As a four-year old, I remember my mom bundling my sister and me into our hand-me-down snowsuits and trudging over to our local library for a weekly French class for preschoolers. Once snowsuits were removed, we sat in a circle and played a “broken telephone” game, passing phrases around a circle to see if they could survive, ungarbled. We sang some French songs, including “Sur le Pont d’Avignon” and “Aloutte.” And when we learned colors, I remember being astounded when the teacher demonstrated that you could mix red and white paint to make pink – “rose”. How come we didn’t know about this in English? Such was my introduction to French, and I was hooked.
Fast forward to when French classes started in school in grade 4. I remember in one class learning the meaning of the word “pont” – – bridge – – and having a flashback to those classes in the library, with a newfound understanding of the song On the Bridge in Avignon/Sur le Pont d’Avingon. Had my early exposure to French helped? Absolutely. And I can still sing those songs, word-for-word, today!
Continue reading “Why Your Preschooler is a Foreign Language Learning Genius”
