About us

About my non-native French with my family: the short-and-sweet version, and a shorter-and-sweeter one too.

The (as-yet incomplete) essay-question answer:

When my nephew, Carl, was born in January 2006, I was working as a lecturer in French at Colorado State University, where part of my job involved training and supervising the graduate teaching assistants.  I had been interested in language acquisition, language pedagogy, and linguistic for years.  (My undergraduate degree was in Creative Writing and French; my masters are in French and Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language.) 

My teaching experience included working as an Assistante d'anglais at a high school in Mulhouse, France; lots of private tutoring, mostly of college students and adults; teaching Freshman Composition, ESL, and French during grad school; teaching University 101 (a freshman seminar); and covering first and second year French classes, a graduate workshop for teaching assistants, world lit in translation, and French drama classes at Colorado State.

So what does this have to do with my nephew?  Or my blog?

Since I spoke French well, my sister-in-law and her husband asked me to try speaking exclusively French with Carl--sort of a "OTOL" approach (one tatie, one language).  Carl and I spent one afternoon a week together, where I discovered how very challenging it was to carry on an hours-long monologue on my non-native language with a tiny baby who couldn't respond with more than gurgles, cries, and smiles for months.  (I still remember how excited I was when I said "tête" and he reached out and whacked me on the head.)

And of course, my lexicon had to change.  I spent my days helping my students differentiate between passe compose and imparfait, direct and indirect object pronouns, and countries in Francophone Africa.  I could trace the history of the French language from Latin to the 21st century.  Give a presentation in French on teaching methodologies?  Check. I could even, on a good day, explicate a poem.

But I had never had reason to say, "Oh, you little wiggle-worm, you had a blow-out on your onesie and now your bouncy chair is covered in poo!"

Or anything about all the myriad experiences that are part of the daily life of an infant.  Sharing board books in French with Carl, consulting my dictionary, and memorizing this list helped a lot, as did adding to my repertoire of French songs to sing to him.

Gradually, spending hours speaking French to this little boy began to feel natural.  I even found myself automatically speaking French to other people's babies!

When Carl was around a year old, he started saying words in French with me--whacking me on the head and screaming joyously, "Tête!", naming foods, toys, and people, repeating "monte" and "descend" on the playground.  He soon began putting words in French together, and, astonishingly, at 18 months uttered his first four-word sentence in his second language:

(to be continued....)

81 comments:

  1. How do I become a fan on Facebook? I can't figure it out. I don't do the other type of RSS reader things. Thanks, Lola

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  2. Replies
    1. But I *am* on Pinterest now!

      http://pinterest.com/babybilingual/

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  3. Sarah - the blog is wonderful. Your kids will really benefit.

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  4. Bonjour Beth! Thanks for visiting and commenting. I'm so excited to discover your website and look forward to reading through your activities and resources. I'll be adding your site to my blogroll!

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    1. And I just bought your French CD! Can't wait to listen to it with the kiddos.

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  5. Hi-I thought you might want to check out this website I just found. It looks really cool for beginning french learners. http://www.rfi.fr/lfen/statiques/accueil.asp

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  6. I stumbled upon your blog and am fascinated. My husband and I were in Munich a year ago for Oktoberfest and decided then that we would teach our daughter a second language. It was embarrassing for us to not speak more German while we were there and decided we would learn another language as a family. Our daughter is now 11 months old. I should probably start soon.

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  7. Hi Flyingjen, and welcome! Yes, I would definitely encourage you to start soon (although learning a language later is better than never learning another language). I commend you for your goal of learning German as a family (says the gal with the monolingual husband).

    You didn't ask for advice, but I have a couple of suggestions anyway....

    --Find a native German speaker who can come spend time at your home once a week. Pay her as you would a tutor, but rather than ask her to give you formal lessons, have her play with the baby, cook with you, and just do normal everyday activities--but all in German. That way you're all learning through doing rather than memorizing vocab lists, declensions, and conjugations.

    --Hire a native speaker, perhaps a college student, to babysit.

    --I see you live in (near?) Boulder. When your German is strong enough, attend the German playgroup at the Parenting Place, or find or create one through meetup.com or the German dept at CU.

    --Label objects in your house with the German words so that you're seeing them constantly.

    --Listen to as much German as possible via CDs, podcasts, streaming radio stations, news reports, DVDs (in German or with German soundtrack options), etc.

    Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

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  8. Hallo Sarah, I casually discovered your blog yesterday night. I'm italian and I speak with my baby only in english. I'm fascinated by your blog because is so simple and I hope to learn something about the bilingualism: I'm a self-taught person!Thank you.

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    1. Ciao Fiorelena, and welcome, and bravo for making the effort to use your non-native English with your child! You might be interested in "meeting" Dani, a father in Spain using his non-native English with his young son:

      http://babybilingual.blogspot.com/2011/10/profile-non-native-english-with-danis_28.html

      Please keep in touch--maybe when your baby is older I could interview you too!

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  9. Hi,

    I just wanted to make you aware of my website: http://www.multilingualfamily.org.uk as you don't seem to have it on your list of resources (But of course, you are in the States..).

    Thanks for your blog by the way, I like it lots!

    Best wishes

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    1. Thank you, Katia! I had encountered your website before, but obviously didn't spend enough time exploring it: in addition to being a great resource for parents wanting to use their L2 with their families in the UK, it offers a lot of links for many different languages!

      How cool that you identified a lack of a centralized resource for families who want to meet together to practice the L2 and created a website to make it possible for them to connect! I noticed that you are (were?) a part of the Petite Ecole Kentoise--how does that work? The parents in the French playgroup I attend have been tossing around the idea of doing something more structured on the weekend so that the older kids can start reading and writing in French.

      Your and my French links overlap a good deal--great minds think alike, non?--and I'm looking forward to checking out your other recommendations. And your site is going on my blogroll from now on!

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  10. Hi Sarah - and readers!
    Great website, I'm really enjoying and love all the resources you have listed!
    I am raising my daughter bilingual (Ukrainian and English - and hopefully French soon) in the US (we live in NYC). I have a question: do you know of any articles or discussions relating to how multilingual parents/families are using 'apps' on their home table computers (ie. ipads) and smartphones? I have downloaded some age-appropriate apps (all in English) to our family ipad and I allow my daughter to play with these form time to time. Sometimes I turn the sound off to narrate the apps, other times I leave the sound on and add commentary in Ukrainian - repeating key words in Ukrainian, explaining content in Ukrainian, asking questions about the characters in Ukrainian etc. But I'm wondering what other parents (who allow their young children to use apps on mobile devices) are doing. Are they seeking out apps in their home language? Do they turn the sound off? Are they treating apps the same way (with the same strategies) as reading books, or are they treating apps like they do the television when co-viewing their children? I would really love to find more information on this topic adn to hear thoughts, ideas, strategies, frustrations, questions etc. from other parents. Please let me know if you come across any information. I really hope to hear back from you - or your readers! :)

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    1. Welcome, Melania! I'm so glad that you posted this question about using apps to reinforce the second language, because it's an idea that fascinates me (mostly because Griffin is fascinated by my iPad) and I'm always eager to find new resources that feature native speakers of French (but I'm reluctant to spend lots of money).

      I love your strategy of turning off the sound and narrating in the target language. I tend to approach apps with Griffin in a variety of ways, depending on whether the app is a general game, a language-based game, a collection of images, a book or story in English or French....

      For several months now I have been compiling an annotated list of French apps for kids (and my Pinterest page now has a board for them), but you've inspired me: now I'll start one about using apps in general and ask my readers to share their ideas and success stories and strategies! I'll try to have it ready for the next Blogging Carnival on Bilingualism in hopes that more people will see it and want to leave comments for us.

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  11. Hello Sarah! I have discovered you blog out of the blue and... I'm in love! I feel so identified with your experiences. I am Spanish and have a degree in Linguistics: English and Language Acquisition, Bilingualism.Being an English teacher (I work with teenagers) I only speak non-native English to my children (two girls: one and two years old). I have experienced panic so many times! Now, I feel great reading your blog and discovering all the things we have in common! Thank you for your work and the incredible amount of data! :)

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    1. Hola Helena! Thank you so much for your kind words. I so enjoy hearing from other parents using their non-native language with their kids. I know what you mean about experiencing panic! Does your partner speak English with them too?

      Have you "met" Dani online yet? Here's a profile of his efforts as a Spaniard raising his child with English:

      http://babybilingual.blogspot.com/2011/10/profile-non-native-english-with-danis_28.html

      I checked out your students' blog--looks very impressive. They're lucky to have such a knowledgeable, resourceful teacher.

