Foreword from guide for teachers/parents

It was a lovely summers day in 1994 when I first met the children
of Little Acorns Nursery School in Edinburgh. I was nervous about meeting these toddlers who could barely express themselves in their mother tongue. The first five minutes were indeed terrifying when the response was a deathly silence as I was introducing myself (in French of course) and explaining to the children that we were going to sing, play and learn small poems together.

Then I began, using my thumb as the main character, to tell them a short story about an encounter with some friends (namely, my other fingers!). The magic started there and then. A few children responded by imitating me, trying to move their fingers the way I was moving mine, while others started to repeat with a perfect French accent some of the words from my story.

A whole new world opened up before me and I was soon to discover that I was standing in front of the ideal class, a class that any language teacher dreams of during his/her long career! On that day, these gifted and uninhibited pupils rewarded my courage with so much natural passion and enthusiasm that I will never forget them.

This experience inspired me and I decided to found a new company: Le Français en Ecosse. Along with my colleagues, who, like me, had been trained to teach French as a Foreign Language to teenagers and adults, we decided to go back to the university libraries we had left only a few years before, in order to find out what was available on the subject of teaching foreign languages to pre-school children.

Through hard work, both inside and outside the class, we have elaborated new teaching techniques which allow the children to develop their natural linguistic competence. The work has culminated this year with the creation of this teaching pack. The pack offers teaching resources which can be used directly with the children, at home or in a classroom environment. It enables the children to become familiar with the basic structures of the French language (vocabulary, syntax, grammar), and to develop their speaking and listening skills: even young children are capable of creating their own (basic) sentences.

Our syllabus has been created on the basis that children should not only be taught French, but more importantly taught IN French. The acquisition of the foreign language should follow the same pattern asthe acquisition of the mother tongue: it is through play and interaction with people and the outside world that children develop their language abilities, in an unconscious rather than conscious way. In other words, French becomes part of the children's general development.

Our teaching strategy is based on five main areas of experiencewhich are crucial in a child's development: sounds, rhythms, visuals, movements and associations. These are all combined here to create a unique learning experience. The activities offered to the children are varied and we have made sure to allow some space for repetition and consolidation of previously learnt structures to avoid a linear progression.

There is no doubt in our mind that the future of teaching foreign languages lies in nursery schools. We will therefore extend our research in this field -where teaching resources are scarce- and will produce for the next millennium a CD-ROM based on our original characters and songs.

I sincerely hope you have as much fun as we have, working and
playing with the children and that the experience and advicecontained in this pack will give you a structure around which to base stimulating classes for your children. Remember though, improvisation can often be a great source of inspiration…

Amitiés

Richard Tallaron