Facial expression and body language for BSL It’s national Sign Language Week this week (March 2017). British Sign Language is used by the UK deaf community of around 151,000 people and hopefully this week will raise awareness of this officially recognized language which has not yet been given legal status by the government. Here’s the…
Kids
Get kids eating vegetables: fun, multilingual things to do
Do you struggle to get your kids eating vegetables? The answer might be to stop trying to persuade them, and have fun with the food instead! You could start by visiting a food market like this one we explored in France; it’s Les Halles indoor market, Pau. When you go to a market, can…
The Bilingual Child – a talk by specialist linguist Barbara Abdelah-Bauer
I’d heard of Barbara Abdelah-Bauer before – she’s a psycho-sociologist specializing in bilingualism, and she’s brought up her own children to be multilingual. Last month I went along to an interesting talk which she gave in French at the Institut Francais London. She was talking about the conclusions which have been drawn from the latest…
Exciting German TV series for kids: die Pfefferkoerner
This is a guest post written by my 12 year-old daughter, who has chosen an assumed name. Hi, I’m Charlotte and I’m Jane’s daughter. I wanted to tell you about my favourite TV series ever: ‘Die Pfefferkoerner’ (The translation is ‘the peppercorns’!). It’s a German kids’ and teens’ series that has been going since…
For pre-schoolers with more than one language: fun videos about friendship
Toddlers and pre-schoolers love to watch the same videos and have the same stories read to them again and again, and they pick up lots of language this way. Children growing up with more than one language benefit even more. Simple short videos of 5 or 10 minutes are best. After we’d finished watching the…
Asterix: Mansions of the Gods (Le Domaine des Dieux)
This was the scene last Sunday morning at our house: the weather didn’t look promising, and my husband had just dragged his cases out of the front door on his way to a business trip. Something fun was needed, and a new Astérix film was showing at our local cinema. It was “Kids’ Club” so that…
Funny books in French or German: Tom Gates, by Liz Pichon
My daughter giggled her way through these books, and she read each one several times over. As soon as I tried the books myself I understood why. Although they’re thought to be aimed at boys aged around 10, I think they would go down well with anyone who likes a fun read. The stories are…
What to watch in French: vintage TV series for kids (and adults wanting to chill out)
My daughter and I were looking through her old DVDs the other day and reminiscing. I couldn’t bring myself to give any of them away, which is probably why our house is so full. This is one of our favourites. “La maison de Toutou” (literally, “Doggie’s House”) tells the adventures of an affable but pompous…
What to watch on kids’ TV: German and French
We first discovered the value of kids’ TV in German when we were on holiday in Berlin. We’d be getting ready to go out in the morning and the TV would keep our daughter occupied at the same time as teach her some more German. Back home in the UK we found some of the…
New French children’s library in South Kensington
My daughter is growing up with French and German, and we started with songs and rhymes when she was 10 months old. When she was a toddler we joined the Institut Français Children’s Library in South Kensington, not far from the tube station. There were several boxes of French picture books to browse and we…
