8 Comments

Looking up "vertical hand loom" asap.

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We have never been able to get going with French in a lasting way. (This despite the fact that I am fluent in French.) Do you have any suggestions? What works for you?

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I have the same problem - I speak good French, and yet we struggle more with French than with Ancient Greek! I wish I had some suggestions! At the moment I do a mix of teaching them set phrases for conversation, and reading stories written in a mix of French/English just to get them used to hearing more of it and to expand their vocab. Part of the challenge for us is that I don’t want them focussing on written French yet. With Greek I see them recognising and transliterating words and then remembering what the word means in English. I was nervous that throwing some French pronunciation in would throw them off as they were learning to read in English, but maybe now they’re confident readers the visual clues of written language would help them? Also, we only do a few minutes at a time, and if I took them to a French class they’d get nearly an hour, which even just once a week would start to make a big difference. But classes cost money, so for now we’ll keep plodding along and I’ll cross my fingers that more is happening in their brains than I am aware of!

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Well these are some things to think through, at least! I think I'm an idealist about learning languages because I had the privilege of learning French through immersion and it was a piece of cake that way. But I don't have the time or energy to create that experience for my kids. I will continue to ponder. Let me know if you find the secret!!

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Could you do small periods of immersion during the week? E.g. 30 minutes a day of only speaking French to your kids? Could tie it to a particular activity to start with. Depends on how much exposure they've already had though, books are always a good way to get extra vocab in.

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That's a neat idea. They do enjoy when I speak with them in French.

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The Woolpack would be a perfect read-aloud alongside that bit of history - shipping, wool trade, weaving, and a bit of spying/intrigue. It's charming.

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Oh my gosh that is SUCH a good suggestion! I’d forgotten all about that book. Thank you!

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