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.

French film in Swindon

French film at Swindon Arts Centre 

This is organised by Swindon Film Society and this year, 2017 is their 70th anniversary.  

The French film is called Frantz will be on 20th Sept at 7.45pm

This is a period war drama, loosely based on the 1932 Ernst Lubitsch drama Broken Lullaby. It tells the story of a German woman grieving the death of her lover in World War I. She is shocked when his grave is visited by a Frenchman claiming he was friends with her beloved before the war.

You can get all the details about all the international films they will be showing this year, on their website, starting with a Spanish one on the 13th Sept 2017.   


Il y a un film Francais le 20 Sept a 7.45 Swindon Arts Centre Pour plus d'information sur les films internationaux: swindonfilm.org.uk

Practice your French in Swindon

French in Swindon 

I am so pleased that I have just come across a Swindon group that meet up regularly to speak French, or at least you can listen and practice.

 https://www.meetup.com/French-Language-Meetup-in-Swindon/

Understand first 

Listening and understanding is the first stage in being able to speak a language. This is how any child learns, yet when you learn in a school you have to be able to read, write and speak it grammatically correctly from day one. It is not surprising that so many people give up because they say it is hard.  It is, when you attempt to learn a language that way.

Have fun

Do something enjoyable, listen and forget about getting it right, you might just enjoy having a coffee and a cake.  It seems to be what is group is about. They have a list of meetings on different days and palaces so you can choose what suits you.

I have other opportunities to practice French listed on my links to other useful websites page 

A bientot

Bilingual sessions on BBC news

Did you see the BBC Oxford news last night 14th Dec 2016?

Two teachers in Oxford have started running French, Spanish and Mandarin classes for babies.

Young children can cope with learning up to four languages even before they speak English, research has shown.

The classes are full of songs, nursery rhymes and stories to stimulate their young minds.

This is the type of thing I have been doing with French, in Swindon since 2013 .

There are many benefits of learning a language early, some which may surprise you and which go beyond the use use of a second language.

Here are podcasts that explain more and about how children learn and benefits of learning other languages.

Episode one 27min   and Episode two 27min

Being bilingual, I very much relate to the descriptions given about how the brain works differently, I regularly experience this in everyday life activities.

FREE Christmas special event

Purton House Organic Farm have Christmas activities on Sat 10 and Sunday 11th Dec 2016  For all the details of this event see their page

At 2pm on Saturday there will be a special free Bilingual Rhyme and story time session lasting about 30 min followed by the opportunity to purchase my book at a reduced rate.

Here is one of the many the songs I use in these bilingual nursery rhyme sessions. 

If you would like to know about more events sign up or join my FB page .

Testimonial for my book

Counting Nursery Rhymes book reviews

Susan Jillian Walklate - Educator

 “This series of books has been cleverly developed by Julie K.Nicholls.

She has skilfully translated well known and well loved English nursery rhymes into French, while keeping rhythm, cadence and rhyme.

It combines the enjoyment of nursery rhymes with our first exploration into a new language. It introduces children to a foreign language in a natural and relaxed way.

This book has easy to read text with fun to follow actions, colourful illustrations and a CD so that you can Sing-Along with Julie.

This provides an essential learning experience as it has been proven that bilingual children achieve better results in their education”.

L age 9: “The book is good, because if you are French or English, you can read it. I think it is really good, because it has numbers in English and French for the different countries. The CD is a really good idea, because the French people may not know how to pronounce the English, nor the English the French.”

L’s parents about using the book and CD: “Clearly, the CD is the vital part.  It is really done well and the bilingual format gets across the point that languages are spoken at a certain pace and that you need to speak and listen at that pace. That’s probably the key feature and benefit of the book.  The fact that these are nursery rhymes, implies that they should be repeated time and again until second nature, very clever. The illustrations make more sense once you are listening and start singing along with the kids.”

“Using the book one appreciates the work that has gone in to making it. All round, a great job you should be proud of!”

Angela Atkinson AA Editorial Services
“This is a lovely and much-needed idea. Language teaching in our schools is pitiful: by and large too little too late. So every little helps and these rhymes are translated into French with great care.
I've bought this for my granddaughter who is approaching one year old. I've copied the CD into iTunes so I can easily access the tunes from my iPad and iphone.

If you want your child to start getting some early experience with another language, this a good way to start - and good value for money.” 

French fun event 6th Aug

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


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 

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). 
 Booking is essential via this link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/french-fun-sat-6th-aug-tickets-26718466653

Free parking in the street and surrounding ones.

Please ring the bell on the gate.