Fun French cartoons

Fun is the key to learning.

We all know it is hard to take in new information and concentrate when we are stressed, so it is not surprising to us the children are not thriving in schools.

We have been home educating our son for just over a year now.  It has taken a lot of the stress out of the leaning process (school runs, deadlines, the stress from the teachers of new targets, etc...not to mention bullying.)

We focus maths and English around his interests and he is so much more engaged and happy. This is because he sees it as fun, not a lesson, something he has to do and complete or else....  as it was in school.

As I know, no one can teach anyone anything, we all just learn things by being exposed to them or because we have an interest in them. We don't teach our babies to walk nor to talk they just learn to do it by exposure.  So I have always exposed my son to French, rather than teach it, and this is is how I ended up writing my bilingual book, so as a baby he  had the same nursery rhymes in English and French.

Super hero

More recently I have been reading some French children's magazines called Pomme D'api. My son has really taken to the adventures of a little super hero called Sam Sam.

After I noticed there was a link to one of songs in the story and seen seen the cartoons, he now wants to watch one every night, as part of his bed time routine. Along with the the other stories in the magazine of course. From my point of view the more he want the better, so I am happy.

This makes exposing him to French so easy and fun for both of us.

Here is a link to one of the many Sam Sam you can find on Youtube

I hope your little ones enjoy them too.

FREE, June, French fun time

Come and have some fun for 90 min . No French needed.

 Booking is essential via this link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/french-fun-12th-june-tickets…

The session begins with some play time (approx 45min)- colouring, puzzles, watching a short cartoon in French if it is raining, followed by approx 40 min of bilingual songs and stories some taken from my book (see video below).

Though theses sessions are offered free, a donation would be appreciated
Places are limited so booking is essential please book seats per child. (You will not need to print the ticket, I will have your name on the list of attendees).
Free parking in the street and surrounding ones.

Please ring the bell on the gate.

In  April we had fun with dominos

This is one of the songs we sang- Frere Jaques

Christmas Carol causes havoc

Our son who was called 'a breath of fresh air' by his pre-school leader turned into a rebel after learning of Christmas carols for his pre-school play.

Aware of the impact the language children hear has on them, even unconsciously, I have always been very careful about the songs I have chosen to sing to him. I elected to avoid songs which talked about falling out of trees or beds and judge, braking and not being put back together again, sweets being better than reason and songs with any cruelty in them.

Our son was very good for his age, when it came to saying please and thank you. However around Christmas time I began to notice he was forgetting to saying please, was more impatient  and would say he wanted things right now. At first I thought this was just a phase and was not sure where it had come from, as it is not the kind of language we use at home, till we saw his Christmas pre-school play. They were singing we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.  If you're not familiar with the words here they are: 

We wish you a Merry Christmas (x3)
and a Happy New Year.

Good tidings we bring to you and your kin
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Now bring us some figgy pudding (x3)
and bring some out here. (or, and bring it us here)

For we all like figgy pudding (x3)
so bring some out here.

Now bring us some figgy pudding (x3)

and bring some out here. (or, and bring it us here)

However in this version they sang: we all want a figgy pudding (3X) so bring it right now. They were also shown to stamp their foot when saying 'right now'.

It was then clear to me then, that my son thought that that was the way to get things and started behaving that way at home.

If I ever needed proof of the impact nursery rhymes, songs and everyday language has on behaviour this was it. It has taken just over two months to 'stamp out' this behaviour.

This is why I have chosen the nursery rhymes I translated into French very carefully and made some adjustments to the English version to make them more educational, more accurate (pigs don't eat roast beef) or to enable a rhyming translation. I hope you will enjoy them.

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.

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