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

FREE French fun in November

5 little ducks went swimming one day 

French Fun Time

Come and have some fun play in the garden if it's nice weather, do some colouring, watch a French cartoon, listen to stories, sing and discover some well known English nursery rhymes and how you can sing them in French.

No knowledge of French necessary!

There will be time for colouring and puzzles and for parents to chat in French or listen for approx. 45 min followed by approx. 35 min songs and stories. Adults get to get conversation practice or improve their listening comprehension while the children are playing.

Venue: 5 Bibury Road, Old Walcot, SN3 1DD
Date:  Saturday 21st Nov 2015 4pm  to 5.30pm Book here
More dates will be available in 2016 (about once a month)
Cost: Free though a donation is appreciated

Paces are limited so please book so I know how many children to prepare for.   Thank you.

French Fun for all



Swing ball, football and tent building!

A good time was had by all!


As the children built a 'tent', I decided it would be good to read: 'Titou construit sa maison'.

Les enfants on construit une 'tent', alors j'ai lu 'Titou construit sa maison'.



Can I go in your tent!

We saw spiders in the garden so we sang incy wincy spider/ la toute petite araignée (my own translation of the song) and there's a spider on the floor/ il y a une araignée sur le sol (also my own translation)

Nous avons vu des araignée dans le jardin alors nous avons chanté incy wincy spider/ la toute petite araignée (ma traduction) and there's a spider on the floor/ il y a une araignée sur le sol (aussi ma traduction)

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.

'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