Preparing children for a move to France

WHEN my daughter was planning to relocate to France we discussed the best way to prepare her children, then three and five, for the move.

We felt it would help them if they could have at least a few basic words of French to help them settle in.

The problem was how to do it in a fun way, then I remembered things I used to do with my children when they were small and games we would play.

My children loved to cook, simple cakes and biscuits. They also used to enjoy shopping and I turned both into games.

Firstly I suggested to my daughter she found a simple recipe the children could help make. Pizzas, cakes, biscuits. Then she could find the ingredients and note down the French words for them.

When she went shopping she would take empty packets of the necessary ingredients, or cut out pictures of vegetables or fruit for the children to find.

In France you could do the same thing and for the older children write down the French words. Both age groups can do matching games; either words or pictures.

At home look up the French words for the utensils and procedure and try and use them when making the recipe.

Chocolate Rice Krispies/Cornflake cakes
1x100g chocolate
90g Rice Krispies/Cornflakes
60g butter
3 tablespoons golden syrup
12 bun cases

Melt chocolate, either in a microwave or in a bowl over hot water
Cut butter into small pieces, add to chocolate until melted
Add syrup and stir
Add Rice Krispies/Cornflakes and stir gently
Spoon into bun cases
Leave to cool

Chocolate: Du chocolat
Butter: Du beurre
Golden Syrup: Mélasse raffinée (although Golden Syrup is available in the British sections of supermarkets)
Cake/bun cases: Caisesettes de présentation
To melt: Fondre
Bowl: Un bol
To cut: Couper
To add: Ajouter
To leave: Laisser
To cool down: Refroidir
To stir: Tourner
Microwave: Micro-onde
Water: L’eau
Hot: Chaud

Milk: Du lait
Eggs: Des oeufs
Flour: La farine
Sugar: Du sucre
Bread: Du pain
Spoon: Une cuillière
Knife: Un couteau
Fork: Une fourchette
Oven: Un four

Another game she used and still uses is a treasure hunt. We did it this year for an Easter egg hunt.

As her daughter is now six and can read French but her son, at four, is not really reading yet she combined pictures and words.

She prepared some pictures of places the ‘treasure’ was hidden and wrote the word underneath, then hid things and gave the cards to the children with a bag or bucket to collect the ‘treasure’ in.

Some of the places the Easter eggs were hidden in:

The refrigerator: Le réfrigérateur (commonly le frigo)
In the shower: Dans la douche
Behind the cushion: Derrière du coussin
In the garage: Dans le garage
In the garden: Dans le jardin
Under the tree: Sous l’arbre (le sapin if it is a fir tree)
Under the pillow: Sous l’oreiller
Vegetable garden: Le jardin potager

Another setting could be nature walks, where children are given a list of items to find with a bag to collect their items in:

A leaf: Une feuille
A snail shell: Une coquille d’escargot
A feather: Une plume
Flowers: Des fleurs
A stone: Un caillou

I’m sure there are many more you can think of, fore example, around our village our grandchildren now know the names of:

A tractor: Un tracteur
A horse: Un cheval
A cow: Une vache
A bull: Un taureau
A calf: Un veau
A goat: Une chèvre
A sheep: Un mouton

These are a few ideas that you can use, and of course you can adapt games and activities of your own.

Next up my daughter and her children are preparing a forest hunt to see what animals and their tracks they can find.

Bonne Chance!