Six Principles to aid learning

These principles for helping your babies and children learn are based on Glenn and Janet Doman's books 'How to teach your baby to read' and 'How to teach your baby Math'

The six principles are:

Don't bore your child especially by going too slow
Be relaxed, don't pressure your child
Be joyous
Be inventive
Answer all your child's questions seriously
Have one to one time with them to read (without any other distraction (like the TV in the background)

For more details:  Early childhood education blog and
introduction video below on the institute for the achievement of human potential

If you are interested in the books then here is the link. if you purchase from this link you will not be charged any more, though I will receive a small commission which helps keep this site updated.

Bilingual Nursery RHYME TIME

FREE FRENCH FUN
Swindon Central library Children story time zone
Like story time, just in English and French!
In conjunction with Julie Nicholls from Bilingual Babies~Bébés Bilingues

Wednesdays 28th Nov & 5th Dec  2.00pm  to 2.30pm

Come along and discover some well known English nursery rhymes that have been translated into French
 keeping rhyme and melody.

No knowledge of French necessary!


Toddler groups, (Pre)-school visits, one to one sessions and private groups 5 per class can be arranged.
Call Julie on 01793 495551      

'Seek first to understand'!

As Stephen R. Covey says in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People "Seek first to understand, then to be understood."

So often people mention to me how they are so bad at another language because they can’t speak it.  Often when learning French, for example, at school as a second language, you are expected to understand what is being said, be able to reply and get the answer grammatically correct!  This can make learning a language frustrating, difficult and at worst make you feel like you can’t do it, you haven’t got the ‘language gene’ and unfortunately put you off learning a language all together!

Understanding is everything!  

Simply understanding that the natural process in learning a language is to understand it rather than trying to speak it, can help release all that stress and tension related to learning a language. Babies understand their mother tongue long before thy can speak. A one year old can respond to commands like show me the blue ball, yet is only making da, ma, gaga sounds. 

Exposure

Through being exposed to nursery rhymes, conversations, stories, songs, babies understand what is going on around them and will be able to distinguish different languages even if they don’t know what they are called – English-French-Spanish.  They will also get a grasp of some of the grammar without learning textbook grammar.

Confidence

You will feel more confident that you can learn a language if you are exposed to it in the same way a baby does, lots of repetition and easy things.  Then you develop vocabulary, put words together like milk-more then begin to put sentences together could I have more milk please. It takes babies 3 years to get to this stage so be kind to yourself and anyone learning a language!

This is the process I am using to teach my son French and some Spanish. I use the same principles in my sessions and classes to teach French to English children though nursery rhymes they already understand.

Twinkling star to Shining stars...

In the beginning

As a bilingual mother (French-English) I was keen for my son to learn French too.
I had learned a lot of English nursery rhymes during story time at our local library and searched on the net for the words of the few French nursery rhymes I could remember from my childhood.

However I found some of the French nursery rhymes were not sending the right educational message, some being rather cruel, others encouraging to eat sweets for example.

A change of tune

Our son loved the melody of twinkle, twinkle little star.  However I did not like words the words of the French version; 

'Ah ! vous dirai-je, maman
Ce qui cause mon tourment ?
Papa veut que je raisonne
Comme une grande personne
Moi je dis que les bonbons
Valent mieux que la raison'.

Oh let me tell you mummy 
what is causing my torment
Daddy wants me to reason
like a big person
I say that sweets 
Are better than reason. 

 One day

I wondered whether I could translate the English version of twinkle twinkle little star into French, whilst keeping the rhyme, the meaning and the melody. This would mean I could effectively sing the same song in English and in French. 

To my amazement it worked, so I kept going with other well known English nursery rhymes which I liked.

While researching the English nursery rhymes on the web, I discovered some had  more verses than were usually sung.  To me this made singing them more interesting, though more challenging to translate so all the more exciting when it worked.

In the end 

As a volunteer at my local Children's centre I was 'testing' the songs out on the children there during sessions called rhymes from around the world.

This encouraged me to translate more and eventually I ended up with 14. At which point I thought it was worth compiling the rhymes into a book with CD.

It then occurred to me that I could use these songs to help children learn French in Nurseries, pre-schools and reception year of primary schools. I set about running a session at my son's pre-school 'Shining stars'.

It was such success they want more.

If you are interested in hosting a bilingual 30 to 45 min songs and rhyme session then please get tin touch.

What language do you think in?

•  French / English or pictures?

  Many people over the years have asked me whether I think in French or in English. The answer is always the same, I don't think in any language, I just think and it comes out in the language the the person speaking to me understand. Sometime English sometimes French and sometimes both together -which we called Franglais at home!
• 
  Just as English speakers are not aware of thinking in English before answering a question, a bilingual brain just processes the information in whatever form is needed then conveys the message.
  
• 
  
  It is very different if you learn a language as a second language at school. Mostly because the way of learning is different. At school it is based on translation, grammar and remembering what the words and rules are rather than knowing them because you learned them in context like you learned your mother tongue.
• 
  This is what prompted me to translate English nursery rhymes into French for my son and now run groups/classes as above, using those songs and will have an accompanying book/CD ready next year.
• Unless you learn with Michel Thomas- who teaches in yet a different way but is still based on knowing 1 language first. https://www.michelthomas.com

Bringing up Baby Bilingual: gato, canard, and me

Bringing up Baby Bilingual: gato, canard, and me: Annabelle, author of the blog Gato and Canard , has been posting a series of interviews called " Multilingualism in my Family ," about parenting and bringing up a child to be bilingual.