French with Friends

We all know there are benefits of introducing your children to different languages at an early age. But isn’t that also just ONE MORE THING we are expected to provide as caregivers? Some days we are in survival mode and don’t have the time to count to 30 in Cantonese with our kids like we “should all be doing”. 

Unless you want to pay a fortune for a tutor who gives you conjugation tables and phrases like “The cat is under the table” (Eddie Izzard anyone?), learning and incorporating a foreign language into your day as parent is really difficult – but that’s where French with Friends comes in.

Hello, , Salut, Bonjour! My name is Michelle Millikin. In addition to working for the Milwaukee Olive You Nanny branch, I am the owner of French with Friends: a circle time style class where I teach exploratory French for toddlers and their caregivers at Little Sprouts Play Café in Shorewood, WI. We sing familiar and traditional nursery rhymes, play games, and explore the world around us – in French! It’s become such a fun budding community of moms, nannies, and kiddos all learning how to say things like “be gentle”, “clean up”, “night-night” among other useful everyday language you can incorporate into your life specifically as a caregiver.

Why this works:

·       Low pressure – no test scores here!

·       Discovery and exploration make for a more immersive experience resulting in effective language acquisition.

·       We have fun! – humans learn best when they are engaged and excited!

·       We are supportive – everyone is learning together.

·       Content is often repetitive – we sing the same songs every class, no flashcards for us!

The benefits of specifically starting at the Early Childhood level are vast!  Starting a new language at the early childhood stage fosters ongoing improvement in the following:

·       problem solving

·       critical thinking skills

·       concentration

·       ability to multitask

·       Academic achievement in reading writing and math (math is a language too!)

·       cultural sensitivity

·       empathy

·       tolerance

If you are interested in learning about even more benefits, I would recommend having a visit to www.actfl.org or www.leadwithlanguages.org .

Do my students leave my classroom with a proficiency in French philosophical table conversation and an acquired palate for bœuf bourguignon? Well no. But parents often tell me that they are repeating the words at home like rangeons (clean up), debout! (wake up!), and s’il vous plaît (please) in their daily routine. When your little one first says to you s’il vous plaît or je t’aime your heart will melt and your next holiday to France will automatically book itself! If I’ve not jogged your curiosity about teaching your little peanut another language, perhaps this video will overwhelm you with cuteness and soon you’ll be in a French with Friends class of your own!

Author: Michelle Millikin