Proud Mommy Moments

Written October 19th: At a birthday party today, my six-year-old daughter started teaching some French to one of the other kids there. One of the adults was asking her to share some of the French she knew and then she opted to begin teaching one of the children some simple phrases and vocabulary. I didn't witness this, but the adults came to tell me. In fact, the parent of the child being taught was the one who happily reported it.

November 6, 2013
Tonight during our bedtime ritual, there were two precious moments that I wish I could bottle up and relive down the road when the kids grow up. First, after my daughter read her English book from school, she asked if she could read one of the French books we had chosen. It was this adorable book called "Bonne nuit, je t'aime" by Caroline Church:

This is a very familiar book, however, it has several very difficult words. Nevertheless, she insisted she must read it, and with some help, she got through it! It definitely helped that we have read it dozens of times!

Secondly, tonight my 4-year-old son had a major break through. He joined me in singing this French lullaby that I've been singing to him for over half a year now. In this video, you will hear my daughter's voice, not my son's...perhaps he will let me record him singing with me sometime soon?!

This wouldn't really be a break through except that my son has gone through a lot in terms of his hearing and has even gone through phases where he didn't want lullabies. He was very sensitive to the sounds of singing. But lately he has been allowing me and requesting that I sing him lullabies. He hasn't ever really sung a lullaby with me before, so to hear him utter those words with me in song was incredibly touching. The fact that it was in the language he rarely produces was simply amazing.

It was a good night! 

Reading for Multiliteracy

Every other night, it's my turn to read to the children. My husband reads to them in English and on my nights, we have a large selection of books from Scholastic Canada that the kids choose from. They know that the top level of their bookshelves are en français and the lower level is in English.

Tonight, we chose an all-time favorite: "Max et les maximonstres"!!! (by Maurice Sendak)

The kids tend to be a little hesitant on French nights...they really prefer the comfort of English as they hear it from everyone else in their world...and even from me as it is the only language my husband understands and it is also my native language. When it's my turn to read, they often ask if I can read in English, but they know the answer will always be "non." Tonight my daughter said "I like it when mommy reads to us but I wish it were in English." I am on a mission to change this! So tonight, we chose a favorite and the kids were able to participate a little more than usual. I read the familiar phrases, leaving out a word or two on every page for them to fill in. Even little brother, who is speech-delayed, was able to be successful at this en français! Every month when I get the Scholastic Canada flyer, I want to buy more and more books, but I'm thinking I need to slow down a little, and allow the children the pleasant repetition of some favorites. Then they can start helping mommy read like tonight!

The second book we read tonight included a pleasant surprise. The children love playing with Mimi la souris, created by +nathalie bonneau and available on her website. Well, the second book had a character named "Mimi la souris" and they just got a hoot out of that. We had read this same book ("Le printemps de Martin lapin") several months ago, but had not read it since so this was like a new-found treasure.

Now I'm brainstorming more ideas of how to keep this momentum going...how to change my children's attitudes towards French story time and French in general. One thing I did this summer seemed to help. I hosted a French summer camp in our home. I hope to do more of that sort of thing soon in my community! The kids seemed to really enjoy being leaders and helping me teach other French.

I think it may be time to start using AIM Language Learning with my husband and kids together. I have a 50 hour unit of instruction, an AIM "kit," called "La poule Maboule" that is perfect for my children's ages. It's just finding the time while also trying to fully implement the revolutionary methodology which has thrown me a bit of a learning curve this year. I know that in time, it'l all come more naturally. I think that daddy will be more motivated closer to our big trip to France which is not for a few years. We will definitely need to teach "La poule Maboule" to him by then!

What else can I do?
I find this blog post to be very helpful...but what do you think? What are your ideas for raising children in more than one langauge?