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  12. Dear Sarah,
    Congratulations for your blog.
    I am Maria, Brazilian married to a Turkish and living in Istanbul.
    My daughter is now 16 months and I have a big hope that she will speak Portuguese!
    My big concern is that I am the only one that speaks to her in Portuguese. I have no close family and since I am a working mother my time with her is limited to 5 hours more or less a day.
    I only speak with her in Portuguese and read books, play music, sometimes put some cartoons from the internet. She speaks very few words I can say, although most of the times I think she understand what I say.
    Can you please advise me with all the tips in order to help me with this task?
    Thanks a lot

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    1. Ola Maria Agusta! Thank you for visiting my blog, and let me commend you for your efforts to raise your daughter bilingually while living in a place with few other Portuguese speakers. I know it's challenging, and I'm sure she understands well and will speak more Portuguese as she gets older.

      For suggestions and inspiration, you might want to check out the following sites:

      http://trilingualbaby.blogspot.com/ (Portuguese in Africa)
      http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/bilingualkids5.htm (helpful, concrete ideas)

      My advice would include:

      --Hire a college student from Brazil or Portugal to babysit or simply come to your home to play with your daughter

      --Set up dates on Skype to have video chats with friends and family members back home, especially those with young children who can talk to your daughter; also, have people read and sing to her when Skyping

      --Find Portuguese-language clips on YouTube, such as songs, nursery rhymes, language instructional videos, cartoons, and footage of parents who have filmed their children speaking and singing in Portuguese; watch these and discuss them with your daughter

      --Read lots and lots of books with her

      --Find or create a playgroup that meets when you're not working so that your daughter can interact with other young Portuguese speakers; it's very motivating for her to see that other kids can speak the minority language

      --And if there's enough interest, create a Portuguese story time at a local library or bookshop or cafe. Here are some ideas of how to do this:

      http://babybilingual.blogspot.com/2011/04/so-you-want-to-start-second-language.html

      Good luck! Keep us posted on how it goes!

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    2. Thank you so much Sarah!
      I am very motivated and hope everything will go just fine. I am planing to go to Brazil next year, so I guess it will help a lot.

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  13. Congratulations!

    I've just nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award!

    http://www.internationalcouples.net/blog/2012/05/the-versatile-blogger-award.html

    Tony

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  14. Hi, Sarah. I’ve just nominated your blog for the One Lovely Blog Award. I’m not sure if you participate in any of the blog awards, but I really enjoy reading your posts and wanted to share your site with others. See http://discoveranddevour.com/2012/06/13/one-lovely-blog-award/

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  15. Hi Sarah,

    Just discovered your blog and I love it!! Lots of interesting comments, suggestions, resources,..., brilliant!! I am a mother of bilingual (English, French) children myself, living in Scotland now after three years in New York.
    Recently I've created a website:
    www.justine-et-sebastien.com which purpose is to help children acquiring skills in a second language and to promote bilingualism, through short stories and vocabulary in both languages (English used is British English). Would be lovely if you could visit my site and talk about it if you like it. Many Thanks,
    Claire.

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    1. Bonjour Claire! Merci de votre visite. Enchantee de faire votre connaissance!

      Thanks for sharing your website--it looks like a lot of fun! I'm adding it to my blogroll and will look forward to spending more time exploring all the stories with Griffin.

      Do you anticipate including audio files of the stories for children who can't read on their own yet (and parents who need help with their pronunciation)?

      One small suggestion: the scrolling feature makes it a little challenging for me to read the stories. It might be more user-friendly if more text could be displayed onscreen?

      How old are your bilingual children? And have you found other Francophones in Edinbourgh? (Oh, I looooove Scotland. )

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  16. Bonjour Sarah,
    thank you so much Sarah for your comments!
    I'm trying to update the website as much as I can and intend to add more stories in the near future. The visual aspect of the site might evolve as well. All suggestions from yourself and your readers are very welcome!!
    To answer your question, there are lots of Francophones(and Francophiles too) in this beautiful city Edinburgh where the sun is shining today!!!
    Congratulations again for this brilliant blog!!

