Many English-speaking parents ask how they can help when their child enters a French immersion program. While there is no standard answer to this, here are 5 tips to aid your child’s success in learning the language.
Fortunately, children have an innate ability to quickly learn new languages and the following tips can help parents support their child.
Be enthusiastic
Your positivity and encouragement are extremely important for your child's success. It may seem challenging to interpret your child's homework assignment, but you are confident, enthusiastic and happy about learning, they’re learning the most important skill, resilience! This can make or break their efforts of mastering the language.
First-language first
English speaking parents often worry that practicing English will confuse their child's efforts of learning French. Interestingly, research proves the opposite. A strong foundation in the first language is vital to learning other languages. The sooner a child becomes fluent in their first language, the sooner their brain becomes ready for the second.
In fact, if your child has a strong English phonetics foundation, they are more likely to succeed in French Immersion.
Did you know that English has more speech sounds (44) than in French (37)? Some French consonant sounds are directly transferable to English and vice versa and some others require slight variation.
Vocabulary
Plan an activity around vocabulary development at home. Ask your child questions you know they can answer. Confidence is vital!
Teaching is an effective learning and confidence building strategy. Let your child teach you what they are learning.
At home, try the following –
- Label objects around the house with post-its in English and French, for example, “banana” versus “banane”
- Play the French version of your classic English board game
- Choose books that are slightly below your child's current ability. This would give their confidence an instant boost and they would want to continue reading.
Make learning fun
Children learn best while having fun. Don’t mix reading for learning and reading for fun.
In an immersion program, children spend hours developing their reading and writing skills in a conducive learning environment. If studying at school is your child’s full-time job, reading at home should feel like a holiday!
You can take mental notes about your child’s progress during story time and share them with your child's teachers for feedback and recommendations.
Use technology
There are many apps where you can practice your own French.
Immersive French learning not only supports children and their families achieve their goals but flourish. If you think your child's foundation in French is shaky, consult a French Immersion school or program.
If you are looking for a French language school in Wilmette or North Shore, Chicago, check out La Fleur Française at 847-920-9121.
