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La Jolie Ronde

7 replies

chocolatecrispies · 14/03/2012 15:14

We have just done a term in Spanish of this with ds who is 3.8 and who is a passive billingual in Spanish. I did it to see if it would encourage him to talk and also so he could see that Spanish is valued outside our home, and because there is nothing else available, obviously my preference would be for an immersion playgroup or Saturday school. I was surprised at how little Spanish there is - most of the class is in English with a few Spanish vocab introduced words which the children are encouraged to repeat one by one. They play songs in Spanish but they don't actually sing along.

Does anyone else have experience of these groups? Have I been unlucky with the teacher or is this how it is? I asked why she didn't talk more Spanish and her answer was 'so that the children understand', seems to me to be missing out on the best way to acquire a new language, not understanding and figuring it out!

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mopsyflopsy · 14/03/2012 15:48

The best setting for bilingual children is a (Spanish, German etc) Saturday School which only admits children where at least one parent speaks the minority language. My kids go to German Saturday School and they not only speak German but learn to read and write like natives.

I agree - language teaching in school (primary) and language clubs are not always very effective and the latter imo mainly about making money. Other than Saturday Schools, you're better off getting a satellite dish and viewing Spanish tv programms and spending time in Spain if you want your kids to improve their Spanish.

chocolatecrispies · 14/03/2012 17:53

I absolutely know this and we watch tv in spanish and are going to Spain in 5 weeks time,however there is no Saturday school nearby :(.

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chocolatecrispies · 14/03/2012 17:55

Also in fact we do not qualify as neither of his parents has native Spanish, he has a nanny who speaks to him exclusively in Spanish, so they wouldn't have us.

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mopsyflopsy · 14/03/2012 20:54

Sounds like you're doing a great job, exposing your ds to Spanish. Do you or dh speak to him in Spanish too?

chocolatecrispies · 15/03/2012 14:53

Only very basic but we read books to him in Spanish and obviously tell him a lot how great it is that he understands Spanish! I was surprises at la jolie ronde because we had previously been to baby language groups and there it really didn't matter if you were a native speaker or not as the group was entirely in the foreign language, with exposure being the name of the game. It seems that now they're 3 all the rules change and not for the better.

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daffodil01 · 20/03/2012 10:43

This is interesting as my sister in law send my niece to jolie ronde french and she really enjoys it, I get the impression its not for bi-linguals, if you want something more intense I'd keep up the good work in the home and perhaps go to a spanish playgroup or spanish mothers meeting, we have one in beds not sure where you are?

agreenmouse · 30/05/2012 13:07

why don't you try singing some Spanish songs from agreenmouse.com

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