Doesn’t John speak French?
September 23rd, 2007 | 
Author: That’s a common question from our guests lately.
Why would be speak French though? He’s only three so he doesn’t go to school yet and therefore doesn’t hear much French. Yes, he was born in France and so he is Frecnh but that doesn’t mean that he popped out speaking French. That’s something that needs to be learnt.
In fact, even James who does go to school doesn’t speak French. How come? Everyone picks it up after a few months in those moving to France TV programmes. Well, we’re in an area where there are very few resident foreigners so the schools don’t have the experience of dealing with them. What they did was to put him in a small class (four other kids) with a teacher who spoke a little English. After about three months, the children started speaking English learnt from him (not a development that went down well with the other parents) and even now a year later he just speaks isolated words like for the numbers or colours and doesn’t form French sentences.
Will he speak it by the time he goes to primary school? Somehow I doubt it but we’ll see.
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Posted in Commentary
Why isn’t John going to school yet? Nursery school starts at 3 at the latest and often before.
You could ask for him to attend ordinary class like the others, without intermediary: without 3 months, his French will have increased enormously.
He’s at the best age to learn it perfectly, without foreign accent.
Good luck
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We want to get John’s English firmed up first so are aiming for him starting school this September.
However, James has been at the maternelle since September 2006 and still doesn’t speak French. He speaks individual words (numbers, colours, etc.) with, of course, a perfect accent but, so far, no real phrases. What’s happened is that the kids at the school have began to speak English (with his accent).