Friday 22 June 2012

You Say Au Revoir, I'll Stick with Bonjour

BK1, aged 7, is in year 2. She has already been in education for three years. School in England starts the September preceding the fifth birthday of the child. Had we been in Germany, this year would have been BK1's first year at school.

I have just picked BK1 up from school. Her teacher told me that BK1 read a French book to her class. Then she went round to Reception (age 5) and year 6 (age 11) classes and read the same book again. Apparently, everyone, big and small, was impressed with BK1's ability to read French.

Later, this year 6 girl came up to me: "BK1 read in French to us today! She is so good! I know no French at all, I can only say bonjour!"
Me: "This is good! I bet you can say au revoir too"
Girl, puzzled look: "What?"

I think it is great that BK1 got to share her ability and see it valued outside of home. On the other hand, how sad that this girl who has been studying French all year can only say bonjour...

4 comments:

  1. Bravo, BK1! The fact that she can read in French as well as in English is already great. But that she's also willing to do so in front of a class of big kids is amazing! I can't wait till Griffin (age 4.5) can do the same. He's just now starting to read in English.

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    1. I love how literacy in different languages is a cooperative affair. Good luck with bilingual literacy with your children sarah.

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    2. Thanks! Do you anticipate teaching yours to read and write in Arabic?

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    3. We've actually started. We are at the early stages, learning the alphabet, how to recognise the letters, and how they change depending on their position in the word. We need time, and time is lacking with school and all the activities...

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