Our French immersion week is over.

What a week!

What a success!

The boys spent something like 40 hours in a French-only environment, with one hour of French semi-private lessons in the evening.  It was perfect.  James as predicted jumped right in and made friends right away, conversing in French maybe not perfectly but without hesitation.  Scott by his own account got away with saying "d'accord" to everybody and everything but seemed happy enough.

Definitely got to do this again.

Oh, and did I mention the skiing was perfect?

The one downside is the 8 pounds I put on with all the croissants and cheese.  Oops!

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Boys have missed 4 weeks of French school this term due to snow and other commitments:  almost every other one.  Whoops!  And though they are watching French tv from time to time, and listening to little French stories in the car on the way to school, their French is dropping.  FAST.

Time for emergency action:  a (heavily discounted, yay!) French ski week immersion. For the kids, a French ski club in the morning, French kids club in the evening, French food at mealtimes, and the pièce de résistance:  "Cartable à la neige"- a few hours of French instruction in the afternoon.  Poor kids won't know what hit them.  Maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to retrigger those French-days inspired neurons.

If not, well, Trev and I will have fun!

:-)

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The boys recently figured out how to watch YouTube videos on their little iPods.  Nervous as I am, I'm keeping a close eye on what their watching until I can figure out parental controls and all that malarkey.

But I'm trying not to be intrusive, so I just keep one ear tuned in from a short distance, pretending not to notice.  First it was ASDF (not so keen on that one) and then (phew!) a collection of old Scooby Doo clips.

And this weekend, lo and behold! my ears picked up something amazing:  Beyblade, IN FRENCH.  Episode, after episode, after episode, the boys' attention was rivetted to the little Japanese manga characters, combatting each other en français.

Needless to say, no screen time limits today.  Sweeettt! said the boys.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

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Examples of language influencing behaviour are few and far between, but each fact that is proven is fascinating.  For instance, there is language that does not use "left" and "right" but instead compass-based words for orientation and direction:  so people who use that language learn to know their north, south, east and west instinctively.

According to the BBC news today, recent research has shown that what language you speak influences how well you plan for the future.

Languages like English which make a clear difference between now and the future (I will go to college) unconsciously separate your current self with your future self.  So you are less likely to save, more likely to smoke, etc.

Languages like German and Mandarin that use the present tense with future markers ("It rains tomorrow") tend to merge the future and present selves, making it easier to relate to your future self.

I wonder what bilingual speakers of say Engish and Mandarin are likely to think then?  I wonder what influences which thinking system becomes dominant?

All very philosophical for first thing in the morning on the weekend... I'll just drink some coffee and forget about my future caffeine addicted self...

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The Economist this week (Sprechen Sie Jobs?) devoted a whole article to the fact that the European Union's goal of economic mobility across borders (being able to move from a high-unemployment country to a high-employment country) is still hampered by language more than anything else.  Big companies use English across the board, but small and medium sized companies use their native language, and therefore hire in their native language.  Greeks and Spaniards willing to learn a little of (say) German, will have the benefit of being able to find work there, whilst their counterparts who stay home will stay unemployed.

It reminds me of when I was searching for a first summer job during college/university.  I landed an internship with Mars (confectionary, not green men) in France.  Even though it is an American company, French was the language used in the office, for obvious reasons.  I spoke French (just enough) so I could get by.   Not to mention benefit from all that lovely chocolate!

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I'm very excited to announce that my American nieces are coming over to visit in the summer, and I am relishing the opportunity to impress them with all things British.  You know, like Baltis and chicken korma.  :-)

If you had to make a list of the quintessential British things, what would they be?  Here are a few of my favourites:

- curry, cream tea, hot cross buns, tea cakes, rock cakes, puddings and pies.

- castles, stately homes, waxworks,

- indoor waterparks, October illuminations (neither very useful for summer visitors though)

- treeless hills and mountains, canal tow paths.

Anything else I've missed?  Answers on a postcard please! ;-)

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What's funny is that kids have just as much trouble learning idioms in their own language as we do in another....

They should make more of these posters in a bunch of different languages to help us all out.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151260657749865&set=a.449646034864.232829.333683589864&type=1

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Any mum who has had a smidgeon of French should read this fun Mumsnet thread, le franglais est formidable!

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/a1624456-Mamansnet

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There's a new education theory out there that I've been reading about:  constraint-induced learning (CI).  It basically suggests that your brain learns much quicker when it is NOT able to use its normal pathways for long periods of time.

But language students know this already, as the research points out, because immersion in a foreign language environment is just that.  For long periods of time (all day for a week or more) you can't use your normal pathway (your native tongue) and you have to use the new pathway (the foreign language) or else you will not be able to function.

And anyone who has been through immersion knows how quickly you learn in such a sink-or-swim environment.

The question that poses for me is:  why don't we use that for all learning?  There must be a way that schools can restructure their efforts so that instead of the standard "one hour a week" of this or that subject, you can get immersed in it for a decent period, and get better results.

I'd love to hear if anyone has used this method in a normal school setting!

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Many thanks to all those hard working spammers out there who post random links on my blogs.  Although I find the clean up annoying, some of them post lovely comments which I nonetheless feel forced to delete, given the non-relevant hyperlinks.  And, they usually post their links on some long-forgotten blog post, which allows me to remember and relive the past years since I've been blogging.  It always makes me smile.

