l'alphabet français I : chantez !

It's time for my tutees to learn the French alphabet (and for my four-year-old to stop mumbling "elmo-elmo-pé" when she gets lost in the middle of the song)!  Let's start with some chansons (songs)...

First, some traditional alphabet songs with Mozart's familiar melody:

La chanson de l'alphabet, featuring a man's voice accompanied by a calm acoustic guitar:

The letters appear on screen, along with the lyrics at the end of the song: "Maintenant je les connais/Toutes les lettres de l'alphabet."

This one, from the website Le monde des petits, has a child's voice singing the alphabet and gentle synthesizer music; it's the one Gwyneth likes best (she actually sings along, and she's very picky about that sort of thing):

The lyrics end a little differently: "Maintenant je les connais/Chante avec moi s'il te plaît."  This 20-minute video continues with a catchy animated song about the numbers 1-10, assigning a rhyming characteristic to each of them ("le sept aime les chaussettes"), and then includes a second alphabet song after the numbers, this one like a lullaby.

My favorite French version of the traditional alphabet song, however, is the accordion-spiced ABC & 123 Cajun from Michael Doucet (founder of the popular group Beausoleil).  Unfortunately, no one has made a cute animated video of it or posted a live version on YouTube, so for now, listen to the promotional clip (#7) on Amazon (and consider buying the album, Le Hoogie-Boogie, Louisiana French Music for Children--it's delightful).

But why limit ourselves to the usual versions?  You might like some of these fun, less-traditional French alphabet songs:

Alain Le Lait's L'alphabet en français, funky and animated:

The lyrics are simple: multiple repetitions of the alphabet, each followed by "c'est l'alphabet en français."

You will probably recognize this next melody for the alphabet song: it's the aria "L'amour est un oiseau rebel" from Bizet's Carmen.  I think it's genius!

A nice change from the major-key alphabet songs is this one; it's simply a different melody with those same 26 letters:

Ditto (the exact song, but this video features barnyard fowl rocking out):

This next video introduces each letter of the alphabet, accompanied by a drawing of an animal that begins with that letter.  The singer/narrator pauses just long enough for the viewers to repeat after him.  I like that the animal names appear onscreen, and especially that not all of the creatures are the ones you'd expect.  (Cigogne for C, for example, rather than the more common chat, chien, or cheval; and not an éléphant but rather an écureil for E.  And who doesn't appreciate a good "N is for narval"?)

And if you like learning a word along with each letter, then you should check out Les Alphas, a video introducing the alphabet via characters shaped like the letters.  Each one represents the sound(s) that the letter makes.  Some are cute (the dame and her extremely ample derrière) and some confusing (you'll think the C looks like a chenille, but it's actually a cornichon, while the N, which is supposed to be a nez, looks like the love child of a champignon and a crotte).  I also can't help thinking that the jet d'eau looks too much like a sperm.

(Did you notice the limace for L?  Whose idea was it to make its mascot a slug?!)

I do wish each of the words were written onscreen--especially since it appears that this video is part of a program for teaching (French-speaking) children to read.  Curious to see more?  Check out this clip that focuses on the vowel sounds and this one that introduces the back story of the planète des Alphas.

Now, take a trip back to the 1980s with Chantal Goya and her live-action on-stage spectacular featuring  little girls in matching sailor suit dresses; larger-than-life chickens, cats, and an egg with limbs; and Madame Goya herself with such a sweet voice and such large shoulder pads, gently encouraging us to "Apprends l'alphabet en chantant" :

(This video is simultaneously horrifying and enthralling, isn't it?  I bet you couldn't look away from the singer and her sprightly, singing, head-tilting minions.  I'm so sorry for inflicting this earworm on you!)

So…which one is your favorite, and why?  Which one(s) would you be happy to never hear again?

Stay tuned for part 2 (practicing repeating the alphabet) and part 3 (playing games online to practice the alphabet).

my first summer French camp!

And all I have to do is plan five 30-minute immersion classes!

My most loyal readers may remember that while I adore my part-time job coordinating a reading enrichment program at the public library, I've also toyed with the idea of offering French classes for young children.  But with two little kids at home, that's just not possible right now.  (I mean, I can't even sustain a free storytime in French!)

