If you have read my guest post Bilingual Travelers: Sweet Exposure to Language and Culture in Germany over at Bilingual Monkeys about last year’s summer holiday, you will have noticed the minority language gets a boost with food. This year is no different.

On our first day in the holiday resort, I’d forgotten to give my 5-year-old daughter a snack after her swim course. She’d gone directly to the kids’ club, and when I picked her up there, she begged for a bretzel, which was sold on the premises. Despite Daddy waiting with lunch, I felt guilty enough about the forgotten snack (swimming makes hungry!) to give in. So I put a two-euro coin into her hands. But she didn’t know where to buy them. I told her to go ask if she wanted one. She went over to the kids’ club counter and asked the group leader who directed her to the reception desk. I told her to go ahead while I closed my bag. By the time I caught up, she’d already purchased her bretzel (which was still warm). A yummy reward for active use of the minority language, right?