Reia Farrall and Zoe Atkinson: why we created Communication Café
May 5th, 2009 | Published in Comment, Features
Communication Café kids painting
Reia Farrall – Bilingual Education in Grenoble
The battle has been won for the moment … with my husband constantly speaking to our daughters in French and I in English (and having an amazing English nounou one day a week), and with regular visits from respective grandparents: our children appear to be bilingual and quite happy in either French or English. Now, we are just about to embark on making that all-important ‘next’ decision that seems to affect English-speaking families in Grenoble – which primary school will our children go to? Do we leave them in their local school? Do we put them in La Houille Blanche: where English is taught for one hour for a day, but has a competitive entrance; and would require a lot of organisation for getting ourselves together to get there? I really enjoy the fact that my girls can go to their local school, so that they can still be with the friends from their local area. And given the lack of resources, the teachers and school where our girls go do amazing things with 30+ in their nursery school classes.
However, being a teacher, and having specific ideas on the ways in which I would like our girls to learn, I do sometimes feel a little battered by the French school experience where the girls are consistently assessed according to the ‘norm’ of what French students should know at certain ages. I know that us English-speaking people are often criticised for our ‘positive reinforcement‘ – but I feel that it is lacking a little in my daughters’ education.
Education for me is not just about learning facts. Knowledge is important but education is also about showing our children the different paths that they can follow in life, and how to think for themselves. A school education should help our children to become dignified human beings, respectful of others, conscious that we live in an interconnected world where our decisions affect not just ourselves. The question as a teacher becomes how to encourage ‘learning’ and to help students discover the individual intrinsic worth of each person and themselves.
So rather than worry about the fact that I feel the French system is not doing this and put our girls into another French school, my friend Zoë Atkinson – a speech therapist – and I have taken the plunge and set up an association called Communication Café to help our children learn English. We want our children to embrace their dual cultures, to learn English in a way that we both feel helps our children’s confidence in themselves, and with positive reinforcement. We want to above all encourage our children’s English language development, to help our children feel good about themselves, and to meet other children like them. So it looks like it is not the French system at La Houille Blanche for now…
Results!
Zoë Atkinson – Speaking English in Grenoble: a speech therapist’s view
As far as French cities go, I feel lucky being in Grenoble as an English-speaker, the town being cosmopolitan and open-minded beyond its size. Being an English-speaker has not caused me many problems, apart from the occasional blank when faced with needing to talk about something beyond my French experience. So knowing that my child was going to be French, and not English like myself, didn’t pose as much of a problem for me as it did for their grandparents! Most people react positively when they know that my three year old can speak French and English almost fluently (even if a little mixed up!). I, however, have a few reservations.
Being Mum to a bilingual child, I wanted my daughter to have the chance to mix with other kids in English, to be comfortable with the English part of her identity, and to learn to read and write in English. To summarise, I wanted her to be able to make the most of her opportunity to be bilingual and for it to not be an embarrassment to her. If ever we need to go back to an English-speaking country, I would like her to be able to re-integrate without difficulty.
Being a speech therapist, I was aware that bilingual children integrated into French schools and, learning English at home only, may miss out on academic vocabulary that they would learn in French in school (concepts relating to specific subjects, such as maths, science, technology, religious study or art). I also felt that their use of English is often restricted, and that kids may find it difficult to speak to other kids in English. The French sound system is also different to the English, which affects the ability of bilingual kids to learn how to read and write in English.
Communication Café
Communication Café
We created the Communication Café association to provide another solution to our English-speaking frustrations in Grenoble. We currently run groups in English for children who have at least one English-speaking parent. We start young with Baby-Signing for 0-2 year olds and offer classes for ‘Maternelle’ and Primary ages. We have small groups, with fun theme-based sessions. For the ‘Maternelle-aged’ kids, we have adapted communication objectives taken from speech therapy, plus the foundation objectives from the British National-Curriculum. For the Primary ages, we have adapted objectives from the British National Curriculum, primarily English, but we also dip into other subject objectives with themes that suit those subjects.
Here is a quote from one of our mothers:
I can’t put in words properly the joy we share, watching Oscar spotting English words and wanting to read them and seeing the flash of satisfaction and brightness across his face when he “gets it”. I cant pin point exactly why or how, but it seems you have given him a quiet, assured confidence to try and have fun with words and seeing that confidence develop within him is very rewarding – so thank you very much to you both. Oscar has always been a very curious person but sometimes can lack true confidence to give things a try. So, seeing this natural confidence with words evolve in Oscar is a parental pleasure money can’t buy, if you know what I mean.
Reia Farrall is an Australian-qualified teacher. She has lived in Grenoble for six years, is married to a Frenchman and has two daughters. She currently teaches at Grenoble University at the Institut d’études Politiques. Zoë Atkinson is a UK qualified Speech and Language Therapist. She moved to Grenoble in 2000 with her French partner, and has a daughter. For more information visit our website or contact us via info@communication-cafe.com. Additionally, the Babel association offers English classes for children from English-speaking families: association.babel@laposte.net
Reia Farrall at work
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