French lessons

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Bonjour!

My name is Catherine Puyravaud, although the children and staff call me Madame. I have been involved in teaching one way or another for most of my life starting with teaching my dollies the alphabet, aged 4.

I studied Anglo-American literature, history and culture at university with a view to teaching English in France but when I met my future husband during my post graduate year in England, we got married and I became a French teacher in England instead. My interest in teaching French to young children began when I had children myself. In 1992 I approached Complete Childcare with the innovative idea, and I have started thousands of children on the road to knowing that learning languages is fun.

All babies speak a universal language which incorporates the 150 basic sounds which make up all the human languages.

Children specialise in their own mother tongue around the age of 1 and most of them will gradually lose the ability to mimic accurately a foreign sound by the age of 5. So, the younger the better!

Your child will have the opportunity to learn some basic French in a fun and engaging way at a Complete Childcare nursery. The French programme has been written by Madame Catherine Puyravaud who has worked in and with our nurseries for over 25 years, and is delivered by our French Champions. Madame plans activities involving stories, music, songs, rhymes, movements, roleplay and lots of games to immerse children into a fun world where they learn French words and phrases and explore French culture.

Music, song, dance, drama, storytelling, art and food tasting are but a few of the activities which make up this innovative multi-sensory approach to learning a foreign language.