The post Our experience at Club Petit Pierrot: Blog by Kiddo Adventures first appeared on Club Petit Pierrot.

What do we mean? This is very simple. Children need a reason to communicate so any appropriate activities when there is a need and purpose to interact is good.

Whatever you choose to do with your children, or your children choose to do in French, make it fun and practical!

Here is a selection of books and links to get you started

LIRE en français

Reading with your child is always a bonding experience and strengthens your relationship. Children love reading stories and it is a wonderful way to develop their imagination! It will improve your child’s language skills, picking up new vocabulary but it will also familiarize them with French syntax.

Let’s discover our selection of books to read during the summer holiday!

–      Les tout petits Up to 3 years : P’tit Loup part en vacances

–      3-6 yrs : Le grand livre des vacances avec les Monsieur – Madame Histoires, jeux, coloriages, puzzles, devinettes…

–      6 years + : Les Vacances de la maîtresse 

ECOUTER du français 

Children can listen to French radios, podcasts or even watch French cartoons and movies. Those activities are easy/simple to do during summer holiday as they can be done on the go while travelling for example. Listening to French through podcasts and radios is an excellent and fun way to sharpen your child listening and speaking skills.

–      Podcasts

3-6 years : Guillemette  https://www.arteradio.com/serie/guillemette

6 years + : Petits curieux, le pourquoi du comment  For curious little ones, The why of How

http://www.radio-en-ligne.fr/podcasts/petits-curieux-choses-a-savoir-1444819061

Pour les plus 8 years +/ fluent in French : Les Ptits Bateaux sur France Inter  https://www.franceinter.fr/emissions/les-p-tits-bateaux

 –      Radio.fr

Up to 3 years : AllZic 0-4 ans

3-6 years : Pomme d’Api radio, Radio Barbouillots

6 years + : Radio Pitchoun

–      La télévision 

Up to 3 years : T’choupi à l’école – Demain c’est les vacances !

3-6 years : Trotro et le poisson rouge (saison 1 episode 13) ou TroTro part en vacances (saison 2 episode 21)

6 years + : Les mystérieuses citées d’or

COLORIER ECRIRE avec les cahiers de vacances

Every French child will have a cahier de vacances to practise throughout the summer! This is a fun exercice book following the French curriculum to practise French for all ages from 2 to 18 yrs old..

2-4 years : Mon T’choupi vacances de la petite à la grande section  https://www.librairielapage.com/recherche/resultat.html

6 years +: L’énigme des vacances  https://www.librairielapage.com/recherche/resultat.html

CHANTER

Music is an essential tool to learn French! It can be used as a mnemonic device when songs are catchy, fun and fairly simple, children can listen to them again and again and will know the words in no time! Once again, like with podcast and television, children listen to French music will practise their pronunciation and will absorb new vocabulary, linguistic patterns and grammatical structures.

Summer songs from the CD Club Petit Pierrot Available at the French Bookshop Librairie La Page

•             Up to 5 years : Petit Poisson Nage/ Roule Vole Flotte
•             3-6 years : Le Petit Train/ AAA je grimpe à l’arbre
•             6 years + : Pierrot part en vacances

LES VACANCES

If you are on holiday in France. Have fun with your child and grab every opportunity to speak French.

If not, come to our HOLIDAY CLUB!

Whether they know some French or not, they will get the opportunity to improve and speak French without any pressure and more importantly without a word of English spoken!!

Stay tuned… booking will be opened soon for our Halloween Holiday Club!

The post Does it make sense? How to practise French this summer! first appeared on Club Petit Pierrot.

3 points to guide parents on planning their children’s activities

My birthday is on the 31^st December. Every January I wake up seeing another Christmas past, another year older and a whole new year to tackle. You can’t help but feel the need to reevaluate and plan ahead.

For parents this is not only about us but also about our children: One of the decisions parents often reevaluate at this time of year is deciding which activities to enrol their children in, whatever their age there are so many to choose from!!

Over the years, running my French Lessons Club, I have seen a lot of parents feeling the pressure and a lot of children being overwhelmed. And as a mother, I learned the hard way through experience too!

SOME POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING

1. What YOU think is important for your child’s development

•  Don’t get pressured into doing the same activities as your friends. Although I do not mean to ignore recommendations obviously but first really think what you are looking for and what your child needs.
• A good class will emphasize on one aspect of development (whether physical or language related) whithout ignoring how a child learns and it will naturally involves other areas of learning. For instance during our French classes, French is taught through many multi-sensory, creative and physical activities so children will not only learn the language but also improve their fine and gross motor skills. And during a gym class with singing, play and storytelling young children will not only develop their gross motor skills but also improve their language skills!

2. You want your child to be happy, to flourish and learn

•   Whether it is because he does not like the activity or this is something he is not at ease with or that the teaching methods are not suitable and fun. If your child is not happy during the sessions, he will not learn well, full stop!!
• Once you have chosen, you can ask for a trial lesson. But bare in mind that one session is not always enough to know if the class suits your child. It takes time to get used to a new environment. Some children will participate immediately, others will need to observe a few times before doing so. Some will cry when dropped off at first…
•  You need to give your child the opportunity first to discover, then experiment and eventually learn!
•  You must not organise too many classes as it could be overwhelming in a lot of aspects and be counter productive

3. You should expect a safe and nurturing environment

•  Check that the staff are caring and have clear guidelines to support educationally and emotionally the children, under their care.
•  Check that the staff have the necessary information about your child such as your telephone numbers and any medical or other relevant information
• Check that there is at least one member of staff fully first aid trained on sight.
• Check that the doors stay locked during sessions (as so many groups are in church halls with no caretakers).

Ah non ! There is one more important point, children who are overwhelmed with activities every day, have a hard time retaining new information. Plus, free play is a crucial aspect of child development. Whichever activities you opt for, make sure to allow time for unstructured play so that children have the freedom to test out their new skills.

I often have parents commenting with things like “I heard my child asking questions in French to her doll!” or “My little one likes to count his dinosaurs in French, unprompted.”

It’s truly amazing what our children are capable of when we give them the chance to experiment and digest in their own ways!

The post HERE WE GO AGAIN… 3 points to guide parents on planning their children’s activities first appeared on Club Petit Pierrot.