But then last week, while I was waiting during Griffin's early childhood music class and chatting with another mom about how I got interested in French, a violin teacher introduced herself and said she was looking for someone to teach French for a half-hour a day for her week-long France-themed violin camp for ages 6-10!  ("Celebrate the rich culture of France through music, art, and games," says the camp description.)

And she will pay me!  And I can bring Griffin and Gwyneth along (and thus not spend more in childcare than I would earn)!

So that was an easy decision, n'est-ce pas?

Once they let me know in early June if the class has met its minimum enrollment, I'll start figuring out what to do. I can already tell that 150 minutes won't be nearly enough.....

"my mommy speaks French because she went to Paris with her husband"

Griffin singing in French while playing his homemade guitar (cardboard box and rubber bands from a make-your-own-instrument science kit)

I eavesdropped today and was richly rewarded.

Griffin has recently started Dalcroze Eurhythmics, a group music-and-movement class for four-to-seven year olds.  Since the teacher's bio indicated that he received his PhD in Switzerland, I told Griffin that his teacher probably speaks French; and then on the student info form, I indicated that Griffin is bilingual in English and French.

As my son was the first student to arrive this afternoon, from outside the classroom I could easily hear the teacher greet him in English, then in French.  Without missing a beat, Griffin bonjoured him back.

Teacher: Comment est-ce que tu parles francais?
Griffin: Ma maman parle francais avec moi.
Teacher: Elle est francaise?
Griffin: Non.
Teacher: Elle est quebecoise?
Griffin: Non, elle a allee [sic] a Paris avec son mari.  Il parle seulement un petit peu de francais.

(No doubt the teacher is more confused now, as my son informed him that I am bilingual not because I am from France or Quebec but rather because I once traveled to Paris* with my husband.  [Why didn't Griffin refer to him as "mon papa"?  Etrange!])

Nevertheless, it tickled me that Griffin happily answered a near-stranger's questions in French, and I also recognize the value in having him speak French with a grown man--what with me and the other mamans at French playgroup and storytime, he hears almost exclusively young children and adult European women use the language.  And as he has a clear affinity for males ("I don't like girls!"), I expect that having a male American teacher who can address him in good French is especially valuable.

*In fact, we weren't married at the time--Ed proposed to me during that same trip to France!

Auto-immersion

Those of us who are doing our best to raise our kids with something other than the community language know that we have to seize every possible moment to barrage them with lots and lots of input in the target language.  (This is especially challenging for those parents who work full-time and have a very limited number of hours most days to share their language with their children.)

When we're at home, we can take advantage of games, books, toys, videos, and the simple fact that we're engaging in face-to-face interactions with their accompanying gestures, expressions, and props--we have a lot of tools to provide contextualized prompts for conversation and activities in the target language.

But what about those endless hours in the car, chauffeuring from one playgroup to another lesson, running errand upon errand?  The parent is driving, facing forward, no eye contact, hands occupied--not ideal conditions for practicing another language with small (or bigger) children.

So here's my challenge to us: let's take advantage of the fact that the kids are a trapped audience to immerse them in our language of choice! Let's brainstorm as many as possible ways to engage our kids in the target language when we're driving them here and there and everywhere!  Here, I'll start:

Music (duh): Listen to songs in the target language--children's music, yes, but also pop music, rap music, folk songs, music from all the countries where the language is spoken.  Sing songs to (or with) your children.  (Griffin, approaching age four, has learned to sing in a round, which sounds so lovely to my ears.)  And don't forget the nursery rhymes!

I still remember the trip Griffin and I took to visit with a friend in another city, a 45-minute drive, when he was about six months old.  I turned off the tape player (yeah, my twelve-year-old Toyota, Earl Grey, is so basic that he doesn't have a CD player!) to see if I could sing French children's songs the whole way there.  To my surprise, we made it to my friend's house without my repeating a single one!

(This video is just a placeholder--he's singing in English.  I'll try to film him singing in French in the car soon.)

Rhyme time: You say a word in the target language; your kids reply with words that rhyme.  Then let them pick the words to start with.

Counting: Count to 100 together, then count solo and pause for the kids to fill in the next number, then alternating (you count the odd numbers, your kids the evens), then by tens, fives, twos, then backwards (whatever the children are capable of); count objects that you pass (stop signs, cows, blue cars).

