Bilingual nanny - helping my children learn another language - how?

[fizzly]

Hi there. We have just hired a wonderful nanny whose first language is French. My children are under 4 and I would love for the nanny to do a little french with them - nothing 'serious' in terms of lessons or anything, but perhaps a bit of conversation as I know that language learning is so much easier at this age than later. My husband and I are both English and speak small amounts of French and we holiday in France most years. The nanny is happy to give this is a go but is not sure of the best approach to do this. She is thinking of teaching the children some French songs and perhaps getting some books for the library.

Does anyone have any good ideas of how to introduce a new language to young children in this way? Has anyone done it or have any tips? Thanks!

My previous charge had a Spanish teacher for 3 hours a week at a year old, the teacher just played with her and spoke to her in Spanish.

She's now 2.5 and can understand full sentences in Spanish and replies in a mixture of Spanish and English.

Children are sponges, the best time for them to learn is when they are young. I would just get her to speak solely French to them, maybe the older child/ren will need some translation from her but she could just say the whole sentence in both languages.

If you google "French for young learners" or "French for children" you will find loads of sites with free downloadable resources.

Songs are all well and good, and have their place in language learning, but the trouble is, almost all foreign language songs have language content that is far too complex for 4 yr olds (and upwards) to properly get anything out of. Of course it's nice to learn a song in furrin but don't expect them to actually understand or improve their language skills in any way just because they can sing Frere Jacques.

I am currently teaching dd and her friend Spanish with the same sort of materials I use for the Italian kids I teach English to. Worksheets, easy course book stuff etc. A structured but gradual way of doing it is best. You'll find French for young learners books on Amazon as well.

There's a "language and bilingualism" board on here where you will get great advice. Most people seem to do OPOL (one parent one language) to make it work, casual songs etc won't make them fluent.

Dh and are only fluent in English (though my Spanish is pretty good) but our 3 dc (9,11,13) are all bilingual in English/Scottish Gaelic - we lived in a majority Gaelic speaking area when they were little, from age 2-3 they went to a Gaelic play group, then 3-4/5 to Gaelic nursery and are now at Gaelic school - my dd1 in the only Gaelic high school there is. It was total immersion - everything was/is in Gaelic. They didn't start to learn to read and write English till primary 3 after Christmas, but by primary 7 both ds and dd1 are as competent at English as their monolingual peers.

If you want bilingualism, it will have to be a very determined effort from you all. But learning some French for fun would be good - when I was 6 I could sing "Sur le pont d'Avingnon and loved that!

Good luck.

Or yes, as Callaird says, just have her speak to them only in French. There will be a lot of gestures and screaming but they'll certainly learn it!

Just get her to speak French. At first she might need to say things in French and then English but eventually it'll become 100% French without them realising.

I've done this as a nanny and while it's hard at first because the children are adapting a new caregiver and a new language they soon don't notice that she's dropped 'we're going to go to the park' and will just understand 'on va aller au parc'. It will take a little longer for them to be able to respond but again it's a case of her modelling the correct responses when they reply in English and praising their efforts just as you probably did when they started to talk English.

If you just want them to know some colours and songs than she can drop incidental phrases as they're playing 'can you pass me the green car, la voiture verte?' and ding some songs but you really could achieve quite a significant level of fluency with her speaking to them 100% of the time in French.

Thanks this is really helpful. Do you think we should try the bilingual route then? I was really just thinking of her doing some french some of the time, but maybe we should be more ambitious? Gosh.

True about the songs of course. I can sing Frere Jacques pretty well and now I think about it I'm not sure I know what it all means!!

I have had 2 French au pairs who sang French songs, played French games, watch French children's TV on the laptop and read French books (victor and the sorcerer is a big favourite). All of this was between 4.5 and 6.5 years of age, DD is now 9.5 years she understands everything that is said to her in French and when she uses her language her accent is excellent. This year is French year at school and she is already wowing the teacher. It was all very gentle they spoke English most of the time and I would say around 10% was French.
She did totally surprise me not that long ago having a full blown conversation in French with a member of staff in the Eurostar terminal in Gare du Nord.

I have a french nanny who we have had since dd was 8 months (now 2) she just talks to her in a mixture of french and english.
she knows some colours in both languages and can count to 10 in both too, well she misses out 6 but who's checking!
To be honest I think my dd thinks the nanny speaks to her in her own way and everyone else another.
She looks at us funny when we try french as if to say 'good try mummy'
they are sponges at this age!