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  17. Salut Sarah,
    Moi aussi je suis une maman dans votre même état qui pratique avec mon fils la méthode OPOL. Il n'a que six mois pour le moment, donc c'est super rassurant de voir d'autres familles qui voient du progrès. Comme pour vous, c'est ma première langue étrangère mais pas ma langue maternelle!
    Bises et bon courage!

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    1. Salut TCMaman, et felicitations pour le nouveau bebe! Je lirai avec grand interet votre blog! Ou habitez-vous?

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  18. Sarah,
    So happy I found your blog! I was a passionate French major for a couple of years, but I quit college after starting a family. I'm trying to study again (and teach the kiddos) and your wonderful resources are just what I need! Going to explore more now...

    Merci!!

    Amanda

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    1. Thanks for dropping by, Amanda. I see from your blogs that you took your family to Paris this year...bravo! We haven't managed that yet. Bon courage & bonne continuation--keep in touch!

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  19. Hola Sarah!
    Just wanted to thank you for being a great source of inspiration for other bilingual families (no matter what languages we speak). Having followed your blog for a few months, I decided to start mine espanolbilingue.wordpress.com I write for bilingual families whose minority language is Spanish. I would like to pack it with useful information as you have done with your blog!
    Un abrazo,
    Joselyn

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    1. Hola Joselyn! Thank you for your kind words. I'm adding your site to my blogroll--at first I was disappointed that you're writing in Spanish, but I will appreciate the challenge it presents to me!

      And Griffin will help me explore some of the websites and activities in Spanish that you recommend.

      I see that you have two kids and are a Spanish teacher--what level(s) do you teach?

      You're off to a great start with your new blog--bon courage and bonne continuation!

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    2. Hola Sarah! Thank you for you encouragement! Hope that with Griffin’s help you will be able to find something useful for his Spanish.
      Regarding my teaching experience, I’ve always tried to focus on children. Before the maternity leave I was working at an international school with British curriculum (Years 7 to 11 and a pre-university IB program). I should probably update the About section of the blog with this information ☺
      Thank you again for your blog,
      Joselyn

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    3. Well, I wasn't sure if that info was in there somewhere, just hidden by my limited Spanish! Oh, one other thing that I can't tell--are you a native speaker of Spanish?

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    4. Yes, I'm Cuban. But have lived in Moscow for more than half of my life :)

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    5. Joselyn, you're amazing! So you must be (at least!) trilingual?

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  20. Hello Sarah! It has been a delight discovering your blog! I'm sending you an email about some bilingual books you may be interested in!

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    1. Thanks, Melissa! The Enzo books look so cute--I'll take a closer look at them soon, I promise.

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  21. Bonjour Sarah! I read this and thought, OMG that's me!! I'm a high school French teacher and am very often mistaken as a native French speaker. I always told myself I would speak French to my child. My husband is from Mexico, so that was obvious that he would speak Spanish. I was so excited to be able to raise my child trilingual. What a gift that was to be able to give to our child!

    Well, my son is 3 wks old and I look at him and can't bring myself to speak in French. It just doesn't feel natural. I do have books in French and am very comfortable reading to him in French. We have story time every day and I read 2 books in French. I also have a song book that I received as a gift and will be singing to him in French as well. I came across your blog today and after reading this About Us section and looking at that French list, I feel a little bit more confident about speaking to him in French. It's nice to hear that I don't have to be perfect and I don't have to know everything to speak to him in French. I think with time it will get easier and I will continue to look to your blog for inspiration and getting over those hurdles when it just seems impossible.

    Thank you for writing this blog, as I know it will help people like it has helped me!

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    1. Thank you for your kind words, Mlle Aurich! And felicitations on the birth of your son.

      It sounds like you're off to a fine start--even if it doesn't feel right to do exclusively French with him, the fact that you're already reading and singing to him when he's this young establishes a great pattern. You might want to check out the blog "German in the Afternoon" (see address in sidebar) to see how another mom has chosen to do both English and her non-native German. I think it's the enthusiasm and consistency that counts most.

      I'll be curious, though, to hear about how it goes for your family, especially when you factor in your husband's Spanish! Please do keep in touch.

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  22. Sarah

    We are reviving the bilingualism blogging carnival. We'd love to have you. More here http://www.thepiripirilexicon.com/p/blogging-carnival.html

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  23. Sarah, I can't tell you how relieved I am to find this blog! I am a French teacher at a high school, and like you, my brother and his wife ave asked me to speak exclusively in French with my niece. I have literally only just found the blog so I haven't read much read, but I'm going to make myself some lunch and a cup of tea and ave a good read! Thank you!
    Haley.

