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?

You will learn once your DS starts school. I think you will have some adjusting to do.

OP, i have to agree, and I don't mean this in a sneering sense. You will need to perhaps rethink your expectations a little. It's lovely that he enjoys the little club, and can mimic the songs etc but you are already assuming he'll be advanced. On what basis, exactly?

I'm sure the teacher in the club says he's a bright shining star, but I would expect them to give positive feedback, to keep him returning to the class and not to remain positive about picking up a language....of course he's special and brilliant, he's your ds.

However, he might start french, or any other subject and be quite, well, ordinary. There may be kids there with FSL who will outshine him. They may be gifted language kids there that just surpass everyone's expectations. My ds's best friend is 7 and tri- lingual but his parents aren't putting any pressure on the school re the quality and level of French. My ds at 6 has the reading age of a 9 yr old but we don't ask for any special dispensation in English class, he just zooms through the books a bit quicker, but he'd still rather be out playing dinosaurs. (incidentally we didn't teach him to read at home, as advised by our mate - a primary head - who said teachers spend a lot of time reteaching the phonics method to kids that learnt reading by repetitive recognisation of words and letters)

I would just see things as they come and try not to worry about putting pressure on a future that hasn't really begun yet. Relax, enjoy the fun of the language club and climb that mountain when you get to it, if you actually need to.

Ha ha just made a word up the sorry, not recognisation, I meant Recognition.

English not being my first language!

If he is just having fun, that is fine. Nowt wrong with it at all. Don't be expecing fluency or anything. You need immersion for that, I paid fortunes for my dd to do Little Gym for 2 years. At school this year she got 96% for French and maths but a (very) much lower score for gymnastique.

I'm always slightly bemused when parents are keen for little ones to learn a language that is not already part of their normal everyday conversation - I mean in the sense that I am Greek and speak it fluently so converse with my children in both languages but would not, at a young age like that - get them lessons as it is more like learning it parrot fashion. A young toddler will learn a language properly through conversing with people surely? It is different as you get older.

It all sounds very precious to me if it is not a language you use in your day to day lives. Any toddler can learn to parrot phrases in different languages, it is not the same as really learning it at that age!

And say it for what it is, it is not learning French, it is learning to say a few phrases parrot fashion?! At that age, the only way to learn a language is to use it in everyday life and converse etc.

Ds has started french lessons in reception so your DS wouldn't be particularly far ahead if he's joins our school (no idea about the quality of the teaching). Its a normal state primary.

I know two children who started french at preschool age and continued it right up to 14 when they both opted not to do GCSE as they were simply fed up with it. (Different schools/areas, one private with lessons all in school, the other state with lessons as after school activity). All through junior school they'd repeatedly learned the simple stuff as new children joined and they went back to basics each time, then again at secondary school everyone started from scratch, so for all those years of learning they never got past the basics (though they both had lovely accents and were good at the subject when compared to their peers). So I think the OP may have a point, though it did come over a bit pfb. mfl education in this country is a bit of a shambles.

hairfullofsnakes - your post comes over as incredibly sneery!

I don't think the OP is expecting her DS to be fluent enough to walk into a diplomatic job just yet, or critique a Franciose Sagan novel....

She just wants him to have exposure to a language other than his mother tongue. No expectations on him being fluent in it - just picking up a little bit and having fun in the process. Honestly - what's so terrible about that?

English speakers get so much flack for only speaking English, and yet when someone tries to help their DC get ahead on that front they get shot down in flames.

I'm not going to lie - I did a minute eye-roll when I read the thread title but all this, 'well I'm fluent so of course it's going to help my DC, but I don't know why you're bothering' [snoot emoticon] is really off-putting.

It is not, why are you bothering, it is 'be realistic about what it is going to achieve!' Too early to post more.

I think that it is fine to have language lessons early, but the type he is having are not going to make him bored in class! There may be DCs in the class with a French parent who are bilingual, or at least other DCs with equal or more advanced French than her DS.
I can't see any point in worrying about it before he even starts. My local school does Spanish anyway. Does OP know they do French or is she assuming? They may change anyway in 3 yrs time. Schools only have to teach a foreign language-they don't have to make it French.

Well by your argument hairfullofsnakes we might as well not bother teaching our kids a language then. And then you would probably be the first in line castigating Brits for being lazy! [hmm

DD went to a similar class when she was 5. For the record I'm the most unpushy parent ever. DD does no other classes, out of school activities, etc as she'd rather watch TV after school and that's fine. She doesn't do music, ballet, brownies, horse riding, nothing like that.

