Mama Lisa's Books

Can Anyone Help with a Polish Song that Sounds Like “Vee Gee Mama”?

Karen wrote asking for help with a Polish song from her childhood. Here's her email: I am Polish but never learned the language although it was used all around me growing up. My grandfather used to bounce me on his knee and sing a song. He passed in the 70's. I remember the tune but [...]

Can Anyone Help with a Polish Song?

Deborah wrote asking for help with a Polish song. Here's her note along with a recording of the song... I looked through your website on the children's songs because I have been searching for a song that I learned as a child. It is a delightful website! As a child growing up in Detroit, [...]

Can Anyone Help with a Polish Song?

Rebecca wrote asking for help withtwo different Polish songs from her childhood... Hi Lisa My mother was from Krakow and during the war she lost all her family. She didn't speak Polish to us at home because of the trauma, but she sang us some beautiful songs, and I would love to know if anyone [...]

Easter and Passover Traditions, Songs and Recipes

Spring is coming, and that means it's almost time for two of our favorite holidays, Easter and Passover. Easter This year Easter is celebrated on Sunday, April 1. You can read about Easter traditions and recipes from around the World here. Here are some Easter songs from around the world. [...]

Can Anyone Help with a Polish Nursery Song about "Mon Kapitan"?

Liz wrote to me asking for help with a Polish nursery song.  Here's her email: Hi Mama Lisa! My name is Liz, and a good portion of my family comes from Poland, but I didn't grow up speaking Polish at all, and a lot of the family's history never got written down... My Nana, Mom's

The [...]

Easter Monday – Picnics and Water Fights

Easter's coming soon! Did you know that in many countries the day after Easter, called Easter Monday, is a public holiday? The map above shows in yellow all of the countries that celebrate it. There are picnics, egg rolling contests and dousing of people with water that was blessed on Easter [...]

How to Call a Time-out in Games around the World

When kids in the US are playing a game and they want to temporarily pause it, they'll yell, “Time-out!” Sometimes, they'll also make a “T” with their hands or arms (see pic). The term “time-out” comes from sports. They use it to pause games too. More recently, [...]

Improve Your Language Learning with Real Video Games

Playing real video games for fun is a great way to improve your foreign language skills. I'm talking about games you'd want to play in your own language, not specifically language learning games. There are many fun games that are available in many different languages. I'm an early advanced [...]

14 New Christmas Carols from Around the World

Season's greetings! At Mama Lisa's World there's no time of year we love better than the holidays! We're happy to announce that we've recently added the following Christmas Carols to Mama Lisa's World with mp3 recordings and YouTube videos: Italian Dormi, dormi, bel Bambin (Sleep, Sleep [...]

Can Anyone Help with a Czech or Polish Lullaby and Wake Up Song?

John Ziak wrote asking for help with two childhood songs: Lisa, I have been searching for sometime to find a song/nursery rhyme that my grandfather sang to me when I was young.  He passed away 16 years ago and no one in my family can remember any more words than I.  The song originates [...]