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How to help your fidget at home

  • "When you're out and about you could try counting things like stairs, buses or dogs in French or Spanish.
  • Simple French or Spanish children's books can help show children the first steps in deciphering foreign words. 'Lucie Chat' books (b small publishing) have a useful pronunciation guide at the back for French or the 'I can read Spanish' books are great fun too.
  • 'French on Fridays' or 'Spanish on Saturdays'. Choose one day of the week to be your language day and make your learning part of your weekly routine.
  • Taking a trip to France or Spain? Bon voyage! Your fidget will be able to use the phrases they've learnt in class to order their own 'croque monsieur' or 'patats bravas' in the local cafés! Small, out of the way places are less likely to have English-speakers so your child will have more chance to try out what they've learnt. If you go self-catering you'll be able to do all your food shopping in the local markets or small shops where you can interact with local people and perhaps even pick up a few new phrases.
  • .... And while you're there, try and pick up a CD of nursery rhymes such as the lovely songs by Henri Dès
  • Have a look on You Tube for some great children's TV clips and programmes. For French there's 'Tchoupi' or 'Oui Oui' (Noddy) and for Spanish there's 'Bob el constructor'. You can also visit our very own Little Fidgets Youtube channel with demos of some of our popular action songs.
  • It's easy to change the language option on your child's favourite DVD to French or Spanish. Perhaps you could try this on your weekly language day (see above)
  • If you're looking for some reasonably-priced childcare you could hire an au pair from France or Spain. They could teach the family some easy everyday phrases.
  • Hosting a foreign student can be a great way to learn about cultural differences and similarities and show your children how other people go about language learning. Local language colleges are always looking for host families and they offer good rates of pay too.
  • If your child has a Nintendo DS they could try out the language learning games
  • Buy or make a set of word cards. Put a new one on your fridge every day. At the end of the month you'll have learnt 30 new words!
  • Learning a language is about being prepared to make mistakes - have fun with it!
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