Bonjour, mes enfants!

Learning a foreign language in the early years is growing in popularity, providing a good selling point for nurseries, a draw for parents and a source of fun for more and more nursery-age children.

Teaching materials, and teachers, are often provided by language clubs, large and small, while some settings organise their own language programmes and recruit their own teacher (see More Information).

French is usually the language of choice, with nurseries across the country reporting 'French time' the highlight of children's week. 'They lap it up and learn so quickly - we are surprised and so are their parents,' says Teresa Scibor, director of Le Club Tricolore.

The exact figure for children learning a foreign language is unknown, but the bigger French Clubs, like Le Club Francais and La Jolie Ronde, say that nursery-aged children are learning in their thousands.

'Definitely, there is a push for more language teaching, and it is due only to parental pressure,' says Ms Scibor.

Demand is particularly high in Scotland, where foreign language learning has been part of the primary curriculum for more than a decade and parents are keen to give their children a head start before entering school.

Parents in England too have their sights on primary school, where foreign language learning may already be in the curriculum or will be by 2010.

'The cornerstone of the National Language Strategy is that by the end of the decade, all pupils aged seven to 11 will have the opportunity to learn a foreign language in class time,' says national director for languages, Lid King.

Many parents also take the view that nursery is a good time to begin, when children are receptive, are free from pressure to prepare for SATs and can take foreign language learning in their stride.

Research supports this view, finding that before the mental age of seven or eight, children pick up language, including a foreign language, more easily.

Some adults worry that learning French might delay their child's learning of their home language. However, where 'French time' is activity-based, fun and developmentally appropriate, a child's whole language development appears to benefit from the experience. Languages for All, Languages for Life (DfES 2002) notes, 'Early foreign language learning can reinforce literacy skills and nurture enthusiasm.'

The children aren't the only ones to benefit. 'Since we started a French programme in the afternoon session, our afternoon enrolment has increased,'

says Sue Lovell, manager of Cherry Trees Nursery, Slough, a 134-place nursery owned by CfBT.

Friday afternoon half-hour sessions with a French teacher, are supplemented by nursery staff, who teach basic French vocabulary to children from the age of 18 months old. The current teacher is Ludivine Levif, who is manager of one of the other nurseries within the CfBT chain. Sue Lovell says of the children, 'They all thoroughly enjoy it and it's amazing how much they learn.'

Good practice

So, what steps can a nursery take to ensure their foreign language programme is a real success?

Parental support

The first move must surely be to enlist the support of parents and explain to them how a child learns a foreign language.

When children try to sing songs or say French rhymes, parents'

understanding and praise motivate them. Parents often don't realise that it was they who taught their children to talk, and they can also help with the first steps in a foreign language.

Parents need to know what their children will be doing in 'French time' if they are to co-operate and offer help. Some nurseries send out information ahead of starting the programme or organise a parents' meeting, with the teacher present, soon after the programme begins.

Others regularly send recordings or notes home so that parents can join in with the latest rhyme, song or game. Parents might know how to conjugate verbs, but not be familiar with the simple spoken French needed to play a game.

Language learning

Nursery children are still learning their home language, or languages, and every child has worked out their own learning strategies. Most young children easily and unconsciously transfer these same skills to imitate the French they hear, picking up individual words or short French phrases as blocks of language in the same way as they pick up English. Since they have not yet learned to read, they are used to picking up language orally without written confirmation.

Pronunciation

Since children, at this stage, depend on imitation for picking up their home language, it is an ideal age to imitate French sounds and intonation.

As in learning their home language, young children continually hone their pronunciation until it matches that of the adult French speaker. Children, therefore, need lots of opportunities to hear and repeat French in meaningful situations. Playing the same game many times may be boring for some adults, but not for young children!

Speaking

Speaking is not immediate; just as in learning their home language, children need a 'silent period' in which they can find out how the foreign language works before they are ready to use it.

The length of the 'silent period' is shorter than when the child first learned to speak and depends on individual children's skills. Girls are generally quicker than boys to start using French.

Rhymes and songs provide a short-cut to speaking French, as children are not being asked to create language to fit a situation, but merely repeat blocks of language.

Where a teacher uses the techniques of 'parentese' language that is familiar to most adults who have taught their own children to speak, young children find picking up a foreign language easier. To be able to use these strategies, teachers must be fluent in 'child language' used for instructions, praise in the foreign language.

Learning activities

If children are to be able to pick up a foreign language, they need activities in which they can understand the language and later use it.

Some 'French times' start by using French words that children already know, like croissant and baguette, and tell children they can already speak some French. From the known, they then go on to introduce new language.

Where games, rhymes and songs are based on concepts that children have already learned in English, like colours, or parts of the body, picking up French is much quicker, as children only need to learn the new language.

Where a concept is completely new, learning is slower, as children have to learn two things - the new concept and the new foreign language.

Staffing a programme

Ideally, staff need to have experience of working with young children and have a knowledge of 'child language' in the foreign language. Above all, they need to appreciate that language learning can be fun and that children are willing and able to learn.

More information

* The National Advisory Centre for Early Language Learning, www.nacell.org.uk

* The Centre for Information on Language Teaching, the Government's recognised centre www.CILT.org.uk

* http://www. leclubtricolore.co.uk

* http://www.club petitpierrot.uk.com

* http://www. lajolieronde.co.uk

* Le Club Frere Jacques, tel: 020 8343 2202 (CH)

* Kindertots, also offers German and Spanish programmes, www.lekinderclub.com

* Le Club Francais also offers a Spanish teaching programme, http://www.leclubfrancais.co.uk

Help Your Child with a Foreign Language by Opal Dunn (Berlitz Kids)

Case study: Carronbank Nursery, Falkirk

Nursery Carronbank Nursery, Falkirk, part of the Childcare Scotland chain of nurseries

French teacher Liz Wilson, self-employed French teacher and La Jolie Ronde licensee and Scottish Co-ordinator. French degree and extended stay in France

Sessions 30 minutes per week

Number Maximum eight per group

Ages Three to four-and-a-half years old

Materials 'Entre Dans la Ronde' plus CD (La Jolie Ronde programme).

Activities - oral only - include games, action rhymes and songs, which are supplemented by teacher to include French cultural activities and picture books

Back-up Nursery staff repeat songs in daily programme using CDs

Parents Parents are encouraged to sit in on classes, and an end-of-term concert and reports show parents what children have been learning.

Payment The nursery pays the teacher directly and buys La Jolie Ronde package. The French sessions are included in the nursery fees, so sessions are open to all children.

Comments 'The children enjoy their French classes so much that many are keen to continue their lessons in primary school and attend the evening or weekend classes with Liz. All nurseries should have French on their curriculum, as the children take in so much at such a young age and benefit from it in so many ways now and in the future,' says nursery manager Pauline Morrison.

Reader offer

* We have six copies of Leo le Chat goes to school! by Opal Dunn (Frances Lincoln, 10.99) to give away to Nursery World readers. Send your name and address on the back of a postcard or envelope, marked 'Leo le Chat', to the address on page 3. Winners will be the first six names drawn on 23 November.