tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35124868099611785.post977582856670165626..comments2023-10-24T12:39:03.746+02:00Comments on Uh Oh Spaghettios: C.A.T spells chatRebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15768568719894187436noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35124868099611785.post-8891248744924901692010-06-25T17:03:57.458+02:002010-06-25T17:03:57.458+02:00This is fascinating to me, as I have a two-year-ol...This is fascinating to me, as I have a two-year-old who can point out letters on signs, books, and clothing and tell us their names in English and French. But I've already started wondering what it will be like when I want him to learn to read in French, yet I will almost certainly be the one doing most of the work at home to try to enrich and enlarge upon what he'll learn at preschool and then school-school. We do OPOL too, and I'm also a fanatic about only speaking French to him.<br /><br />The fact that Suzanne's English is better than her French despite living in France absolutely wows me, because I don't see that happening with Griffin. He understands English and French equally well, but he just doesn't say as much in French, even when it's just the two of us.<br /><br />Thanks for sharing so much in this post!Sarah @ Baby Bilingualhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13907207816628137938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35124868099611785.post-39064019118071843922010-06-01T12:03:58.627+02:002010-06-01T12:03:58.627+02:00Nicole, you're 2 cents is worth much more! I h...Nicole, you're 2 cents is worth much more! I have admired you and your bilingual kids for a few years now so much appreciate the fact that you manage to do it all in English even with the French homework.<br /><br />I feel much less lost now (better even?) and am fairly certain that I no one will have to make too many sacrifices when it comes to school (although I still don't like the French school system but that's a whole different story...)Rebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15768568719894187436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35124868099611785.post-67738812288374091642010-05-31T17:57:24.509+02:002010-05-31T17:57:24.509+02:00My two cents worth: I'm still only ever speak...My two cents worth: I'm still only ever speaking in English to the boys (who are 6 and 9, so in CP and in CM1), I'm a single mother now so I'm the only one who helps them with their homework. We talk about their homework in English but if there is something to read or whatever that is in French, they do so in French. It doesn't feel like we're crossing over that line (I'm super rigid about the OPOL thing too!) because the conversations are still in English, it's more like we're quoting. If I read a French book, they know I'm simultaneously translating it. The 9 year old is reading pretty well in English now but I waited until after CP and he had the whole French methodology down. And even then I didn't really teach him, we just talked about it sometimes while reading books in English. He just read James and the Giant Peach in English and only asked about vocab a few times.Nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13306228378745291912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35124868099611785.post-47744195464156177622010-05-31T16:35:25.931+02:002010-05-31T16:35:25.931+02:00Thanks for all of the advice everyone! And the sup...Thanks for all of the advice everyone! And the support!<br /> <br />A couple points: 1) I know I will have to speak with my kids in French, but I hope I won't have to until English is fully installed in their brains 2) my mother is a children's librarian so we definitely are not lacking in reading material in English (in fact we have more English books for the kids than French and I make it a point to read books to both kids every day) 3) luckily Suzanne isn't frustrated yet...but I'm sure that she will insist at some point that I speak French when her friends are around.<br /><br />What's most important for me now is that the rules inside the home are solid and are respected by all. Of course we stray at times, and I will learn to bend a little but...<br /><br />And I'm hoping my husband will be on homework duty because I remember having intense arguments with my parents when I didn't understand my homework. I'd rather be the good parent. I'll let my husband do the dirty work. <br /><br />Last question - how did you deal with teaching your kids to read in the 2nd language? do you do it simultaneously or wait until the 1st language is set? <br /><br />Jan - very promising that your child self-taught! <br /><br />Penny - thanks for the advice. I do wonder if it's better to teach reading simultaneously in both languages or wait until they know how to read in the majority language. It's good to know that waiting works. <br /><br />Amber - I will share all my info with you when the time comes. that's what this blog is for! To keep everything on record for future use. <br /><br />smashedpeas - I love your suggestion of getting her to translate stuff back to me. I will definitely use that when we read. I already do that with French movies and conversations. <br /><br />Beth - I will definitely need your expertise! <br /><br />Rachael - I've heard that the Lycée Montebello is pretty good. I know a couple of bilinguals who are happy there.Rebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15768568719894187436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35124868099611785.post-85820451508973660402010-05-29T10:49:54.888+02:002010-05-29T10:49:54.888+02:00It is interesting, isn't it? And lucky Suzanne...It is interesting, isn't it? And lucky Suzanne for having a mommy who thinks so much about these things.<br /><br />We're both English-speakers here so I have to do some French with them. I read French books in French and English books in English. When we have guests over, we speak French and I ask my kids not to speak English with me then. I'm getting a bit more strict about this with the five year old. He has beautiful English and I'm not concerned about him losing it. We're probably going to leave Lille in the next few years to move closer to a French school with an English section. We use a bit of starfall.com for a gentle introduction to reading.