Roger had his first French lesson with Marielle on Monday. Marielle is a friend of the Marcouxs who is a French teacher, and she has agreed to give us private lessons - 2hrs per week for Roger and 1hr per week for the girls.
He had already mastered a few French words like "bonjour", "merci", "s'il vous plaît", "oui" and "non". The girls would tease him by asking him "Où habites-tu?" (where do you live?) and he would answer "oui". Then they would crack up laughing and say "Daddy lives in wee!!"
After his first lesson he came away with several sentences to practise. Like "Hello my name is Roger" and "I am Australian". The pronunciation is much more difficult for him than it is for the children. They laugh a lot when he tries to say something in French and it doesn't come out quite right. He is learning to count up to twenty (!) and he seems to have a memory like a sieve. His brain is not tuned in to language development at his age. So if anyone has a young child who has the opportunity to learn a new language, please make the most of it. Because in 40 years time it will be ten times as hard for them to learn a new language.
Thursday 1 May 2008
French Lessons
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1 comment:
Ah Rog!! It must be very frustrating to be living surrounded by a new language and finding it slow work taking it all in. Understanding the accent & pronunciation seems to be the first step, after that it gets easier.
I'm finding it hard to learn new stuff at present too. Prevaricating as usual, sees me reading your blog as its a great deal more fun than trying to remember all the muscles in the body!
The season is progressing well over here with everybody's spirits lifting - promise of a good season and good prices. Shame that the cost of fuel and fertiliser is skyrocketing.
take care,
Michelle
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