Anytime your children are away from their in-class French language learning, you can still have them practice a little French.

When you try to expose them to the language a little bit each day, they will learn. Even children who are too young to go to school yet can benefit from such exposure. Here are some ideas:

If you are a native French speaker or consider yourself comfortable in French, then it can be easy enough to: 

  • Read books in French with your child, daily, if possible, choosing a variety of books of different lengths and different subjects, such as via:
    • Boukili, a collection of over 120 illustrated books grouped by reading level, theme and skill, including games and quizzes, and 
    • Idéllo, an education platform with over 15,000 educational resources: videos, games, websites, applications, teaching tools. 
  • Talk with your children about daily activities: what they are doing, what you are doing, or set aside a specific time to speak French such as bedtime, bath times or meal times. The repetition and consistency are the most important aspects.
  • Consider the “one parent, one language” strategy, making sure to always have each parent speaking the same language as much as possible. 
  • You can come up with ideas to motivate your children to use the language by travelling, visiting family or connecting with other children who speak the language on a regular basis.

If you are not bilingual, why not try the following: 

  • Normalize French in the home by turning on French TV and/or Radio with bilingual children’s programming or cartoons (mini-TFO, Passe-Partout, change your Netflix and Disney language settings to French, mini-TFO YouTube).  
  • Listen to French podcasts for bedtime stories (Bododo on Ohdio, CBC/RC). 
  • Make a sensory bin filled with items for your child to explore – practise naming items in French.
  • Download fun and educational French apps for stories, reading, and playing games in French, such as: 
    • Boukili, a collection of over 120 illustrated books grouped by reading level, theme and skill, including games and quizzes, and 
    • Idéllo, an education platform with over 15,000 educational resources: videos, games, websites, applications, teaching tools. 

These ideas and more can be found in our Canadian Parents for French Advocacy Brief:
Learning French in the Early Years: For A Bright Bilingual Future (PDF)

French Version published in the Webzine Idello TFO, Édition décembre 2022 > Apprendre par le jeu avec IDÉLLO