Operation "Joyful French in the USA with soon to be 3 kids"

Tomorrow, mini E will celebrate his first month amongst us! So I am reflecting on this past month and I am not proud of myself.

I have let the ML invade our home. C2 is barely saying anything in ml anymore and C1 needs a constant reminder to switch to ml. I am at least happy that she switches easily and now does not seem to bother doing so (a year ago, I would have got a lot of eye rolling when I was asking her to speak ml).

For some reason, I was imagining myself talking a lot in ml with E but I must have forgotten how much a baby sleeps at the beginning (I am not complaining that my baby sleeps, though!!!). I don't speak much all day long since I just stay home. When my husband finally gets home, I am eager to talk but I do so in ML!!!! ARGH!!!!!  I'm so frustrated with myself!

I even fell into a pit of darkness (metaphorically) where I considered abandoning the whole bilingualism goal. I think it was due to lack of sleep and hormonal shift so I climbed out of it but I am struggling.

Regarding the homework routine: things are going well with C2 who loves her workbook and actually asks to use it. She is very motivated by the reward system so that's a win!

It's not working as well with C1. I'm not happy with the workbook I got her. It's probably very good as an additional learning source for a child who goes to school in ml , but not for her situation. It covers things too fast. For example, the second lesson was about the sound "o", which in ml can be spelled "o", "au" and "eau". Only two pages cover it and then the workbook moves on to the next thing. That's way too fast for her. So I'll have to rethink her homework routine. She is starting her Saturday ml classes this week. I expect her to have homework so I may use that for now and finish her workbook from last year instead of the new one. It's a learning process for me too!

Some good news: my sister is arriving today and will stay 2.5 weeks with us. That should be the boost I need to speak ml with my husband.

Elise big hug from Germany! Don't be too hard on yourself, you have a tiny little baby and things will get easier when he grows up a little. Remember this is a marathon not a sprint, do as much as you can depending on the season you are in.

Hello everybody!
It has been a long time... So let's try to summarize the past months:

I'll start with mini E: The biggest success lately is that C1 is now actively speaking ml with her baby brother. It took some convincing. Somehow, what worked was to explain to her how a baby acquires language, and how crucial it was for him to hear all the sounds in both ML and ml to be able to replicate them later. Now that he has started cooing and making all those sweet baby noises, she spends a good amount of time deciphering what he is "saying". She claimed he tried to say "maman" and a lot of other things. It's very cute to see her pay that much attention to her brother's language development. Her ml use with him is not always consistent, but if I just remind her, she'll switch from ML to ml.

That leads me to C1: I have some great news. She has started her second year of Saturday French classes (3 hrs each) and it is a hit! The class is geared towards kids of at least one French parent, and the kids are therefore considered native speakers. Last year did not go very well, she would cry before going, or at least she would fight it. Not every weekend, but I never knew, waking up on Saturday morning, if it would be a bad day or not. This year, everything is different. She made friends (a key aspect for my little socialite). I think the class is also more challenging: last year she kept telling me that everything was too easy. I am really pleased with the quality of the class. They are teaching the kids to read and write, using a method specifically developed for kids who learned to read and write in English first. I sent some of the materials to my mom (a former elementary school teacher with a passion for teaching how to read). She was also very impressed by the quality of the method. Best of all, it solved my ml workbook problem: she has homework! She needs to read a few sentences, has a workbook of short exercises that goes with the reading book they use in class, and even has to learn by heart several words a week and has a spelling test on the next Saturday. Since she also has a lot of homework to do for her ML school, I gave up on the ml workbook I bought this summer and just ask her to do her French class homework (which is significant for a first grader).

Update on C2: Things are not going so well there. Although she absolutely loves working on her ml workbook, her use of ml has decreased drastically a few weeks after starting school in ML. The benefits of the summer in France seem to be long gone!! I am not giving up but I also had to do some damage control after the birth of mini E. I realized that C1 (not consciously) is not leaving her any space to be a big sister. It's going to take some time for C2 to find her place. She was sick yesterday so I kept her home. For the first time, she actually spent some time playing with mini E. When E kept smiling at her, she was beaming. I finally realized that C1 is so much after mini E that C2 does not get a chance to approach him. Bottom line is I am spending a good chunk of mental energy on this, and there is less available for our bilingual journey.
Things that she does in ml:
- Short sentences like "what is it?" "where is..."
- Say a good amount of ml words in ML sentences (a single ml word in the middle of the ML sentence at a time)
- Understands ml
- Enjoys TV in ml (I suspect she has understood that mommy was more prone to say yes to screen time if screen time is in ml )
Things I plan on working on:
- She is reacting well to French books called "stories with two voices" (poor translation, sorry). It's a text with some drawings incorporated in the lines so that the parent reads the text and the child say the word corresponding to the drawing. I think this is perfect for her because she can say one word at a time and it is not a daunting task for her. I'm going to get more of those.
- In her Pomme d'Api (ml magazine we subscribe to), there is always a tongue twister. That's a fun way for her to repeat a full sentence and helps her enunciation. I think she feels a little self conscious of the way she pronounces ml words.
- Continue with her workbook.

Reward system: Total success! We just finished a Famous Five book they got at the end of September. End of October, they got a game that they can both play. They play it in ml (unfortunately, C1 does most of the talking). It's always a fun time when they get to pick a wrapped gift at the end of the month. I think I enjoy it just as much as them, if not more!

Finally, I am bringing mini E to France to meet my family. I will be traveling alone with him (wish me luck) but I am super excited to go back home, since I missed our summer trip. My parents are ecstatic to see the baby. My sister and nephews will fly from Paris to see him for just a very short weekend. It's going to be fantastic! I'll be able to get some more ml resources. The only downside is that I am going back to work two days after I come back to the US...but I will be working part-time (80%) for the next 6 months, and thus will have all my Fridays off. More to come about how I plan on using that time for our bilingual journey.

mmm... it appears the pics are upside down... I cannot fix this but you should get the point! If you click on them, they will appear correctly.

Hi Elise!

This is such a beautiful anecdote! Your explanations seem to have gone in pretty well! Looks like you have a duo to help you will creating more ml exposure at home, so do make the most of it and chatter away together!

Belated congratulations on your baby's arrival, Elise!

That's a beautiful story and chart. I got all teary-eyed reading about it. There's nothing better than getting your kids on board. It'll make her feel good to be helping mommy, while she's also helping your aim and her siblings' bilingualism.

Reading your last posts, after your little son was born, I kept thinking you need to give yourself a bit of a break during these first months. Having a baby is hard work. When things settle down a bit and you're able to get some sleep, then you can be a bit tougher on yourself and try to get to where you want to be.

I'm glad things are going well with C1, and I hope C2 can find her new place, now that she's no longer the little one.