What I learned in school

Here is a list of things I've learned in Suzanne's first year at school:

1. It is much easier to make friends with French women when you have kids.
2. French birthday party etiquette is a key to your kid's social success.
3. More French doesn't necessarily impede learning more English. Getting stronger in French has actually helped bring Suzanne's English up a notch.
4. dégoulasse is a bad word (I learned this after 13 years in France. You think someone could have corrected me sooner!)
5. There is a plethora of candy at école maternelle
   
6. Spending all day in the majority language has made both me and Suzanne better appreciate the special moments in the minority language.
7. It is possible to bring English into the classroom but you have to be persistant and willing to adapt.
   
8. When you get reprimanded by a resentful, bitter, holier-than-thou school principal, it is best to hold your tongue and walk away. *
   
9. Kids think it's cool and kind of funny when a parent speaks a foreign language around them.
   
10. French kids don't like frosting.
    

To be continued (for another 15 or so years)

* The principal reprimanded me on 2 occassions for no fault of mine, I just happened to be there at the wrong time. He appologized once. Apparently he's great with the kids, but has a lot to learn about relations with the parents.