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    1. Bonjour Haley! So nice to "meet" a fellow Tatie. What a lucy niece! Please keep in touch. Where are you located, if you don't mind me asking? Maybe we'll meet at an AATF conference down the road....

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  24. Hi Sarah! I love your blog so I nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award :)

    http://afrenchamericanlife.com/2013/07/19/ive-been-nominated-for-the-very-inspiring-blogger-award/

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    1. Thank you so much, Carol--I am very flattered! Isn't it fun to read about other parents' adventures in raising kids with more than one language? Everyone is so inspiring!

      I have added your site to my blogroll and look forward to reading through your archives.

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  25. Sarah,

    Your blog is génalissime! I am a french father, living in Bordeaux, and I am looking for some materials to help my kid learn english. Any help?

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    1. Bonjour Jean-Etienne, et merci beaucoup pour votre magnifique compliment qui m'a fait sourire !

      Bravo for you for wanting your child to speak two (or more?) languages. Of course, books and CDs and videos are fantastic, as is finding other English speakers around your child's age. Maybe there's a storytime or playgroup you could join? What about a native speaker as a regular babysitter?

      I have been collecting links to useful resources on my Pinterest account--somewhat disorganizedly, sorry--but several of my virtual bulletin boards cover recommended materials in English (such as apps for a tablet computer). I'll try to add some more, too! How old is your child?

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  26. Bonjour Sarah! Thank you very much for all of the information you are providing...your words are very inspirational!! My husband and I grew up in French-speaking environments in South Louisiana...our grandparents could not speak English, and our parents spoke French "when they didn't want us to know what they were saying" :-) That being said, we both speak very broken French (Cajun). We understand French better than we speak it.

    We are blessed and thankful to live in Lafayette, Louisiana, a place that encourages the preservation of the Acadian French language. Our youngest daughter, now 12yrs, has been a part of Lafayette's "French Immersion Program" since the age of 4yrs...she has attended school following the regular school curriculum which includes an English language arts block (reading, writing, spelling) taught by an English-speaking teacher, but then the rest of the school day, including math, science, social living and art, is conducted entirely in French by a qualified elementary school teacher.

    The teachers who participate in this program make learning The Acadian French language so much fun for their students...some are from the United States, but most are from places like Belgium, Canada, France, Haiti, etc. Through all that you've shared, it is obvious you share the same passion for children learning this language, and I thank you sincerely for all your efforts!!

    We now have a 6 month old son...we want his "first words to be in French", literally!!!! Our daughter will be able to speak fluently with him, but my husband and I are nervous since we don't speak it that well. I hope we can make this happen!!! Using information and resources like yours, I really think we can actually begin speaking French more fluently (complete sentences). Of course, we don't want our daughter to feel awkward, or like she is doing this solo :-)

    On your site, you mentioned a French electronic game I would definitely like to get for our baby for Christmas..."Mon Premier Dokéo"...I think it will be a huge help to mommy & daddy too :-) Can you please tell me if there is an "English-Friendly" website where I can purchase this game, or how to go about buying it? I would greatly appreciate the help!

    Again, thank you for all you are doing to promote the French language, and God Bless!!

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    1. Layla, congratulations on your new(ish) baby and on your daughter's successful French immersion experience! Thank you so much for your kind words and please excuse my delay in responding to your comment--I'm so sorry.

      It's so exciting to hear about your daughter's school--it sounds similar to my son's elementary dual-language immersion school, except that by the time he reaches 3rd grade, the instruction time will be 50% Spanish, 50% English. (In Kinder right now, it's more like 90% Spanish.)

      I would love to hear more about how your family goes about developing your collective bilingualism, including your son's language acquisition. Would you consider letting me "profile" your family?

      (Here are some examples: http://babybilingual.blogspot.com/search/label/profiles)

      I bought our "Mon Premier Dokeo" through Amazon.Fr, but there doesn't appear to be an English version of the page--maybe you could use Google Translate to navigate it? I also just checked Amazon.Ca (Canada), which does offer English and French versions of the complete site, but it looks like they don't sell the game there.

