to expect Le Club Francais to use exclusively native speakers.

[pickledsiblings]

The lady who is about to start running a club at my DS's school is Polish and from what I can gather has no 'French' qualifications.

She has however been a school governor .

At £6.50 per session is it likely to be worth it?

It all depends on how good her French is. She may have spent her childhood in France or something. Though if they tell you she was a school governor but don't tell about her French experience it seems unlikely.

I had a Scottish French teacher when I was at school. Her accent was so pronounced we had trouble understanding her English, she didn't loose it when she spoke French. Complete waste of time for oral French.

hehe Such your post reminds me of a German man my dad met on a twin town visit to Germany. He spoke brilliant English.........with a Geordie accent as his English teacher in Germany had been a Geordie

What's her French like? (If it's crap yanbu)

.. but I think yab a bit u to expect all tutors to be native speakers [hsmile]

If the polish lady speaks fluent french in the correct accent, then I can't see your problem to be honest. Your DS isn't likely to be taught gcse french by a native speaker.

I would expect someone French, but then if she does speak French fluently/at an advanced level and is enthusiastic, why not? My SePedi teacher at school was Lebanese

pickled - if the lady in question is fluent, with a good accent, surely it'd be ok?

sapphire - my dd's GCSE teacher is French.

I'm a bit on a number of levels actually. From the website, the messages I got were:

(i) You can earn up to £50 per hour if you take out a franchise.

(ii) It's an alternative to other types of after school care.

I wasn't overly inspired tbh especially as I don't need after school care.

I think learning a second language is a great idea but I am worried that this could do more harm than good.

So, how do I find out if she is fluent and what her accent is like?

Oh, and another thing I was told (to reassure me?) was that she runs five clubs. She is presumably making her £50 per hour then .

I think YAB a bit U - would you be as bothered if the teacher was English, not Polish? I am looking into becoming a tutor for La Jolie Ronde which is the same thought of thing, and I'm not a native speaker. I do however have a degree in Spanish... are you sure she's got no French qualifications? In all my time studying languages I only ever had a native teacher at university level. At this level it's all going to be 'bonjour' and 'j'ai 6 ans', I'm sure as long as she's got a decent French accent she'll be fine. At this stage surely it's just about getting them to enjoy languages etc.

Oh, and the £50 per hour thing is a bit decieving... as a tutor for La Jolie Ronde I've been told I'll get £2 per child per half hour session - the max number in a class is 12 so that's 'up to' £48 per hour, but I doubt very much that's what will happen!

I don't see what the problem is. At school most kids are taught French (or any other language) by a non native speaker.

It is only £6.50 an hour. What do you want for that money?

Presumably this is for a young child as well, so probably a fun approach to learning French. I don't think you need to be so analytical.

I meant £6.50 a session.

Even so, for an activity that is as cheap as chips.

Is there no way to be in contact with other parents who have had their children in her groups?

I think you might be being a tiny bit U to expect everyone running the groups to be native speakers. I could, for example, probably run a similar group in my husband's native language. I wouldn't throw myself into the corporate world or anything, but talking about everyday objects, afterschool snacks, etc, I think I could do.

You're definitely right to question the experience. Is it immersion? Is it just naming the objects in the room?

How old are the children who are going to be taught and what level are they learning at? I ran a Club Francais at a local school when I was at university. I had A Level french and she had French speaking parents. We had no formal qualifications but were only teaching children the basics - colours, days of the week, how to say 'my name is' etc. We were teaching year 3 children as far as I remember... YAB a bit U - Polish teacher may well have enough knowledge to teach without having any formal qualifications and from what I remember, the teacher must have some language experience to be able to teach.

Try it out!!If you are not happy you can always pull your child out of it.

..and come back to tell us about it!!

I'm not bothered at all about the fact that the teacher is Polish. I think I'd be happier if she was to teach DS Polish rather than French though.

DS is in Y2. £6.50 an hour is quite a lot to be taught by a non specialist in a group setting- non?

I dunno, doesn't sound excessive, I pay £6 an hour for a mad old tambourine lady lovely toddler music group

"I'm not bothered at all about the fact that the teacher is Polish. I think I'd be happier if she was to teach DS Polish rather than French though."

My French teacher was English, with a cut-glass English accent which could put the queen to shame. Her french was equally superb (though admittedly she was a First Honours graduate). WhatB I'm trying to say is that it may be unwise to dismiss someone as a teacher of a foreign language just because they are not a native of that country.

Come to think of it, my fantastic, talented Latin teacher was Welsh...! :o

Bugger the typos, sorry, I'm trying to make a lunchtime cuppa, access emails and reply here at the same time... multitasking is not my greatest skill.

Excuse the generalisation but Polish people are known for being very good at languages. Look at Pope JPII.
Seriously though, native speaker teaching only becomes an issue when you get to quite an advanced level. In an afterschool club/group situation I'd say that teaching experience and fun, engaging activities are much more important. Speaking from experience as an ex-TEFL teacher.