Counting Bonbons Worksheet

Here's a worksheet you can do with your children to help them practice counting by learning the word bonbons for candy!

Bande dessinée - French comic books

Bande dessinée (also called BD) are comic books and are pretty popular here in France. My children and I like to read Smurfs (in French: Les Schtroumpfs). I've found that reading comics really helps to engage and teach my children many new vocabulary words. Reading in English helped our children to learn English, and reading in French will help our children learn French.

I recommend trying to find some French comic books on ebay, amazon or if you can't find anything you like, drop me an email and I can find whatever you are looking for and mail it to you. I remember the frustration of finding good French materials in USA, so let me know if I can help!

French Worksheet - Fruit Names

Here's a new worksheet I made to help your children learn fruit vocabulary in French. You can also print out the vocabulary words below and have them put the French word on the correct picture.

Vocabulary words:


carrot - la carotte
strawberry - la fraise
banana - la banane
peach - la pêche
grapes - les raisins
cherry - la cerise
apple - la pomme

French for Little Boys E-Book

I have recently put together a zip file of French for Little Boys. It is a PDF of the cover and of the entire workbook. This way people who don't live in the United States will have an easier time purchasing the workbook if they would like to so. Also, since it is discounted at only $12.95 for the e-book, it will make it more affordable for more people to enjoy with their children.

In order to purchase it, click the link below. I will email you the ebook shortly. have any questions at all, please email me at ybatot @ yahoo.com.

3 Reasons to Teach Your Children a Foreign Language

I've always loved learning and teaching languages ever since I was a young girl. To me, learning a foreign language is fun and so rewarding. Here are the main three reasons why I'm teaching my children to learn French.

1. Age - Learning a foreign language when you are young is so much easier than when you are an adult or even in college. My children soak up the language like a sponge. Many researchers believe that you learn the ability to learn a foreign language after puberty, especially native-like pronunciation. So, now is the time to start teaching your children a foreign language.

2. Bonding - Even if you don't know a foreign language yourself, you can learn along with your son. Pick a foreign language that you find useful or that interests you and run with it. Having this special time with you toddlers or young children will help you to bond together as a family.

3. Expanding their mind - As youngesters, they rarely think or understand what is happening around the world or even that there are people out there who don't speak English. While you teach them a foreign language you can teach them about the different cultures and countries of the people who speak that language. You can cook new food together and have a great time learning about new and exciting things!

Easter Coloring French Worksheet

Print out the worksheet above and have your children decorate the eggs anyway they want using the colors below each egg. They can color them, cut out and glue construction paper on them, use glitter or any other art supplies that they have.

Animal Sounds in French Worksheet

Here's a worksheet to help your children practice animal sounds in French.  Double click on the worksheet and then you can print it from the page it brings up.

Have fun!

Animal Sounds in French

We've been reading a lot of books in French lately and my children have noticed how all of the animal sounds are written differently in French. I think it's really neat how every language interprets and hears animal sounds so differently. Below is a list of French animal sounds that you can teach your children.

Dog - ouah

cat - miaou

rooster - cocorico

turkey - glou glou

cow - meuh

bird - cui

duck - coin

pig - groin

donkey - hihan

Learning Colors in French - One color a meal

Are you just starting teaching your children their colors in French? Why not have a whole meal in the color you are trying to teach them? That way during the meal you can repeat the name of the color in French lots of times.

For example:
Orange - mandarin oranges, carrots, mac & cheese, cantelope, pimento cheese
Green - salad, bell peppers, zuchini squash, green beans
Red - red peppers, cherries, strawberries, strawberry ice cream, red beans
Yellow - corn, yellow butter bread, pinapples, bananas, noodles with a yellow cream sauce
Blue - blueberries (okay you'd probably have to cheat on this on and use some food dye)

French Spring Worksheet

Here's a Spring worksheet to help you children count and add in French. The theme is Spring since, it is only days before Spring is officially here!!!

St. Patrick's Day Worksheet - French

Here's a cute little shamrock worksheet I made for my daughter to help her practice her numbers in French. It goes up to 17 in honor of St. Patrick's Day. If you want to have your child work on their handwriting at the same time, they can write the number of each shamrock as they count them in French.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

April Calendar in French

I trying to make these earlier than I have in the past, so that people can print them out and use them. If you're like me you procrastinate, so doing this a few weeks early gives you a little procrastinate time built in! :) I really find it useful to have these calendars on the fridge for the kids. They get to read the days of the weeks in French every time they look at it, which is often!

Songs to Teach Children French

If your children love songs as much as my children do, then using songs is a great approach to help your children learn French. I found this site, Mama Lisa's World, that has a lot of great songs. It has the MP3 of the songs, plus English and French versions of both. Some even have game instructions. This one is my daughter's favorite and the original text and MP3 can be found at this link:

À cheval sur mon bidet

Riding My Horsey

Chanson pour sauter sur les genoux

(French)

Children's Song

(English)

À cheval sur mon bidet*(1)
Quand il trotte, il est parfait
Au pas, au pas, au pas, (2)
Au trot, au trot, au trot (3)
Au galop, au galop, au galop !(4)

Riding my horsey,
When he trots, he is perfect,
At a walk, at a walk, at a walk,
At a trot, at a trot, at a trot,
At a gallop, at a gallop, at a gallop.

Game Instructions

(1) Sit the child on your lap, holding his/her hands
and make him/her bounce as if riding a horse.

(2) Make a slow beat with your legs,

(3) Speed up the rhythm,

(4) End by a gallop!

Family Members in French

Here's a worksheet to help practice family member vocabulary in French. If your child can read, they can read the words themselves and then draw a picture of their family member. If they can't read, you can read it to them and they can repeat you. Then, they can draw the picture. Try to have them repeat the family member word as they are drawing.