      Delete
  27. Hi Sarah,

    We have reviewed your blog page on our DuLaBoo.com community and we have request to have more information on bilingual babies and children.
    Would you be interested to guest post in www.DuLaBoo.com
    If yes, please contact me via the contact form, if not, sorry for bothering you.

    All the best
    Det Nilam

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for your review of my blog! I have left you a message on that page.

      Delete
  28. Hello Sarah,

    I feel very happy that I found yopur blog. It feels sensational that there are other parents apart from me who are carrying out this bilingual teaching at home. I am from Argentina and have been talking in English to my first daughter since day 1. She turned 3 and I take good pride to say that she is bilingual. The thing is that now she is starting to express more complex sentences and dialogues, and I fear that she actually senses my two unnatural seconds in which I keep thinking how to formulate my answer, specially now that my secnd baby has come along. Did this also happen to you with your son Griffin? How did you deal with it? another doubt I jhave is on learning to read and write. Did you wait until Griffin learned that at school to teach it in French or was that simultaneus as well?
    Thank you for sharing
    Lucrecia

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    1. Hola Lucrecia! Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in my reply--I just missed this one last year.

      Congratulations on your success of raising your daughter bilingually with your non-native language (and congrats on your second child as well)!

      Honestly, I have never really thought about those two extra seconds, perhaps because as an introvert I tend to take them even when speaking in English! But it's similar to speaking the target language with a foreign accent--I don't get hung up on it--just as I'd rather have my children speak French with an accent than be monolingual, I would also rather have them speak more slowly than is natural (the way I speak French).

      As for reading and writing, I haven't pushed it in French. Griffin more or less taught himself to read in English at age four, and now at age seven he can read very well in Spanish and can get by in French. I don't ask him to read to me much in French, though sometimes when I'm reading to him I ask him to read some sentences back to me, or a certain character's dialogue.

      On the other hand, when he's in a good mood, he's very willing to read books in French to his little sister, which delights me to no end!!!

      While I would actually enjoy teaching him French literacy, I want to keep this language as fun and low-stress as possible, and during the school year, that means not forcing him to do extra academic work. (He's in school for 7.5 hours, has ~15 minutes of homework, ~15 minutes of music practice, and some chores every day--he needs unscheduled time to be a kid!

      But come summer, I'm going to try more explicit instruction in reading and writing in French.

      Delete
  29. Hello! I am very interested in your blog because found a lot of interesting and useful information here. I teach my daughters French in Russia. For now I am looking for an example of morning exercises in French. Don't you know a good one? With music and words tutorials in French?

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    1. Bonjour Marina! It's so exciting to meet someone else who is raising her children bilingually even though French is not her native language! (And you are clearly trilingual, maybe more? Are your kids learning English as well?) How old are your children?

      Can you tell me a little more about what you're looking for? Do you mean "exercise" as in "a physical activity"? If so, check out this "Disco en français" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVhfIgghOPw

      Or are you thinking of songs or games or activities that you can do in French every morning with your children? In that case, I like to do the following at the beginning of my French lessons:
      --Sing a song (the same one each tim)
      --Talk about the day (day of the week, date, month, weather, plans for the day, and then count up to the day's date)
      --Review a book, song, vocabulary, or concept from the previous lesson

      Please let me know if this isn't what you had in mind!

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  30. Hey Sarah,
    I've been reading your blog and I think the content you post is brilliant.
    I'm a language enthusiast myself and along with some friends we've started a language app - VocApp. It is a flashcard mobile and website app that provides a number of innovative features, such as creating flashcards from a photo, creating flashcards with your voice, creating flashcards from a text (in just a few seconds you can make a set of words from your favourite song, e.g. http://vocapp.com/wish-you-were-here-pink-floyd-testo-tradotto-flashcards-186864).
    I imagine that you must be very busy but if you were interested in testing our app (and possibly writing a short review of it if you want) I could grant you access to our language courses and paid options of our app, so that you can explore it thoroughly.
    Keep up the great work! I'll be looking forward to hearing from you.
    All the best,
    Camille
    camille@vocapp.com

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  31. Hi Sarah.. this is the first time Ive come across your blog. I live in Delhi, India..but have learnt french till an advanced level. I have a son who is 13 months old. I wanted to start doing french with him. I was wonderin that if I start talking in french also, will he not get confused ?
    as we speak hindi and english also with him.
    Also what would be the right age ??
    THanks
    Megha

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  32. Hello, I enjoy your blog a lot. I am teaching my baby French now as well. Your list that you gave (memorizing this list helped a lot) - this link is not working. May I ask you to send me this list please?

