Teaching DS French

[tootiredtothinkofanickname]

English is not my first language, so DS (16 months) will be bilingual. In addition to English, however, I have a degree in French, so I'd love to teach DS French too. How should I go about it? Are there any useful books I could use? And when would the best time be? I don't want to put pressure on him with this but while I am quite relaxed as a parent, I think it would be a shame not to teach him a bit of French since I am a fluent speaker. Any toughts? TIA

What language do you speak to your son in already? Do you ever speak French to anyone else? It's best to immerse at the age of 16 months, how about a different environment or different person speaking only French.

Or else, if you don't want to immerse, you can wait until he is a little bit older and simply teach it as a foreign language. That way he will not become trilingual from the start, but it is still possible to give him a good foundation in French which will enable him to become fluent when he is older.

If you are aiming at teaching rather than immersing, it is probably as well to wait until he is a little bit older and wants to do it. I was taught English and German from age 6 and that worked well for me. But you can always introduce a few things like nyrsery rhymes so he gets used to hearing the sounds.

Thanks both. I cannot immerse as I don't speak French at home and he is not exposed to it. I think I will wait then, I hope I will remember my French by the time he is older! If anyone can recommend a few books I could use to get inspiration for making it fun that would be helpful. Not using it much and it's becoming a bit rusty...The nursery rhymes idea is a good one, I will try that.

B Small books?
www.bsmall.co.uk/index.php?dest=2&template=category&cat=2

Check on amazon.fr that they deliver to the UK perhaps for free with a big enough purchase? You can order plenty of books of comptines with CDs on there.

Wish I could remember the software used at a bilingual school I know.

Loads of French nursery rhymes on Amazon, comptines a chanter are a good series. You could also order a French magazine like Popi to read together - they are much better than English magazines so worth it anyway!