Family member vocabulary in French:

mother - la mère
father - le père
sister - la sœur
brother - le frère
me - moi

Easter Worksheet - French Numbers

Hi everyone! This is a pretty simple easy French worksheet to use with kids from about 3 until 6 (or so, depending on the child of course). Have your child find 0 and then say the number's name in French. Then, they can color the egg and draw a line to the bunny. They continue like this counting upward until they reach 10.

You can make variations as well by having your children cut and paste the eggs around the bunny or other scenarios like that.

I hope you like it!

Practicing Numbers in French while Making an Easter Bunny

Here's an easy Easter activity that you can do with your children while practicing French. All you need is some construction paper, glue and cotton balls, then you can improvise with whatever else you have and make a bunny. If you'd like detailed instructions, you can go here.

As your child glues the cotton balls onto the bunny shape, they can practice counting in French. Also, if you want to practice counting more, you can have them dip each cotton ball into paint before starting to glue and that way they can practice counting as well as their colors.

Happy Easter!

Frère Jacques

Songs are always a good way to teach children a foreign language and Frère Jacques is a classic song that you can teach in both languages. I found this website where I got the lyrics and it has a video of the song as well.

Frère Jacques,
Frère Jacques,
Dormez vous?
Dormez vous?
Sonnez les matines,
Sonnez les matines,
Din, din, don!
Din, din, don!

English Version:

Are you sleeping,
Are you sleeping?
Brother John?
Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing,
Morning bells are ringing,
Ding ding dong,
Ding ding dong.

Mardi Gras Party!

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!! I'm sure you know that Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday in English. It's a time to celebrate and have fun! If you want to learn more about it, you can visit Wiki here and read more.

You can celebrate it at your own house with a little creativity. Today you and your child can make masks for the celebration out of construction paper. Or, if you have little time today, you can just have your child dress up in a costume that they already have at home. Lots of French children do that here in Paris.

Also, you can have a parade around your house with your costome, then you can sit down to some desserts that either you prepared with your child or that you bought at the store. Here's a site with simple Mardi Gras recipes for kids! Have fun!!!

Another great way to teach French numbers

Here's an easy way to teach numbers in French - just go outside and play hop scotch with your children. All you need is a side walk and some chalk. It's as easy as pie. You can also change the rules and invent new ones. Just make sure every time your child lands in a square that they say the number in French. If you are just beginning to teach your children French, you can start by only going up to 5. The key is to tailor this and other activities to your child!

Here are the numbers 0-10 in French for your reference:

0 zéro
1 un
2 deux
3 trois
4 quatre
5 cinq
6 six
7 sept
8 huit
9 neuf
10 dix

Versailles

The first 2 weeks were were in France we lived in a furnished apartment that I found on the internet. It was located in Versailles. Versailles is such a lovely area and the castle is absolutely beautiful. Here are a few pictures that we took there.

Interesting Facts about the French School System

Now all of my children are happily attending school. Schools here are very different than the schools in the United States from my experience, which is quite limited. Here are some interesting facts that I've learned.

• School is from 8:30-11:30 then the kids go home to eat and rest for 2 hours.


• School starts back up at 1:30 and ends at 4:30.


• There is a lunch program but you have to sign up for it at the mayor's office and it's usually for kids who have 2 working parents.


• The gates of the school open up 10 mins early and then 10 minutes after school starts, they are locked and no one is allowed in. This has taught me to NOT be late!


• In the 5 year old class, they start teaching the children how to write in cursive.
  

My 3 and 5 year old children go to a Maternelle School. It's for kids from 3 years (cut-off is Dec. 31st) to 6 year olds. I made the mistake of carrying my son into school today and was told that he had to walk. I have to admit, I like that aspect of the school. I think it's great for kids to learn to be independant.

My oldest son goes to a Primary School. This is for children from 6 years old until 11 years old.

Teaching French to a very active child

My youngest son is 3 years old. We adopted him from Taiwan when he was about 6 months old. He's speech delayed in English so I haven't worked too much with him on learning French. We've just been concentrating on English. However, now we're in France and he really does need to learn some French especially since he starts school here tomorrow. He's a bit hyper and it's hard to find something to keep his interest. The one thing I did finally find was to use what he was already playing with and add a little French to it!

He was playing with his little cars from the movie "Cars" and wanted nothing to do with what I wanted him to do. So, I just got down on the floor with him and started to play with some of his cars. I started to line them up and say the numbers in French. Soon he began to follow and repeat what I said. Granted, it didn't last too long as he was off and running to his next activity, but this is a start. So, the moral of the story is to use whatever motivation you can find and take your child's lead as well.

Getting into school in France

It was not a small feat to get my children into school in France. But, we did it! My oldest son, Callum - age 7, started school today! Here's a picture of him in front of his new school. My other son - age 3 and daughter - age 5, will be starting school on Thursday of this week. In case anyone was interested, I wanted to write about what we had to do in order to get them into school here. After finding and renting a permanent house here in Paris, we had to go to the local mayor's office. They gave us a list of what we needed to give them:

1. Rental agreement

2. EDF/GDF (electricity/gas) or water bill

3. Birth certificates of each child translated in French by an official translator that they recognize.

4. Marriage license translated in French by an official translator

5. Passports for all of us.

6. Vaccination records that we then had to take to the doctor's office here to get put on a special French vaccination book.

We then had to take photocopies of all of these items and then return them to the mayor's office. Something to note about the translators, the prices vary from 50 Euros to 35 Euros per document, so it is wise to shop around.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I'd be more than happy to help. Next post, I'll talk a little about the different schools they are attending.