Twenty Questions: Play this vocabulary-rich game that involves guessing what object someone is thinking of, where the guessers can only ask yes/no questions.  A child who can't form complete sentences (much less questions) can still show his understanding of your questions by answering them while you guess!  (Unless your interlocutor is like three-year-old Griffin, whose answers tend to lead to things like "something green that's made of metal and bigger than the universe").

I Spy: Another fun and easy game that involves sighting an object (inside or outside the car) and giving clues so that the others can guess the object.

I Spy (on signs or license plates): Challenge your children to find the numbers 0-9 in order on signs that you pass, or specific two-digit numbers, or the digits in your telephone number, etc.  Ditto for the letters of the alphabet in the target language.

Chercher et trouver dans un livre (seek and find in a book): Give your child a book, preferably a large-ish imagier or other book with lots of labeled images (a picture dictionary, a book about animals, or something like that).  (In fact, keep it in the car so that it's always there and you don't have to remember to bring one with you when you're leaving the house in a hurry, which is pretty much the only way I do it.)  Tell your child to open to a random page and name one of the images; then, based on  that first image, ask him to find something related on a different page.  For example:

Griffin: Il y a une robe.
Maman: De quelle couleur est la robe ?
Griffin: Rouge.
Maman: Okay, tourne la page et trouve quelque chose d'autre qui est rouge.
Griffin: Coccinelle !
Maman: Est-ce qu'elle est grande ou petite ?
Griffin: Petite.
Maman: D'accord, maintenant trouve quelque chose qui est aussi petite que la coccinelle….

I draw upon any category that occurs to me, including things that he or I or his papa likes or dislikes, something found in or outside our house, something from far away, colors, shapes, sizes, opposites, material they're made of, and lots more.

This game seems to work especially well with animal books, because then you can make the categories specific to the animals--how they move, where they live, size, colors, sounds, features, foodwild/tame--which means that you're all using the target language to share information, not just to label objects.

I like "Cherche et trouve dans le livre" because it's so rich in contextualized language and because two children of different ages can play, passing the book back and forth.  (A child who doesn't know how to read can still play this game with a much older kid.)

Un truc dans un machin: "A thingy in a whats-it" is what I call this activity, where I pretend to misunderstand something Griffin said, repeating it back to him as inaccurately as possible (and making it as silly as I can).  For example,

Griffin: Regarde, Maman!  Il y a un chien dans la camionnette!  (Look, Mommy, there's a dog in that pickup truck!)
Maman: Quoi?  Il y a un dinosaure dans ta poche?  (What?  There's a dinosaur in your pocket?)
Griffin (giggling): Non, il y a un chien dans la camionnette!
Maman: Quoi?  Il y a un extra-terrestre dans l'arbre?  (What?  There's an alien in the tree?)
And so on; Griffin usually joins in and makes up other strange combinations.  We can do this for a good ten or fifteen minutes before one of us (okay, moi) tires of it.

And a related activity: sing a familiar song but insert other silly words here and there.  For instance, "Au feu, les pompiers/Voila la maison qui brule/Au feu, les pompiers/Voila la maison brulee/C'est pas moi qui l'ai brulee/C'est la coccinelle/C'est pas moi qui l'ai brulee/C'est l'arraignee" (instead of "la cuisiniere" and "le cuisinier").

Storytelling, of course!  I find that listening to audio books in French in the car is too challenging for Griffin at this point, unless it's a story he's already very familiar with because I've read it to him multiple times and he's seen pictures illustrating it.  (We have a small handful of stories-on-tape like Boucle d'or et les trois ours.)  Rather, I'll pick a story he knows much less well and tell it to him, simply at first, then   gradually adding details and length.  Changing my voice for each character helps him follow along (Occasionally I change it up to see how quickly he notices the differences, a la "Boucle d'or et les trois girafes.")

Now it's your turn....what do you do to keep your kids in the target language during car rides?

This post is part of the January 2012 Blogging Carnival on Bilingualism, hosted by Coco at Multilingual Mama.

music your munchkins might love

Tired of cloyingly sweet or frenetically hyper children's songs in English? Want to expand your child's musical library with new artists and groups? But you don't want to spend a ton of money on CDs and downloads and then discover that you can't stomach the songs a dozen times in a row while an enthusiastic toddler sings off-key and bangs on things that were never intended to be used as drums?

