English speaking and Petit section

Hello..
I have just been informed by my little boys Maitresse in petit section that he is often alone and quite isolated!!!
I'm somewhat peeved...Not only because it's the sixth month in but also because my regular question of "Was everthing OK today ?" has been vaguley answered for all this time...And being the only English child in the class, I thought they would have seen this coming and maybe tried to counteract exactly that...
Has anyone else had a similar problem and if so what did you do?

Hi All,

Thank you all for taking time to reply, sorry for being a stranger..

Language isn't the barrier i feel, it's the excuse.. He went to Nounou two days a week from being 12months old and the summer before he started school was happily playing in french with the other kids... I think you have nailed it Emily, and in talking further with the teacher she has said not to worry, although you do!

Its difficult to know who to invite.. I have asked him who he would like to come and play but on the whole he says the names of the boys that are being the meanest to him.. there are only seven little boys in his class, They seem to have made pairs... with ONE left over! I guess they all kind of knew each other from before, it's only a small villiage...

I just keep turning up there every day, smiling and saying hello... Birthdays come and go, would be lovely to get an invite but as of yet we haven't.. My little boy's Birthday isn't until the 8th August so it's not like I have that card up my sleeve... I actually thought school would be an opportunity for us to intergrate into the community, we have been here nearly three years... apparently not the opening I was expecting!

Other english speaking friends have said not to worry... their little ones didn't really bond until moyene or later.. He's quite a timid little boy, it may just take some time...

Julie x

It's not unusual, especially if your little one hasn't been exposed to French much but easily solved by using Carolyn's idea. A note works best then it is quite clear what is expected.

One of my daughters had some problems. The school actually created them. She is Down Syndrome and came English only speaking, so she was 'isolated' by class organisation. We got round that by doing as Carolyn suggested and creating friendships with her. Well before as long as your son, she had broken the ice and began to learn French quite quickly plus fit in with other children. In my other daughter's class there is a Portuguese boy who is now quite isolated, especially since so no teaching staff have his language at all. We have invited his family over to us a couple of times and are trying to encourage other parents to do the same. Take advantage of what you can out of school as well, clubs of any kinds and sport in particular.

If you haven't already then invite a child to come and play at yours on wednesday , weekends or have birthday parties etc . It will help break the ice for him . The language wont matter much with different toys to play with . Ask him if he likes anyone in particular to start with . If its easier do a little invite with address and a little hand drawn map and hours that they can come and play , often it seems to be 2.30 to 6ish

Might be worth asking for a meeting with the maƮtresse to work out a way forward/out of this one. Not sure of your linguistic situation but it's often not down to linguage. Mine only speak French - we're a French speaking household - but there are always problems at school (petite section too) where kids gang up or exclude others, human nature unfortunately :-(

Courage ;-)