So, for one day, peace and joy, even to the spammers out there.  We are all in this crazy world together....

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November 10th's Economist has an article in it about the boom in services specialising in language and culture.  The article focuses on international litigation, which requires truckloads of documentation that in many cases needs to be translated.  Software can help, but it needs experts to make sure the software is working correctly.

"The twin forces of globalisation and technology may put many mediocre lawyers out of business.  But those who master languages and computers may find themselves in demand," concludes the correspondent.

Just another reason to keep it up, fellow language-mad parents!

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Am having a lucky week!

First, I show up at a big tennis tournament in London - the ATP finals - on the wrong day.  Not lucky, you might say, except for the fact that an exceptionally kind man behind me saw my distress and confusion and handed me, not one, but three tickets for James and Scott and I, so that we could still see it.  Didn't even ask for any money for them.  Amazing.  And it was a great match.

Secondly, the teacher at school who is in charge of Junior French is going on maternity leave - the one struggling to cope with my boys' advanced grasp of the language.  So they have recruited the only French mum at school to take over the French lessons - none other than the very person I was trying to get the school to agree to tutor my boys.

At least for the rest of the academic year, I'll be assured that the boys will actually do something useful in their French classes.  Hooray!

And next year, I'll be sure to check my tickets for the ATP finals a bit more carefully.

Does luck come in threes?  Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket....

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My two boys are in a choir which has its first festival outing in two weeks' time.... on a Saturday morning, at the same time as French school.  I recently made the decision that the merits of supporting the choir outweighed the normally sacrosanct French classes, and in grand fashion announced to them last night:

"Guess what guys?  The Choir Festival is on Saturday morning!  So you're going to go there and sing with all your friends - and miss French School!"

(Bear in mind the boys have been asking for some weeks now what if anything would allow them to skip French school.)

Only for their answer to be, loudly and in unison:

"Awwwww, can we go to French school instead?"

French trumps singing every time, it seems!

:-)

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Actually, I did have a friend growing up who spoke 5 languages (and had 5 passports!):  Greek, Lebanese, French, English and Hungarian.  Madness.  But if it were you, what languages would you pick?  This article by Parents.com suggests 6 languages to teach your child:

http://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/language/best-foreign-language-for-kids-to-learn/?page=2

I dunno about you but I'm struggling with just one....

:-)

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I love this video that a fellow language enthusiast posted on her page recently, which has clips of famous celebrities speaking different languages.  Great for inspiring younger learners for sure!

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In the heat of this year's US presidential elections, I've been doing some research on what makes people vote right or left.  It turns out that people who are more open to new experiences tend to vote left.

If you take your child travelling, and they enjoy the new experiences travel offers, then that should make them more open to new experiences.  Does that mean that you are potentially turning them into a Democrat?

Or do people who take their children travelling tend to be Democrats and therefore are the source of the affiliation?

Experience or nurture?  Hmmmmm

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Back from our week in Holland.  :-)

I'm not sure how much Dutch the boys picked up, but it struck me very strongly how a familiar language is like an old friend, warming your heart when you come across it again.  Like sniffing in hungrily the familiar smell of Mom's apple pie.

I sooooo enjoyed listening to the people around me speak Dutch, even though I know other people find the language harsh on the ears.  To me it sounded sing-songy, with wonderfully rich vowels and percussive consonants swooshing in between.  I loved being able to understand, and didn't despair too much at my inability to string together more than a patchwork of little words, as I could still just about make myself understood.  It was sooooo fun!

I just wished I could spend enough time there to get the boys to have the same reaction to Dutch that I do. One week spent amongst Americans in Holland wasn't going to do it.  I guess there's always next time.....

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Many apologies to any readers out there who may have wondered why or how I dropped off the edge of the blogosphere.  Well, as happens to all of us, life took over and languages went on the back burner for awhile.

This weekend however my family is off to Holland for a family reunion and I've belated come to the realisation that of course they speak Dutch there (I should know that) and my boys will probably enjoy picking up some new words.  Especially things like "hagelslag", "vla" and "vlaai".  (I checked, they are all in google translate, so do look them up if you have a moment.)  Yummm!  So I'll try to report back from time to time over the next week about our progress at picking up some Dutch.

Tot ziens!

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This speaker says that English is the new language for global problem-solving.  What is the language you are giving your children for?  Opportunity? Pleasure? A new world-view?

http://www.ted.com/talks/jay_walker_on_the_world_s_english_mania.html

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I went to help out at school today and several times passed a little girl in Year 1 who goes to the boys' French School on Saturdays.  Both her parents are French and not only does she speak French at school, but she is the perfect little French mademoiselle.  You could picture her in those Madeline books easily.  Anyhow, every time she saw me today she said "Salut!"  or "Bonjour la mere de Scott!"

Today however in the busy corridor she stopped and chatted, in French, and I chatted back.  As we were rabbitting away in French, the other volunteer parents and teachers were just staring at us, the little girl and I, and I had it in my head that it was okay because I was helping her with her French.

But who am I kidding?  She of course was helping me!  She even told me the word for watermelon, when I got stuck.

Hmmmm.  Even a six year old can be a good teacher I guess!

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