Griffin likes to climb into people's laps while they're working on their computers and ask to listen to music. As a result, he's totally hooked on the video for Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me," which my husband, Ed, bought off i-Tunes. This means that the staid, traditional children's songs that I have saved on my computer (after burning them from CDs borrowed from the library) just don't measure up.

Fortunately, we have found Jitterbug, a free website that streams interesting children's songs (with the slogan "Music for Hip Kids." You can search by artist or category (such as "kindie," independent music for kids), through your "favorites" file, by format (song or video), or simply browse by clicking on pictures or the names of songs that catch your eye. The videos which accompany many of the tunes range from old-school Sesame Street to whimsical animated line drawings to live performances. Jitterbug also offers music from other countries (mostly Spanish-speaking from what I can tell, though I haven't explored the site extensively). The founders even invite us listeners to suggest other music-makers to include on their site.

I would LOVE to find a site like this with French songs for kids! (Can anyone offer any leads? Or if you know of similar sites in other languages, please share them via a comment.) But in the meantime, Griffin will continue to enjoy these fun ones in English, and I hope that those of you whose children or students are learning English in faraway countries can take advantage of this delightful resource.

(To read about another tremendous resource with engaging English, French, and Spanish materials for kids, check out this post about Tumblebooks.)

Maman wants the "week" of the little red corvette too!

While Griffin seems to understand and speak French and English fairly equally, he has a definite preference for songs in English. One of his favorite activities is to grab a songbook in English, climb into Daddy's lap, and say "More week! More week!" ("Week" is his rendering of "musique," pronounced "moo-seek" in French.)

Daddy, who makes up in enthusiasm what he lacks in vocal chops, then valiantly attempts to sing folk songs ("Polly Wolly Doodle"), children's songs ("Old McDonald"), Sunday school songs ("He's Got the Whole World"), and so forth to his adoring son. However, he often has to make up the tune, as these are songs that he doesn't remember or never heard as a child (and certainly not as an adult).

This situation, by the way, can lead to some very amusing performances, like when Daddy's "Little Red Caboose" sounds a lot like Prince's "Little Red Corvette."

I'm torn: I know a lot of these songs by heart and have happy childhood memories of singing them in the car, playing them on the piano, enduring my mother invent her own lyrics for existing tunes (I still cringe at the memory of "Camp Pretty Pond/Camp Pretty Pond/Hiking to the far beyond/At Camp Pretty Pond/See the leaders/See the girls/See the skeeters/See the squirrels/At Camp Pretty Pond/Camp Pretty Pond....").

So when I heard my husband struggling through "Oh Susannah," I yearned to join in and pluck the imaginary banjo on my knee too. But for months I held back, reminding myself that I was only going to speak French with Griffin. Seulement francais. Only. French.

For months, when Griffin brought me his songbooks, I would page through them, describing the pictures to him and telling him in French what each English song was about. He'd sit and listen, not protesting at the lack of "week," but not bouncing up and down and crying "yay!" and "more!" like he did with Daddy.

For months, I taught myself more children's songs in French. I realized that I had built up a substantial repertoire when during an hour-long drive, I sang to Griffin the whole way without repeating a song once. (Keep in mind that children's songs tend to be quite short!)

And finally, I decided to relax my rules: I don't have to feel like a bad bilingual mother if I let an English word or song slip in now and then. I like calling Griffin "darlin'." I like singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in a round with my hubby. I like teaching songs dear to my heart to both my boys. And I loved attending baby storytime--in English, of course--at the library!

Besides, thinking back to my childhood, I never felt confused that my mom sang an occasional song in another language to me. Griffin isn't going to object to Daddy joining in on "Alouette" or "Frere Jacques" (which begs to be sung as a round), so why would it be wrong for me to "Twinkle Twinkle" too?

While I still hardly ever sing an entire song in English to Griffin by myself, I no longer have a problem singing in English with other people around him. And now I too get the "yay!"s and the "more week!"s from him, every time. I have also Frenchified the lyrics to folk songs like "Clementine" and "Sweetly Sings the Donkey" and "The Wheels on the Bus" so that I can sing them to Griffin with abandon!

