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?

Apart from saying it loudly I am not sure what is wrong with that. Seems better to me than smacking them up and down the aisle, swearing and stuffing the trolley full of turkey dinosaurs

I am a French teacher and I can tell you that your careful preparation will make not the blindest bit of difference when he comes to take his GCSE! Let him enjoy his club and school will take care of itself. Your 'jolie ronde' is not going to make him a fluent french speaker, neither will it ensure that he is 'top of the class' in Year 3. I have boys who come to me in Year 7 after 5 years of Formal French at Prep school and others who have done next to nothing; it is not necessarily those who have done the most French who will be the best linguists, it is those who have a gift for languages and/or who work hard to learn the detail.

You sound very pushy tbh

actually, I'm sitting here thinking 'why TF is this in AIBU?'

Isn't it a chat topic?

is THIS why my AIBU thread linky thingie 'a disparu' from my web page. (did you see what I did there??)

Janajos - where exactly in my OP does it suggest I am "carefully preparing" him for the future?

"Pushy"? Yes I encourage my little boy to have fun doing something he loves, if that's pushy then that's me!

what a terrible dilemma for you, you must be devastated

Nesbo - It's madness isn't it! A site that's meant to be supportive to other parents and rather than be constructive even if you disagree you get sarcastic comments, insults and told your son will hate you!

There are some truly lovely people on here

ooh passive aggressive, lovely too

Look, I wasn't suggesting that there was anything wrong with taking him to the club. My husband is French and we speak a mixture at home and my sons do go to a club for French speakers on a Saturday. Let me tell you that I will not be removing them from French lessons at school, neither will I be demanding differentiated work - my assumption will be that they will enjoy their lessons (unless and until I hear otherwise) and, knowing the system as I do, and managing a department where in French we achieve 80%+ A-A* at GCSE, I will be happy that whatever they do at primary, we will have to re-do at KS3 and then again (adding complexity) at KS4 and so on, until they get it! Language learning/teaching is about creating lots of layers, one on top of the other until what is underneath is really secure.

You sound pushy because you seem to think that your son will be the only one in this situation and that teachers have not come across it before - you would be very surprised perhaps to learn that he is not unique in this and that many children are exposed to French/another language outside the classroom; the teacher will cope!

I haven't read the thread but just wanted to give OP my experience of learning English as a foreign language before I was due to start formal education in it:

What will probably happen is that your DS will be supremely confident in those French lessons because he knows those initial subjects so well. He will be the best pupil in his class in French, everyone will know this and treat him as such, and this will perpetuate his confidence. As a result, he will continue to be very good at French lessons even at further levels.

In short, I see his pre-school education in French as a good thing.

This is AIBU, surely we can be absolutely honest in our assessment of a situation without being accused of sarcasm (there is none in my post), insults (none of those either) and I barely mentioned your son - this seems to be about you tbh!

Going Loopy - to be constructive... you may not like Janajo's essential thrust of argument, but as an experienced subject leader of MFL and assistant headteacher with responsibility for teaching and learning in my school... I couldn't agree more re. the MFL 'flair' point. Kids either have it or not.

that doesn't mean that you shouldn't foster a child's enjoyment of MFL - that's not up for discussion. But Year 7 French, if taught properly, will not at all be looking at groups of vocabulary that a child has learnt, it will be focusing on general skills acquired - such as listening and identifying key words in statements or questions, and being able to respond appropriately. Maybe giving opinions, and extending with car/parce que... the ability to build in 'ne ... pas' statements and maintain grammatical accuracy at the same time.

Unless your course - or ANY that is followed by a KS2 child - is fostering such language skill acquisition, I question its pedagogical validity. It may engender fun and love of French - brilliant, bring it on. Otherwise - get them to watch French cartoons, learn some simple phrases, chansons and build it into day to day family life. Probably more useful and immediately relevant?

HTH

Actually, sorry! I hadn't read all the posts and had assumed that your comments were directed at me. I agree, some of these have been downright nasty (whereas mine were clearly just constructive!.

Janajos - yours was exactly the kind of response I was expecting (without the sarcasm and insult) and what I was asking. If you re read my OP it does say "has anyone else encountered this and what did you do?"

The response you have given would have reassured me and made me think that I was probably over working it etc. Instead you had to be sarcastic, label me pushy etc.

It's not just you, it's just post like yours that make me think it's such a shame that rather than disagree or give constructive criticism people resort to arsey messages and pulling their judgey pants up.

LostMyIdentity is right, you would be far better building in the kind of language she suggests at home, than paying good money for the sort of 'familiarisation' course that comprises LJR. It sounds as if you have the subject knowledge between you to do that - this would make a difference to your DS's learning and progress, LJR will probably not.

Sorry Janajos - crossed posted.

No, I was not being sarcastic when I suggested that you were pushy. You would be amazed at the numbers of pushy parents we teachers encounter
'my son has done 4 years of formal French, will you set them in Year 7?' No, no and no again because this would be setting on prior knowledge, not on linguistic ability. We will set at my admittedly grammar school, in French over my dead body frankly.

I think you need to slow down and calm down a bit . To be honest you do sound as though you may end up being a pushy parent.

Please do take my last post at face value though. I am not being nasty, merely describing a situation I have encountered on numerous occasions. It does the children no good.

Thanks Janajos. I will genuinely bear that in mind. I wouldn't want him to be segregated from the rest of his class and can see now that this is highly unlikely.

I posted a genuine question and the last thing I was expecting was to get slated for encouraging my son to learn another language! (Not by you by the way, generally).

You will need to re think how you see this situation -when your son starts school ime if you go with this approach you will get very quickly get labelled ' as one of those parents ' and teachers will avoid you at pick up and drop off times. It won't be a good thing for your child. We all the want the best for our children , but seriously formal education does not and should not become an issue until kids are about 7. To be honest by the time your DS starts school you will have other things to worry about - like your child being stressed out by govt imposed tests. Most of the parents I know at primary are more concerned with de- stressing their kids as they are doing too much...

Hebrewlass - I think the fact he spends an hour with friends singing songs and playing games and having lots of fun at a place he wants to go wont be too testing! If he doesn't want to go then he doesn't go, simple! As I said in earlier posts he has done classes before such as dance and music and we stopped them when he got bored.

I am really not sure why the OP is being seen as "pushy". There is a club in her village for pre-school children to learn some French, the OP takes he child along thinking it will be fun for him and ....er the problem is?

If it's the OP's first child and she has no experience of the school system wouldn't it be natural to ask this question? Or am I being silly?

In my village when DS was pre- school they had a music club, I took him and he loved it. If it had been French club I would have taken him there too. End of the day it's about fun, socialising with other littlies and perhaps picking up the basics of a new skill. Not pushy at all.

Thanks pretentious. Exactly my thinking.

Oh come ON.

You can't post "Will my child be TOO ADVANCED?" in AIBU and not expect a pasting gentle ribbing. It sounds like a windup for heaven's sake! Have a sense of humour.

Pretentious
Quite

But the OP stated that she was concerned her son woukd be significantly ahead after 200 hours of French. That's not the same as a oarent being happy that their child is having a jolly time at a club.