to wonder if he will be too advanced when his class starts learning French?

[GoingLoopyLou]

DS is 4 and has been having French lessons for the last six months through La Jolie Ronde, once a week for half an hour. He loves it and is doing really well.

He starts primary school in September and his school don't start teaching French until he is in Year 3.

I'm just a bit concerned that they will be being taught to say Bonjour and count to ten in French etc and he will have done that 4 years previously. Has anyone else had this problem and what did you do?

Hi Grey, the reason I posted was that people seemed fairly unsupportive of teaching your kids multiple languages outside of school. In my case it wasn't a choice but I still think it is a marvelous idea even if you have a monolingual situation.

However all are free to ignore me and my posts if they do not add anything

Thanks JL

I think there is some ignorance as to how the language is being taught to infants, with some thinking of a hothouse approach.
Learning a language for fun is a good thing in my opinion; games, songs, emphasis on oral skills rather than long lists of vocabulary and writing.
I think MrMan talks sense.

Good point, Goblinchild. Ignore what I said earlier! :)

chocolate - I have no idea! That's just the way they are. I read early as a child too and we read a lot of books together. They learned letters from playing with some wooden ones we have in the same way as they learned what other objects/animals were. They could recognise letters before they knew the alphabet song and then they pick them out of books/signs/license plates. We have DVDs and CDs with funny songs and we sometimes play letter games on long journeys. DS1 learned to read by recognition more than phonics I think although he did know the sounds that letters made which helped him sound out new words. None of this was forced on them in structured lessons or activities - they've just been given the opportunity to pick it up and they've been interested in it. I don't think all children are the same but I don't agree with withholding information just because it's deemed too 'academic'.

Portofino- he was reading the Cat in the Hat and Bernstein bear books among other things before he was 4 and yes he understood them and laughed at them and could explain them to you. At 4 he started on the usborne 'see inside' books which are brilliant and he loved them and can tell you loads about the body, space, dinosaurs and how machines work. He also got into Tintin and at the moment he's reading Roald Dahl, various fairy tales, Egyptians and Garfield. :) a nice mix! It's great because he can learn so much about anything he wants whenever he wants and he really enjoys it. I think reading is the best thing a child can learn.

my dds attended the "normal" state system so didn't start learning even basic French until P7 (don't know the English equivalent, last year of Primary school). Despite their lack of "La Jolie Ronde" at age 4, they have both gone on to do O grade French, Higher French, and Advanced Higher French. DD1 also has Higher Spanish.
DD1 has used her language skills in her summer job with tourist information, and DD2 is off to au pair in Spain in September.
alternatively my sis lives in Belgium where her 5 DCs speak English, French and Flemish. they didn't even start school until they were 6 years old, let alone use any language in written form.
OP is being precious - agree with poster whose cat is doing art classes!!!

Dementedma - how is it being precious to encourage my child to learn another language by attending a class he loves which is all about singing and playing games?

When we go abroad on holiday I am constantly amazed at how good our European neighbours are at speaking English and am actually embarrassed that as a country us Brits are generally so bad at giving another language a go and EXPECTING them to be able to speak English to us. So if I'm being "precious" by encouraging my child to have confidence to TRY to speak another language it just goes to show why so many of us are so crap at making the effort.

MrMan
Look, my DC are bilingual too. I am totally in favour of it. I speak English, my husband speaks French, we live in France. Win win for the kids.

But, i see a huge difference between taising bilibgual kids and the challenges therein versus a preschooler having foreign language lessons for an hour a week. As fun and play-based as these one hour lessons can be, it is nothing like raising a bilingual child.

So, back to OP. she is worried that her DC will get too far ahead of his peers and will be in some way disadvantaged by this early exposure to a foreign language.

My response is that one our a week is rather little to have any meaningful impact and that by the time the school is offering languages (probably NOT from a native speaker of that language), the DC will not really have any massive head start. Unlike a bilingual child who is, you know, bilingual.

All that being said, when my DC start English lessons at their primary in a few years, I won't be jumpinf up and down demanding special treatment, extension lessons or anything else. They will in all likelihood learn very little linguistically in English lessons designed for French children, as they have native speaker level English. But, so what? They'll have an hour a week where they can kick back and learn that something that comes very naturally to them has to be actively and in some cases laboriously learnt by their peers. A lesson in itself.