    ReplyDelete
  33. Hi! I am Simone from The Story Tailors. For my thesis/internship I need to find out a way to launch our personalized kids books on the Japanese market. I will need some help finding contacts, translating stuff, finding people who speak English and such. If you want to help me, that'd be great! Just send me an email at simone@thestorytailors.info Thanks in advance and warm regards :)

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hello Sara,
    For some reason the link for the "list" of resources you referred to as being something that you memorized is NOT working. Can you please let me and the others who are following you here know what resources you uncovered for teaching French to toddlers? I can not access the list using the link:-(. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Hello Sarah,
    That's a great blog and well done for all the work you've done.
    I thought I'd let you know you can find material for French songs on Singing Bell, which has music files, printable PDF's and music scores for free.
    http://www.singing-bell.com/
    You might as well add us to your blogroll.
    Thanks and keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hi Sarah, I don't know if you remember me Claire Gray but we did an interview together 5 years ago (It was in 2012 if I'm correct) when I first started my website of bilingual stories (English/French): Justine and Sebastien. The website doesn't exist anymore, however I am now publishing two books based on the first stories I had been writing for this site. The concept remains the same; the main characters Justine and Sebastien are both bilingual, they are able to speak to each other in two languages: English and French. Therefore I translate their dialogues in French and put the translation in brackets.
    I left the project aside for a while as I was busy with other jobs, mainly teaching.
    Not long ago, I received some good comments about these stories from people in the teaching in publishing world. That gave me the boost I needed to revisit the website and to do some re-writing in English on the the first two stories. With some help from Rowanvale Books, a Publisher in Cardiff, we are now releasing two books of the series: 'The Adventures of Justine and Sebastien, the Bilingual Children' The books titles are: 'The First Day' and 'The Birthday Party'.
    My main age group target is probably children from 5 to 8 years old, but these books can appeal to a wider audience: a read-aloud for younger children and a more challenging read for older children interested in learning French. I think you have children in this age group yourself?
    Anyway, the books are now available for pre-order, and here are the links:
    For 'The First Day':
    http://www.rowanvalebooks.com/book/the-first-day-le-premier-jour
    For 'The Birthday Party'
    http://www.rowanvalebooks.com/book/the-birthday-party-la-fete-danniversaire
    And to save money, and pay only one postage you can pre-order both books at once;
    https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=EBPNQBV23EAWC

    I would love to reach an American audience because this project was originally conceived while we were living in the US and wouldn't exist if we had never lived in NYC! Ultimately, my dream would be to get an American Publisher.
    You can find me on these Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justandseb/?ref=bookmarks and on Twitter: @justandseb
    In the meantime, many thanks to pre-order for your family, your friends, and many thanks to share and spread the word about the books! It would be lovely to hear from you Sarah!
    All the best
    Claire.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Hi Sarah, I couldn't open that list of words you memorized for Carl. Is the link OK? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  38. Hi Sarah,

    It seems that reporting on children's non native language acquisition poops out around 5 or older. That is when the kids start having their own voice more and try to only speak in the dominant language. I'd be interested in how parents get over that hump. I have a 5-year-old who I speak to just in Spanish (we live in California). I have an early high school native speaker who functions as a "teacher" for my daughter. During that 90 minute session, my daughter has to speak Spanish, and she is fine with it because her Spanish is good enough so that it isn't too difficult for her. I haven't figured out any other way to ensure she continues to speak. Does anyone have other proven examples of improving the speaking ability of children in the non dominant language when they are 5 and older? Kevin

    ReplyDelete

  39. love your work great work done by you ....nice effort
    Regards:

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  40. Nice post.Your masters are in French and you teach English as a second/foreign language that's great.
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  41. Thank you for sharing. The link to the "list" that you mentioned you memorized is not valid. Is there any way you might still be able to share the list with me? I need to study up on my French baby terms!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Thanks for sharing such an informative article. Good work, keep sharing this type post. French Courses Online

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  43. This is amazing. Thank you so much for freely sharing all your hard work! We are going to definitely use a lot of this!

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