschool and see how they do it. You can get plenty of interesting ideas what to do with your kids in your free time, how to organize your "teaching job" and maybe organize some events in a bigger group, so that children with similar backgrounds can celebrate same holidays,traditions, etc.
We got children books about holidays that we celebrate and we are close to expat groups with our backgrounds. All important holidays we celebrate in these groups, so that a child can see that it is not only us.

[Timabee]

Thanks Horo. Good ideas. We are still 4-6 years away from a move so I am just in the "thinking about it stage" right now. I appreciate your feedback. I feel better knowing that others have already been down this road.

Timabee