So you don't speak French, but you want to help your children to learn it? Part II: Videos

Click here to read part I of this post, about my views on the possibility of raising your kids to speak a language you don't know and my recommendations for music to help you do so in French.

Videos and DVDs: If you don't know the language yourself, then it's important to expose your kids to as many speakers of the language as possible. Notice that I'm not insisting on native speakers--it can be other children, teachers, tutors, friends, and people on CDs, video tapes, and DVDs. If your children are old enough to watch movies, find their favorites on DVD and play them with the French soundtrack; the kids know what to expect, so they'll understand the story without knowing most of the words. Perhaps some children's programming on DVD (Dora, Wiggles, etc.) also has an option for French audio? Try to also find original, rather than dubbed, shows (eg, Sesame Street from France or Québec or Sénégal) to expose your kids to French and francophone culture. While creating your own vast video library can be a daunting and expensive prospect, it doesn't have to be. Instead of--or in addition to--purchasing materials online at great expense (and then finding out your DVD player is set up for a different region than the DVDs), try the following: borrow materials from public libraries and the Alliance Française, if you're lucky enough to be located near one; having a friend or relative in a French-speaking country record television programs for you (children's shows and other age-appropriate nonfiction programs, like travel, nature, and animals); ask local French speakers and teachers and parents if you can film them reading, singing, counting, narrating as they take a walk, interacting with French-speaking kids, and so on.

Here are a few entertainment-style French videos for children, recommended by Bringing up Baby Bilingual reader David Ryan: Carmen Champagne's music videos, including Un bon chocolat chaud-chaud-chaud! and Annie Brocoli's poppy, boppy videos and albums. While the latter are popular in France, I don't think they'd be a good choice for kids just starting to learn French as a second language; she sings too fast and the words aren't distinctive enough for beginners (perhaps even intermediates), at least in some of the albums I've listened to. But on the other hand, older children might not feel like they were listening to "kids' music" with her trendy sound. I don't know what her videos are like.

Additionally, some educational French videos exist for anglophone kids. I haven't looked into these in depth, but I have watched the three-volume Bonjour les amis! French made easy for children with low-tech animation and lots of gentle repetition, starring "Moustache, France's most loveable cat." It's probably a good introduction, but it won't take you very far. Then there's Muzzy, a $200 DVD or video program produced by the BBC in six languages, which is supposedly appropriate for two to 12-year olds (which is too broad a claim for me to believe it, making me wonder if it's really as good as all the hype). Can it really make kids acquire a second language as naturally as their first?

Finally, if you're trying to teach your kids French, then you probably want to expose them to other cultures as well. In that case, take advantage of videos in English (or whatever your mother tongue) that introduce French and francophone countries in ways that would interest your children. Show the budding mountaineer footage of ice climbing in the Alps and the future zoologist whales in the Saint Laurence River and wild animals in Québec. Follow the Tour de France every summer on TV with your kids. Find kid-friendly Food Network shows where you and your young'uns can fix fondue and couscous along with the chefs.

Your public library probably has lovely scenic videos to borrow, and you can always resort to preteen-pleasing dreck like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's Passport to Paris: "Sent to Paris to visit their grandfather[the US ambassador to France!], the girls [their characters] fall in love with France...and fall head-over-heels for two French boys! Sightseeing on mopeds, they race around Paris on a mission to see the city, make new friends...and stay one step ahead of their uptight chaperone. From shopping at French boutiques, to exploring Notre Dame and dinner dates at the Eiffel Tower, it's one hilarious exploit after another." [Note: I have never had dinner dates at the Eiffel Tower! I've never sped around Paris on mopeds! And I can't afford boutiques--give me the marché aux puces any day instead. At least I've never experienced the City of Lights with an uptight chaperone.] In one photo on the video jacket, we see the girls fencing with baguettes. Sounds awful, I know, reinforces stereotypes--but if this sort of thing convinces girls to learn French, then I won't call it all bad.

Please note that I haven't actually seen any Baby Einstein videos; I understand that some parents adore them, though, and that some include foreign language instruction?

Does anyone else have recommendations for videos and DVDs? I really haven't look into these yet, since my nephew is only a year old. Stay tuned for posts on books (part III) and other materials (part IV) specifically for French.