But this club started up in the village and she asked to go and really liked it. Unfortunately it stopped after about 18months.

She probably was a bit ahead of the rest of her class when they started French in Yr 3 but its never been an issue.

I dont think tje OP should spent time actually worrying. I did find it an odd thing to fret about myself. He wont be fluent, that takes immersion. And even if he was, so what? School is about more things than rote learning. Getting along even if you are a bit ahead is a good lesson too.

Personally im not bothering with any languages. Dd uses a talking machine and within a few years it will translate what she says automatically. Easy peasy

Riveinside I completely agree.

Think you've had some really unfair responses on here OP. Languages are different to other skills and subjects because to be good at languages you really do need to start very early. Something to do with brain development but basically if your brain is used to thinking bilingually from a young age, you'll pick up other languages far more easily in the future.

And god knows if the english speaking world is to have any chance in the future, we need to be good at languages. So IMO promoting language learning is a good thing, and hardly makes the OP a tiger mommy. I think it's very sad that there are so many here that sneer, yet are actually limiting their children's ability to learn new languages by not exposing them early in life. It just seems wrong not to do so, if you have the chance (appreciate not everyone will).

Having said that I agree that really you need to do more than a half hour lesson. If your DH is fluent. why not make home bilingual?

And clearly, as I think you've accepted, it's unlikely to be a problem at school - at best, it will give him confidence to do well at french lessons, which often tends to be self-reinforcing.

Sorry I'm late but this "surely the desire to read comes from being read to?" made me laugh (not in a mean way btw :) ) as I quite clearly remember the first time my reception teacher started to teach the class to read. She took one boy away to choose a book and sat down with him and then expected him to repeat what she was reading.

My 4 year old brain thought "I don't ever want to do that! What's the fun in doing it myself?" You see I was constantly read to by my nan and she did all the voices and it was brilliant. I never thought it could be half as much fun if I did it all myself...

...oddly though within a couple of weeks I was loving it and reading has been a passion of mine ever since.

For me the desire to read came from actually learning to, rather than just knowing books can be read (if that makes any sense at all??!)

"As a non-parent (at the moment) it is really weird to see the underlying pissyness in some of the replies the OP has had. Why would this antagonise anyone? Is this what I have to look forward to as a parent, constant simmering rivalry and put-downs from strangers? "

Got to say this thread is a good primer for the kind of stealth boasting you'll encounter in future

"What shall I do? Hugo and DH spent the summer holidays memorising and translating the entire works of Shakespeare into ancient Greek , I'm now concerned he'll find English classes this term a little unchallenging."

(no offence to the OP, just kidding(ish), but not sure this was the best section of the forum to post this in.

I've got a bet each way on that IDrink.

My DS is only 2.5yo but with a bookworm for a mum he loves copying me, by taking grown up books from the shelves and sitting on his little stool 'reading'. He can't read properly of course but knows which way round to hold and read a book and can 'spot' most letters and numbers. I suspect he'll need some formal tuition when he's a bit older to figure out whole words, like you say, but there's a lot he's picking up just by copying and having fun.

Having said that, I'm not in a rush to pick up the formal side of things. On current plans he'll go to pre-school from 3-6, then into mainstream school from there.

Chen

I think it is too early to worry about this. I did A level German with a boy who had a German mother and had lived in Dortmund to the age of 14. Through an impressive combination of fecklessness and sheer bloody-minded perversity he still managed to get an F overall. From which I deduce that there is more to this languages lark than just fluency!

at veronica!

Havent read whole thread just last 2 pages and am feeling sorry for op! thinnk there's nothing whatsoever wrong with ur son doing french camp, once he enjoys it - whether or nto he learns stuff that he'll recall in few years who knows - possibly he'll remember enough that when he starts french in school he'll feel he's very good at it already and therefore enjoy it. In any case doing something now that he likes and enjoys is what its all about ,,,,

To answer ur query no I dont' think theres any danger of him being too far ahead when class starts french - and even if he is far ahead of his class then once teacher is anyway reasonable there should be no problem - in other words don't worry.

I dont get the slightly nasty tone to this thread to be honest - tho maybe it should have been posted in education

Ooh hairfullofsnakes, something we disagree on! :) Surely children learn how to talk in the first place from parotting? They have to start somewhere!