Grenoble Life meets Graines de Polyglottes
August 24th, 2010 | Published in Features, Interviews, Work & Study
Graines de Polyglottes
Grenoble Life editor James Dalrymple chatted to Elisabeth Malandrino, Directrice at Graines de Polyglottes, a new language centre for children in the city.
Grenoble Life: What do you do at Graines de Polyglottes?
Elisabeth Malandrino: Graines de Polyglottes is a language center that welcomes children from 3 to 11 years for them to learn foreign languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian.
In small groups of 5 up to 8 children organized by age and level, children come one hour per week.
GL: How, when and why did get involved?
Elisabeth: Graines de Polyglottes was born naturally - coming myself from a multicultural family, the idea of speaking several languages has emerged very early.
My mother was born in Spain, my father was born in Italy, one of my sisters lives in the United States, I have a American nephew and a German one.
At my daughter’s birth, I thought that other parents would also like their own children to learn other languages. Graines de Polyglottes was then born!
It’s a project which required several years of preparation and we welcomed our first students in September 2010.
GL: What is the Graines de Polyglottes philosophy and method?
Elisabeth: Our philosophy rests on the pleasure of learning through play.
In a child-friendly environment, children are happy to come and share these moments with their teachers and other children.
They learn without effort, having fun and, of course, they repeat words.
For this we use an active, structured and playful method.
We aim at awakening auditory, visual and gestural language for the youngest (3-6 years) by mobilizing all the sensory abilities of children. We use puppets, rhymes, songs, drawings …
For older children (7-11 years), we develop the understanding and expression, both oral and written skills by role playing, the media …
GL: What is the typical profile of the parents of children at Graines de Polyglottes?
Elisabeth: We have many different cases:
- French families, who understand the importance of foreign languages and want to give their child this advantage.
- Mixed families who speak one or more languages at home and want to improve achievement.
- Families coming back from abroad to France who want their children to continue speaking and writing their new language.
GL: What is the typical profile of a teacher at Graines de Polyglottes?
Elisabeth: The teaching team consists of language teachers with a proven track of several years of teaching experience with young children.
Their knowledge of the French educational system and the one of their countries of origin is a valuable asset in developing programs.
Our teachers bring their professionalism and enthusiasm in the centre.
GL: What is the ideal age for children to start learning a second language?
Elisabeth: The sooner the better, babies are able to distinguish the sounds of all languages.
A baby’s mother and entourage will make him or her familiar with the phonemes of the language spoken within the family and little by little, he will keep only the sounds that are part of that language.
That’s why the more a young child hears different languages, the more he/she retains more language skills, both for listening and speaking.
At Graines de Polyglottes, we welcome children from kindergarten age for practical reasons.
GL: Why have you set up a Graines de Polyglottes particulary in Grenoble?
Elisabeth: First, for personal reasons because Grenoble is my hometown.
Then, for reasons peculiar to the city, Grenoble became multicultural and cosmopolitan. Many families around the world come to live for a year or more for professional reasons.
Increasingly, we hear other languages in the street.
I think Graines de Polyglottes responds to the requests of many parents.
GL: Will you have any recruitment opportunitues? What are the advantages of working at Graines de Polyglottes?
Elisabeth: We recruit motivated graduate teachers with experience of teaching young children.
We work in an atmosphere where everyone works together and exchange between cultures takes place naturally.
GL: How can people contact you?
Elisabeth: You can contact us by phone 04.76.87.37.01 or by email: contact@grainesdepolyglottes.fr.
For more information, see the website www.grainesdepolyglottes.fr
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