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04672237954338081941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35124868099611785.post-3008488370225314162010-05-25T18:08:44.060+02:002010-05-25T18:08:44.060+02:00Similar issues here, though I'm a bit more rel...Similar issues here, though I'm a bit more relaxed about OPOL (I do sometimes speak to my kids in English). <br /><br />First of all, I totally agree with what Jan said - use as many matertials in the minority language as you can and leave the French to the rest of her world :)<br /><br />However, in situations where it'd be frustrating to her when you refuse to speak French, maybe consider relaxing your approach a bit. <br /><br />What I mean is that rather than not giving her the French, maybe you could help her read it/read it to her, and then ask her whether she can translate it back to you in English. That way, she gets the French she needs, and then immediately switches back to English.<br /><br />I do understand that if you're very strict with OPOL that this may not be an option. However, it is what we're doing and it doesn't bother me or our almost 5 year old who also often asks me to speak German to her when we're in situations when I do stray from OPOL. To the contrary, it leaves her not frustrated that I didn't help her figure out the English, and still gets her some practice with German (we do the same with spelling English words in that we spell them while using the German letters when doing so).<br /><br />There's probably no solution that works for every family/kid equally well, but this is something we all have to figure out as our kids get older and do need to start reading and writing at least in their majority language.<br /><br />Good luck - and you should now that I'm really jealous that Suzanne mixes English into her French conversations!smashedpeahttp://intrepidlybilingual.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35124868099611785.post-66301740240062004262010-05-25T15:36:27.060+02:002010-05-25T15:36:27.060+02:00My eldest is 17 and I have four children in all. ...My eldest is 17 and I have four children in all. We've never lived in an English-speaking country and my dh is French. All this to say, I do feel like I have some words of wisdom for you! lol!<br /><br />First of all, don't worry about confusing your moppet. It's not an issue. I've known hundreds (if not thousands!) of bi and multi-lingual families from all over the world and I have never seen a child linguistically 'confused' forever. They may pass through periods of mixing, but all of them manage to sort things out by age six or seven at the latest.<br /><br />As for reading the French books in English- don't worry! I did it all the time! Just explain to her what you're doing. ex: "You sure you want that one? It's in French, so you won't be able to read along." Then the child choses whether she wants to just listen or read over your shoulder. <br /><br />ITA with Jan that you should heavily invest in tons of English books for kids. They were my best help!<br /><br />Homework is indeed an issue. When my kids were younger, I did speak with them in French in order to help with homework. There seemed to be no way around it. But now that they're older, they really need their dad for the French stuff. I do the math, but in English! <br /><br />If you want to discuss any of this in-depth, just contact me through my blog. I love talking about this stuff!Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14141877537334176841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35124868099611785.post-14045669685124051762010-05-24T21:04:44.453+02:002010-05-24T21:04:44.453+02:00Please write a book about all this once you've...Please write a book about all this once you've got it figured out -- i'll be needing it in a few years! <br /><br />and p.s. from everything i've seen, you are super mom. Your little girl is adorable and intelligent, and I think that even if you started speaking a little bit of French with her (i.e. doing hw together like the comment above me mentioned) it wouldn't have a damaging effect on the english foundation that you've already worked so hard (and successfully!) at creating. I hope that I will have half of your patience when my time comes!Amberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17496193808385291916noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35124868099611785.post-38357260241415092632010-05-24T19:47:09.684+02:002010-05-24T19:47:09.684+02:00As the mother of a bilingual australian child in C...As the mother of a bilingual australian child in CP (grade 1), I think you are in for a rough time with the school years unless you relax your stance a bit. Unless, of course, you plan that your husband will be doing all her homework with her. Your child is going to need help in the early years of school with learning to read in french and will be looking to someone to help her with her reading in french and to correct french pronunciation of syllables, doing spelling words, conjugation etc. <br /><br />I was worried about my daughter learning to read in english but I taught her the year when she was 5 (grande section of maternelle) using a series of UK books. This meant that she could already read quite well in english and a bit in french when she started CP, which as you probably already know is when they teach them to read here in France. She now reads at home in both languages and we try and do some extra work on her english (spelling etc). I used to worry about whether her english would be as good as her french but I've found it changes all the time. At the moment she reads more confidently in french, but it will change back again soon enough. I understand that as the main (or only) english speaker in the house you want to make sure your kids become fluent in your language but if you want them to do well at school in french, they will need your or your husband's help (and let's face it, supervising homework often falls to the mums!)<br /><br />Good luck :)Pennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12167391793277099881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35124868099611785.post-11214590783873845582010-05-24T17:21:27.580+02:002010-05-24T17:21:27.580+02:00We have the exact same problem, and I also used to...We have the exact same problem, and I also used to read all books in German. When BK1 started to be able to read, I stopped reading English and French books and only read her German books.<br /><br />My wife is reading the French books and because England has this weird idea that school should start before kids are 5, BK1 reads English in school now.<br /><br />It seems to work.<br /><br />Even though noone ever taught BK1 French or German phonetics, she seems to be able to read a little bit. Not as good as English, of course.<br /><br />My advice: don't worry, buy more English books.BabalDadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12462472771197361179noreply@blogger.com