The Maths and the long division was AWFUL. In the end James had to relearn the French way so he could help the kids. The system makes no sense and there have been numerous issues like that. He struggles to explain stuff to them and he is good at Maths! I gave up trying to help with maths homework shortly after CP.
I end up hiding my method and double checking the answers as I can’t get my head round the French way and don’t want to confuse the girls. I once left my working out in their rough book and the teacher was most bemused apparently. Seems to work out the same though!
Ooohh, what a lovely subject!
I have done so much thinking on this one and my 5 yr old (born here) is in GS, so in consultation with her teacher, I have started teaching her to read in English using a combination of phonics and Janet and John. It is working great for us, although English is our main language at home, she has been exposed to French since a babe and actually considers herself French. Her maitresse said it was better for her to learn the two languages simultaneously as that way it was more automatic, whereas to wait a couple of years and then introduce English reading and writing would introduce an element of ‘extra work’ against which she might rebel (this is probably as a result of seeing my daughter as she had gone through the school from PPS).
With my younger son, he seems to be finding bilingualism more of a struggle, despite being exposed to French more, from an earlier age, so we will probably leave the English till he is older. So I guess, it’s like so many other stuff, it totally depends on the child.
@Jennifer, same situation here, eldest daughter was 2 1/2 when we arrived, youngest born here, she will start maternelle in Sept, eldest was fluent within a year, have concentrated on French reading/writing as that was more important for school and she’s almost taught herself to read and write English, we make sure we have lots of English books at home. She will read anything as long as it’s to do with horses!
Youngest goes to a French childminder 4 mornings a week, she’s really picking it up fast…(with the help of Dora l’Exploratrice!)
@Suzanne, never had any bilingual books…
Can’t say I’ve ever really thought about using them as they have books coming back from school and like you, we have lots of books in English!
Suzanne - do you mean books with the story in both French and English? I never liked them because I find that one always ends up relying too easily on one’s own language - slipping looks over to the translation.
Thanks for adding a group image James, I have to say I’m really pleased with the responses so far. It’s excellent reading about everyones’ different experiences. One question for the members/members2be - do any of you currently or have you used bi-lingual books or are they not worth bothering with? I currently have a large range of fantastic English infant books (I love reading the stories I remember from being a child) and a few french books which I get from the local library but I know you can get bi-lingual books I just wondered if they are worth it or not?
Hello everyone - fascinating topic, really interested to read others experiences. Just to share a little of our history, no 1 son was 2 & a half when we arrived here 6 years ago, and since starting Petite section maternelle I felt it was important to continue his English, so paid for lessons with “teachers” ever since…varying degrees of success (imo) but something seems to have gone in (although does anyone have an 8yr old who willingly reads anything but the Beano?!) End of year assessement suggests French is going well too. No 2 son born here & will start Maternelle sometime next year (born Aug 08) speak only English at home but big brother has already passed on some interesting vocab…
Really feel it is crucial to keep English up - just because it’s such a useful language & how lovely to be able to pick up a book in either language and really understand the nuances etc??
@Catharine: Ha! I have sometimes been so frustrated in the past that I want to scream this from the rooftops! If I can help just a handful of fellow expats understand what it took so many long, painful years to understand then I am glad!
@ Jamie - I’ve just read that and I wanted to say a big thank you for writing it and sharing your experiences. A lot of the issues you raise, are those that (I suspect) are being experienced by our youngest and you have given me a lot of food for thought. Thank you!
Thanks Kathryn. When we were starting out on our “journey” we bought several books on how to raise bi-lingual kids and not one mentioned problems. And as I hinted at, much of the blame in my opinion falls on the shoulders of the French school system. Even my French husband finally had to admit it.
@Helen - you’re so lucky (or maybe you just are a much better planner than we are!). That sounds a great situation for the kids - do you have an option to go through to the International Bac?
@Jamie - I’ve forwarded your blog to lots of people as it does exactly as you say, it shows that it’s not always simple or straightforward. I must admit that I haven’t seen any books about the issues kids can face…
I love playing Devil’s Advocate! I am an American married to a Frenchman. We have two sons who are soon to be 20 and 21 years old. They were both born in France. The older started Maternelle in France at 2 1/2 yrs. When the boys were 18 mths and 3 1/2 yrs we moved to Milan, Italy. Clem (the older) was 1 1/2 yrs in the Maternelle at the French School and it was a pretty bad experience so when Simon was 3 and ready to enter Maternelle we put them in a fantastic brand-new school in the Italian public school system. They continued in the Italian system until we moved back to France when they were 8 and 10. They"ve been in both public and private Catholic school in France. They are now both out and the older is finishing up his first very successful year at ENSA Nantes (architecture). Simon left France as soon as he could after passing his Bac and never wants to return. He is currently in New Orleans doing volunteer work with lowernine.org.
