Hi,
I am very interested in increasing languages and cultures awareness for both my 4 year old child and myself. As my child is bilingual French / English and also is in contact with various people speaking a number of different languages, he already has some form of awareness of languages and I have noticed he is really interested to find out about other languages (for example when he hears other people speaking a language he doesn't speak or when he hears a song in a foreign language, he would often ask what language it is and then regularly he would say that he wants to learn this language).
I recently found out about the European Language Portfolio. The concept of language portfolio is born from a European initiative. I would describe the portfolio as a tool to encourage discovery of languages and cultures (all languages and cultures, not just the ones that are "high-profile" and not just European ones) and help assess ability / achievement in languages. There are languages portfolios for age groups ranging from young child to adult. The children portfolios are done in a very lively way and easily accessible by children.
I liked the concept very much and ordered the French version : "Mon premier Portfolio européen des langues" for my child (only 2.37 euros on Amazon, click if you might be interested in ordering it !).
I am very interested in increasing languages and cultures awareness for both my 4 year old child and myself. As my child is bilingual French / English and also is in contact with various people speaking a number of different languages, he already has some form of awareness of languages and I have noticed he is really interested to find out about other languages (for example when he hears other people speaking a language he doesn't speak or when he hears a song in a foreign language, he would often ask what language it is and then regularly he would say that he wants to learn this language).
I recently found out about the European Language Portfolio. The concept of language portfolio is born from a European initiative. I would describe the portfolio as a tool to encourage discovery of languages and cultures (all languages and cultures, not just the ones that are "high-profile" and not just European ones) and help assess ability / achievement in languages. There are languages portfolios for age groups ranging from young child to adult. The children portfolios are done in a very lively way and easily accessible by children.
I liked the concept very much and ordered the French version : "Mon premier Portfolio européen des langues" for my child (only 2.37 euros on Amazon, click if you might be interested in ordering it !).
You can find more information about the UK European Language Portfolio for primary school aged children (4 to 11 year old) here:
You can also download the junior portfolio and a teacher's guide from there or you can order from Amazon.
Enjoy your journey to discovering languages and cultures.
Next post, I will use my "French mum with an interest in language teaching to kids" knowledge and will share some ideas about how to help young children learn French (either bilingual children or non-native children learning some French) and in particular I will give some advice regarding a few resources (UK or authentic French) that are most appropriate to support French language exposition / learning.
Happy Learning !
Next post, I will use my "French mum with an interest in language teaching to kids" knowledge and will share some ideas about how to help young children learn French (either bilingual children or non-native children learning some French) and in particular I will give some advice regarding a few resources (UK or authentic French) that are most appropriate to support French language exposition / learning.
Happy Learning !
Hi there,
ReplyDeletesounds good and I will look it up - not for French though, not yet anyway as we're only about to get started on French, but for German and English :)
I've got two kids (5 and 3) who are growing up with both languages at home (OPOL) and then French through an immersion school, starting this September for our eldest.
And yes, I am always interested in tips and resources I can try out on our little punks :)
http://intrepidlybilingual.blogspot.com
Hi Smashedpea,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by to leave some feedback.
I have had a look at your blog. Well done for your efforts to raise your kids multilingual. Keep going.
Something I noticed from your blog is how much effort you seem to be putting into raising your children bilingual. This made me realise how lucky we are as our 4 and a half is completely bilingual, his French being even currently slightly more advanced than his English. Since before he was born, I have been obsessed about giving him as much exposure to French as possible, including through frequent and long holidays in France or visit of French relatives, loads of French CDs and DVDs (very few in English), French-speaking childminder / au pair and lately sabbatical in France, where he went to school.
He will be starting primary school in the UK in September, English school, as I thought dropping and collecting him to/from the French school would have been too complicated to manage with both my partner and I working full time. I know his English will take over then, but I think he would have had so much exposure to French for the first 5 years of his life that French should stay as his first language / mother tongue as well.
And we will be pursuing our efforts with Saturday morning French school and holidays in France.
Smashedpea, if you are about to get started with French, you might want to watch out for my next post about French resources.
And keep me updated about how it goes, in particular with French ... do you speak French yourself ?
Happy Learning !