Bringing Up Bilingual Children Talk (BEE Association) - 24 March 2010

I am presenting an informal talk on Family Bilingualism, organised by Victoria Turvey-Sauron from the BEE association, based in the Dordogne.

Date: Wednesday 24th March 2010

Venue: BEE Association, Roumagne, Lot-et-Garonne (47)

Cost: 3 euros BEE members/5 euros Non-members

Meeting Format: A presentation on bilingualism for one hour, followed by small group discussions on your experiences of bilingualism in France. The talk ends with your feeback from the discussions and time for questions.

If you have any questions on Family Bilingualism and schooling in France that you would like me discuss in the talk please email me(bilingsiblings@yahoo.com)before the talk. Please give me brief details of your family (how many children, their ages, languages spoken etc.)

I will also bring some books on bilingualism for you to browse and copies of my book Language Strategies for Bilingual Families will be available to purchase (12euros).

For more information go to the direct link on the BEE website: http://www.bilingual.fr/bilingual.html

BEE website: www.bilingual.fr

or via BEE on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bilingual-Education-Exchange/316286696240?ref=mf


Thanks,

Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert
Email: bilingsiblings@yahoo.com

March 2 - Talk on Young Children & Bilingualism

Tuesday 2nd March - Accents Association Bilingual Talk
Speaker: Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert
Civray Grande Galerie, 10-12am
3 euros Accents members/5 euros non-members

This talk and discussion will focus on young children (from age 2 to 6 years) and the issues of early years schooling and bilingualism for English-speaking families in France. Parents are welcome with children in maternelle or those preparing for it. Proposed areas for discussion are:

Explanation of the French maternelle school program
Communicating with teachers & the cahier de communication
Parent-teacher meetings and grading of children
Language use in the classroom and playground
Gros mots or naughty words
French accents and sounding 'right'
Library books
Maintaining English at home

If you have any questions you would like me to answer please email me with brief history of your family (age of child, schooling etc.):

bilingsiblings@yahoo.com

You can also post ideas for the talk on the Accents Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/l/4cc77;www.accents-asso.fr

Feb 1st - Talk on Older Children and Bilingualism (English/French)

This talk and discussion will focus on older children (age 11+) and the issues of secondary schooling and bilingualism. Parents are welcome with children in secondary school or those preparing for it. Proposed areas for discussion are:

Explanation of the French secondary school program
Public versus private schooling?
Transition from primaire to collège
Being independent of parents
Homework
Parent's evenings and communicating with teachers
Increased need of specific vocabulary
Maths, History, Geography, Science: learning subjects in a 2nd language
'English is boring'
French is hard
A foreign language: German, Spanish, Latin

If you have any questions you would like me to answer please email me with brief history of your family (age of child, schooling etc.): bilingsiblings@yahoo.com

You can also post ideas for the talk on the Accents Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/l/4cc77;www.accents-asso.fr

Or leave a comment on my blog:
http://opol-family.blogspot.com/2010/01/feb-1st-talk-in-older-children-and.html

Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert

2010

Best wishes for the New Year!

The Accents Association will be hosting a series of monthly talks this year, in an informal setting parents and educators can discuss issues relating to French/English bilingual children and their families. Specific subjects that were requested in the talk in December are:

- Teenagers and maintaining bilingualism.
- Primary school and bilingualism.
- Pre-school and the first steps towards bilingualism.

The first meeting of 2010 is planned for MONDAY 1st February in the Chef-Boutonne area.

For more information contact Kathryn:
http://www.accents-asso.fr/
AccentsAdmin@orange.fr
Tel: 05 49 97 10 17

Let it snow!

A little bit of family news...

As 2010 rolls in I am amazed how quick time flies and how history seems to go in circles. The decade started in rural France, at Jacques' parents house, with the heavy storms of the end of December 1999 and no electricity for a week. Then we had two young children under the age of two. We end the decade living in rural France, via England, Malaysia, America, with three children. Marc, our 12 year-old growing-up-fast-almost-teenager, Nina, our 10-year-old pre-teen chatterbox and Gabriel, the angelic, but lively six-year-old. Along the way we gained a cat, rabbit and fish too.

So what happened in 2009? In autumn Jacques started working from home, which is good for us all and less travelling for him. Marc is growing (now taller than me, 158cm and stil going) and still likes tractors, Nina is in her last year of primary school, she likes music and horse-riding and Gabriel has just learnt to read and play football. The children are more-or-less bilingual and manage to juggle two cultures and languages effortlessly. I finally got the draft done of my book on Siblings and have been busy writing for 'The Connexion' (an English-language newspaper published in France) and teaching English locally.

We all enjoyed our annual family trip to ski (this year in La Plagne). Our holidays were linked to visiting friends this year around the world. Our visits to Munich (Mickeal), Thailand (Mahes), Kuala Lumpur for John's wedding (Odile, Hilary, Mahin, Marie-Cecile, Victoria, Mahin, Nilgoun, Aimee and many others) and Scotland (Corinne, Marie). These were places we had been before, but we saw in a new light. We had a lot of friends and family visit us too this year, you are always welcome in deepest rural France!!

Hopefully, next year we will move down the road to the Logis, which is progressing. The 'heavy' work has been done. It has floors now, a new roof, new windows and full insulation. We have started a vegetable garden this year and are planting a mixed fruit/trees hedge (650 trees) around the property.(see post 'Photos 2009'below for some recent photos) Like all renovation projects the Logis needs lots of money and takes more time than predicted but we do still plan to move there in 2010, in time for Jacques' 40th birthday....

Do keep in touch.

Suzanne

2009 photos

The Logis Vert (back view and front, with steps) and us on holiday in breezy Scotland this summer.