Needless to say, they had very, very different experiences which to make it as brief as possible I explain in an article I wrote for a small group blog which I encourage you to read as we NEVER found one single book or authority that explained the possible problems bi- or multi-lingual kids could have.
http://dailytiffin.blogspot.com/2010/05/no-language-to-call-my-own.html
I found the French school system way too rigid and passive for my kids who wanted something active and interactive. They were constantly penalized for their differences rather than encouraged. They dealt with it in two very different ways which I try to explain in my article. Thanks.
Hi Suzanne
I’ve changed the group image as the default ones are really boring, feel free to change it if you don’t like it.
Thanks
James
lol - we were talking about this at our bilingual meeting on Monday, especially now Fr gros mots start entering an Eng speaking household. Suzanne’s put this great list together (primary school ones are just before it too!)
@ Kathryn - thank you for being so charmingly polite re my children’s 'language enriched vocab" - does this include four letter words? In which case, yes! They have an amazing grasp of these…
@Katie - Actually thinking about it, we are doing that but within the constraints we have, in so much as L2 is French and learnt in CP so L1 English should therefore be taught in Moyenne which seems too young. In your case L1 is French and therefore L2 is English and introduced later. Certainly, I agree that one should come before the other if possible - it was just the 2 years before the maternal language introduction that confused me (easily done!).
@Catharine - given your profession, I would think your children have a language enriched home which could be why they find it easier than other kids?? I suspect my children would have a more limited vocab than yours 
@Lucinda - my eldest has shown an interest in becoming a vet - if you had an opportunity I’d love to know more about what is involved in France. I understand from a vet friend that Toulouse is a v. good vet school so well done to Simon.
@Katie
Well, I would agree that in my case it was def a transferable skill - they were never taught to read in English, it just happened once they were reading in French. Wish it was as easy for adults…!!
Hi Katherine
to answer your question about leaving 2 years before teaching the children to read - this is something that is quite current in academic circles (hark at me). The reason behind it is as reading is a totally transferrable skill then the received wisdom - and to me common sense is to allow L1 to become fully installed. In our case - as the children have started french schooling right from the beginning and are likely to follow through to the (?bitter) end then we felt it was time to let french become L1 - ie the more dominant one. Also my son is in a composite GS/CP and is already learning to read (in fact to be honest he is doing a mini CP). As soon as he becomes more competent in french reading then we will launch the oxford reading scheme with him - this is not to say that we don’t do basic reading with him - the ladybird early readers are great, but I don’t really don’t go down the phonics route with him - as he is doing that at school and don’t really to add the sound confusion just yet.
hope this helps
I should be writing the newsletter but am skiving off to post this as I thought I’d share my experiences.
We came to France when the kids were aged 7,5 and 1. Part of the reason for coming was that the eldest was not being sufficiently challenged by her very twee CofE surrey primary. She started reading by herself aged two and a bit so by the time she got to reception, needed to be doing something rather than watching the boys running round pretending to be airplanes near the sand table. I tried to get her assessed as having special needs but the very snotty teacher and deputy head refused and told me she was only average. I could have continued the battle but as I was working on my escape to France plan, decided to let things ride. Second daughter did a term in UK reception and refused to even try to read. Snotty teacher was jumping with delight at this and tried to tell me she had learning difficulties. My response was unprintable on a family forum such as SF!
When we got to France, Tilly (number 2) learnt to read French within six months. The French method of shape recognition suited her down to a T and the fact that non of her peers were expected to be reading until they were 6, took all the pressure off which was all that she needed. Number 3, the boy child, would be engrossed in a book since being tiny and read in French fairly soon after starting school although his spoken Eng and Fr is the weakest of the three. Within a year to two of starting to read in French, both kids had migrated to English and were reading equally fluently in both languages. All three used to prefer to read In English. I think this was partly habit, partly due to the fact that most of our kids books are in english and there are some fantastic British childrens classics. But the eldest two now prefer reading in the original so Zola in French and Jilly Cooper in English!
I’ve never done anything about their written English but its absolutely fine - Max spells fantastically well for an 8 year old boy and I can only put this down to the amount they all read. We went to the Charente a couple of years ago to visit family and they were all silent for two hours and 45 minutes in the car as they were reading…They made up for it for the last fifteen mins though!