Well said GLL, let your boy enjoy his class and please do not worry about how it could affect him: He'll be just fine. Being at ease in other languages is a great gift. It broadens the mind...

what Greythorne said. Not being precious per se to encourage your Ds to try a new language, particularly if he enjoys his hour a week language class. Being precious to think he will be so far advanced of his peers that he will be bored - one hour a week does not a linguist make. He will cope in a baby language class with his less enlightened peers.

I'm not suggesting he'll be fluent! However I expect him to be ahead of them in this subject alone given he will have spent approx 200 hours at it before they even start.

best time to learn a new language is early as possible. I started French at 4 - basically had a dance teacher who was French so that was all she spoke to me. I found it easy to pick up at that age

Of course he will not be fluent through his play lessons but having attended them is great nonetheless. It is a great pity that learning languages (even through play) is perceived by some as being a pointless, pushy and pretentious activity.

My two have been doing French at nursery, similar to your DC since they turned 4. Apparently it's easier to learn the younger you are.

They also have French club at their primary school so they will carry on with the weekly lessons.

My feeling is they will benefit from starting early.

what you really mean, my kid is "brilliant" and far too advanced for the other toe rags in his class.

GLL
i have everynconfidence that my bilingual DC will be very, very, very far ahead of their classmates in English. They speak native level English!

I am not at all concerned that when they start English lessons in a few years, their great level of English will cause problems for them.

Maybe you need to examine your motivations for putting your son into LJR. Is it because he likes it / enjoys it / wants to be able to converse on holidays in France / have a penfriend? If so, all for the good.

If you want him to be streets ahead of his peers in French lessons, and want to be able to ask for special extension work for him, I woukd suggest this is a bit OTT and unnecessary. If he's better than his peers, great. Continuing with LJR sould ensure he continues to learn at his pace. Nevermind what's happening in school.

another point, when i go to france, their children actually sit at the meal table,they eat the same food as the adults and behave beautifully, you can tell the brits brats a mile off, screaming, demanding chips, wont try anything,no manners, runnign riot , annoying the hell out of all the other diners...

When they start Eglish lesson in school

Maybe he'll be "too advanced"

But maybe he'll struggle with something else. Maybe he won't be very good at maths for example. Best let him be ahead with something.

Yeah that's exactly what I'm saying Fallon, you've obviously paid a lot of attention to my posts to get that message so accurately.

I'm glad that the negatives are in the minority, after all I didn't ask for an opinion on whether I should be encouraging my child to learn a language, I asked for an opinion on how it will impact later on at school. Thank goodness so many people get that and have given sound advice rather than all the judgey, scathing attacks and name calling that mumsnet so often degrades itself to.

"another point, when i go to france, their children actually sit at the meal table,they eat the same food as the adults and behave beautifully, you can tell the brits brats a mile off, screaming, demanding chips, wont try anything,no manners, runnign riot , annoying the hell out of all the other diners..."

And your point is?

A1980 - you'll see further up, if you read all my posts, that I mention that maybe he could use this time from a French lesson to deal with a subject he may be struggling with but that I wasn't sure how practical that is.

I am unsure why all the negative comments seems to think I am suggesting I have a child genius on my hands? Would the same be said if he was having swimming lessons or tennis lessons?

I'm very sorry but I don't have time to read 5 pages of posts.

Whatever he learns now, he'll remember. Far better to learn languages earlier - childrens' brains are far more receptive. My (English) parents taught me basic Spanish when I was pre-school and I have remembered what I learnt then my whole life. I wish I'd had proper lessons then, when I had a brain that was capable of retaining information!!

If he's enjoying it, he's enjoying it. I loved speaking Spanish and I don't think it's showing off to want to speak another language. Ask anyone from any other country how many languages they speak...

Ok. GLL YABU. That's how it works here, you ask a question and you cannot then complain when people like Rhinestone tell you an answer that is the opposite of what you want to hear. if you don't like it, please don't post in AIBU.

Then. I have 3 DCs who have all done French from the age of 3 just like your DS, and in the early years with Jolie Ronde too, and are all quite bright and hard working and I can assure you that they basically learnt nothing much at all. As others have said, YABU to think your DS will be ahead, he just won't. I spent a fortune on those lessons because, like you, I think it's really important to speak multiple languages. But it won't really make a difference.

At all.

My DS does indeed have an A* at GSCE taken at 14 and it's not because of the lessons at the age of 3: it's because of secondary school French and because a French mate of mine sat down and chatted to him about football regularly for a term. He suddenly realised what language learning was all about.