en anglais

En Anglais.     Those are the words I use very often with Marie.  It means, "In English...."

Many people have been asking me,  "So how do you communicate with her?"
                                                       and "How do you go about teaching her English?"




Well, I have to admit, my first week here it was nearly impossible.   Putting the language barrier aside (which is a challenge in ITSELF)  I was brand new to this home,  I did not know where everything was, where certain toys were, where the tape and glue where kept, ect.    I did not know what her favorite snacks were, what she liked to do for fun, and number one I really did not KNOW her!   I did not know that she loves to pretend like she is a little dog and crawl around and bark, I did not know that she likes playing very rough,  I did not know that she has to have her little stuffed dog with her EVERYWHERE she goes, I did not know that she loves to dress up as a dinosaur and "scare" members of her family.    I simply did not know how to interact with her, number one, because I did not know who she was.    And she also did not know me.


Add the language barrier and me being in a foreign country, and voila, you have a bit of a mess!



A mess, that is all cleaned up now.    (Minus the never-ending one in her room---HA!)


Now when she asks for hot chocolate, I am able to recognize the french word, and fix it for her.  Instead of her getting very upset and frustrated that I do not know what she is saying.   Now I know that if she starts licking my face, its because she wants to play dogs with me.   I know that when she starts saying, "Dodo, Dodo!!"  It means she has lost her little dog she carries with her, and I need to help her find it.     I know that when she puts on a lion costume and RAWRS at me, its because she wants me to RAWR back.  NOT leave her alone.





Now, how am I going to get this little girl to learn some English.  Well, I figure its like anyother type of teaching.  Repetition, practice,  but most importantly teaching her words in the moment, and then bringing them back up in "other" similiar moments.   I suppose it is hard to explain.  Here is an example.


Before she knew any English...


Let's say she was trying to open up her ice cream.  She woud just hand it to me or get frustrated and I would take the ice cream from her and open it, then hand it back.    Sometimes, however I do not know if she wants my help or not.  I noticed that sometimes when she is trying, and I interceed she gets very frustrated.  I think this is a good thing, because that means she enjoys experimenting and learning things on her own, and I never want to interrupt that learning for her.    So instead of teaching her entire different phrases like,  "Will you open the ice cream for me"  or "Will you button my sweater."   I have taught her a simple phrase.  

"I need help please."

Her saying this allows me to know she WANTS me to help her.  It is also very simple and she can use it with almost anything.  She used to just get so frustrated at me not understanding what to do, and somtimes I still don't, but with her saying "Help me" that is my clue to decode the mystery of helping her with what she needs.  


It is very cute the ways she says it.  It sounds more like "  I  eeeeed  Elp  peas "


I would (and still do) repeat this phrase everytime she was trying to do something alone and would look at me for what to do.  I would say,  "I need help please."  Then I would not do ANYTHING until she repeated after me,  "I need help please."  Then I help her.  After multiple times of this, involving different circumstances,  I think she understands what "help" means.    She has even begun shortening it saying,  "Help me please, Leah."      So cute.  





A french word she says a lot is the word "Look" in English.  I picked up on what it  meant after about a week or so.  Once I knew what she was saying, I started saying the French word for "look" but I would say, "Marie, in Anglais,  Look."   Then after she would say the French word, I would always repeat what she does but instead saying "Look!"    She is still in the process of learning this, but now sometimes she will say,

"Look Leah!"




Sometimes Marie wants me to come with her, sometimes she does not.  Like I said, she enjoys exploring and doing this on her own a lot.  Many times she wants me to come, however,  so this was hard to determine.     If I wanted her to come somewhere with me I would say "Come On!"    I do not think she knew what that meant.  I said it many times when I was around her Mom, say right before we ate dinner, hoping she would catch on to what "come on" means.    After using this phrase for a while,  if I noticed she wanted ME to come somewhere I would say, "Come on Leah" and I would not come until she repeated that.  I think because she hears my name in the phrase, she knew that meant she was to repeat it.   So she says "Come on Leah!"  and then, I come on'!  Now she knows that before I will get on the trampoline with her she has to first say,

"Come on, Leah!"





Other ways I teach her.....

It is often my job to get her dressed.  So every single time I am putting on her socks I will saying something like "I need your foot!" point to it, and then I proceed to put her socks on.      Or if I happen to  know what the French word for something is I will say, "Escargot, in Anglais, SNAIL!"  And I wait until she says, "Snail!"    I will then try to ask her later, "Marie, Escargot in Anglias...."  Sometimes she says "Je ne sais pas"  which is French for "I don't know"  So then I know that is my cue to keep repeating and showing her, escargot\snail.   If she goes and asks her mom for the tape, I will point to the tape and say, "Marie, in Anglais,  TAPE" and I wait and point until she repeats it.


"tape."





I definitely get that "teacher" feeling the next time I hear her using something I taught her.










Today, Marie went sledding.

Yes, it is on the cold side for this time of year in southern France.  Not cold enough to snow, however.  Marie and I are playing outside, but it is cold so we are wearing jackets and she is wearing a coat and a scarf.  She finds her sled.  Then proceeds to put all her little stuffed animals (as well as herself inside the sled) and hands me the little rope attatched.  I guess that meant to pull her.  I wait for her to say "Come on Leah"  Then I begin to pull her.  Around the house, around the house again, jump her while sitting in the sled on the tramopline, and then around the house again!  She is having so much fun.  (I am getting a little exhausted-haha)  So finally she wanted to go back inside, which of course means to her, bring the sled inside with her because it is so much fun!   It is also covered in mud.   I told her we had to ask her Mom.   Mom says no of course, and points to the dirt.  Marie gets very sad.    Suddenly, she is fine!  I am relieved.  She beings to drag the sled to the side ofthe house, and it definitely looked like she meant business.  I thought, "Oh she probably has another fun idea to do with the sled!"  

I see her attempting to unroll the water hose.  Then she goes towards the faucett and starts trying to turn it on.  If she couldn't take the dirty sled into the house-- she was going to clean it!


I will leave the rest of the story up to your imagination.

As for me, it is goodnight.


Thanks for reading my blog and enjoying  hearing about my adventures here in FRANCE!









Leah