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Life abroad

Multilingualism: Learning to Read

  • 09/06/202009/06/2020
  • by Coralie Neuville

Our 8-year-old daughter is a multilingual child. She speaks four languages, and can read in just as many. How did we get her reading in these languages? Was it easy? Or, is she just gifted? Did she have any particular difficulties? These are just some of the many questions people ask themselves and ask us about multilingualism and learning to read.

How did we get our child to speak four languages?

From birth, our daughter was cradled in three languages: English, French and Italian. Spanish came later. For us, it has always been important pass on to her our mother tongues, English and French, as well as the language of our country of residence, first Italian and then Spanish.

We adopted the famous “one language, one person” method.

Multilingualism and learning to read - Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris
Our Franco-British girl posing in front of the most famous English bookshop in Paris – Shakespeare and Company

I always spoke to her in French, and Adam in English. Since our neutral language is Italian, her ear has always been naturally attuned to it from a very early age. She was also exposed to it at her nursery in Rome, and through our many Italian friends. Indeed, her very first words were in Italian. On moving to Spain, Spanish then became her language of socialization outside the family nucleus, that is in school, shops, cafés and restaurants, with friends, during after-school activities, and so on.

We often hear that multilingual children have difficulties learning to speak, that they learn to speak late or speak very little.

Well, that’s both true and false. It’s true if you want to enumerate the words spoken in each language, but false if you take all the languages on board. For example, most 3-year-old monolingual children can count to 10, while a multilingual child may stop at 5, but will be able to do so in all languages. So, in the end, the multilingual child can accumulate a greater total number of words, though many of them may remain hidden to any individual monolingual interlocutor. Thus, it’s not a question of late development, far from it.

Let’s not forget that the vocabulary flourishes with reading.

The more you read, the more words you learn.

That’s why we’ve never worried about our daughter’s vocabulary. It didn’t matter to us if, at three years old, she spoke a little less than her classmates. Of course, plenty of people told us we were confusing her, that she should stick to the language of the country she was growing up in, at least at first, and that her sentences were all jumbled up. We know it can be easier to criticise than to praise, and even more so when the object of that criticism doesn’t fit into society’s normal mould.

How did we deal with criticism of our method?

We completely ignored it of course! Without the least regret. Multilingualism is a wonderful opportunity, and represents an opening of the spirit to everything the world has to offer. But, it isn’t an easy path to take, and it doesn’t just happen by itself. It has to be important to a child’s parents or guardians. Whenever she got frustrated with trying to express herself correctly in the correct context, we were there, step by step, encouraging and reassuring her.

Bookshops, always magical places
Every trip, a bookshop

In practical terms, how did we get our child reading in various languages?

Like many parents, we read to her and with her every single night. But we also travelled lots, spent time with our families, both in the UK and France. We made her understand the importance of languages by getting her to talk with our families, play with her cousins, meet other children at airports and museums and parks in each of the respective countries. Once the oral foundations were in place, we gradually integrated more and more reading. In English, Adam followed the phonics methodology of Oxford University Press’ Biff, Chip and Kipper, focusing on one main sound at every read. In French, I used the classic Boscher sequential syllabic approach.

At what age did she begin to actually read on her own?

We started the real push for learning to read at the age of five, so that she could focus a little more on the Spanish side of things at the start of compulsory primary school. This meant that, when she started, at the age of six, she already knew how to read a few sentences in English and French, and could recognize all the various phonetic sounds of both languages. After meeting with her teacher, we agreed to dial back English and French for a bit, to allow more time for Spanish books. By the second term, she was already reading in Spanish. By the third, she was doing it on her own.

Our daughter's first Spanish book collection
Her first collection: Begoña Oro’s books about Rasi the Squirrel and his gang

Growing up, she’s always been surrounded by books, and has always seen us read. This is one of the keys to reading for a child, that she sees others doing it! And so, our local international bookshop, Picasso, became one of her favourite stores, and her bedroom rapidly became a library.

So, at the age of 6, she was speaking in Spanish, English, French and Italian, and reading fluently in Spanish.

What about reading in the other languages?

Here, we had to insist a little more. But not force it. Let’s be clear, we never pressured her, we just gave her the opportunity to read on her own in Spanish, or read with us in our languages. As with speaking, we made a concerted effort to help her understand that reading in other languages was important, and that it would open up the world to her, or rather many worlds.

Multilingualism and learning to read - reading in English
Reading and colouring at the same time

To start with, we focused on reintroducing English. She already knew the sounds, and was studying a little English at school, but the real key was finding a book she would simply fall in love with.

Adam searched high and low for the right book. Something not too scary, not too old, not too girly. He read reviews online, asked the whole family for advice, and sought recommendations from friends on what their kids were reading. Scouring Waterstone’s bookshops in the UK, he showed her a succession of book covers and reading out all the blurbs. He guided her in choosing what he thought she would enjoy the most, according to her own character, but always let her choose in the end. The first real novel she got hooked on was the first of Pamela Butchart’s “Baby Aliens Got My Teacher” series.

From that moment on, she was well away with reading alone in both Spanish and English. Effortlessly, she would alternate between the two languages on a whim. And she would dive into whatever she laid her eyes on as she climbed into bed.

What about French then?

With Spanish and English pretty much now in the bag, we began to tiller round to the dear old language of Molière and its challenging pronunciations.

From my mum’s, I had recovered my beloved collection of books from the “Bibliothèque Rose”, or “Pink Library” series. I thought it would be perfect. Alas, no! For two main reasons. First, she had not chosen the books herself, and, second, the language in these books, in the light of today’s French, was somewhat dated. So, she took no real pleasure in reading them.

If I read to her, she would enjoy it, but if I told her that it was her turn to read, she would drag her feet. She started telling me that reading in French was just too difficult. The phonetic liaisons, nasal vowels, all those letter at the ends of words that you simply don’t pronounce, and all the rest of it.

Multilingualism and learning to read - reading in French
Reading Tom-Tom et Nana on the train from Paris

I let it be for a few months. Then, I signed her up for monthly instalments of the magazines “J’aime Lire”, meaning “I like reading”, and the news-based “Images Doc”, published respectively as “Adventure Box” and “Discovery Box” in English. Finally, we were on to something, and back reading in French. With J’aime Lire, she discovered the comic strip of Tom-Tom and Nana, or Tom and Lili in English. That opened the gateway to other comics, such as Asterix, Mickey Mouse, Spirou and Fantasio, and, of course, Tintin! She read the complete series of Tintin issues within just a few days, and has read them three or four times since!

So, finally, what about Italian?

Reading in Italian was introduced through her various Italian babysitters. Learning to read in Italian is pretty straightforward if you already know how to read in Spanish. Indeed, she only had to learn to identify a few distinct sounds, or phonemes, such as the “ch” pronounced as a “k”. In particular, she loves reading Topolino, the Italian version of Disney’s Mickey Mouse comic books.

Reading on the floor in a Milanese bookshop
Reading on the floor in a Milanese bookshop in the Navigli quarter

So that’s how our daughter learnt to read in 4 languages. It wasn’t always easy. We also count on loads of support from her grandmothers, “Nanny” and “Mamie”, who have always read to her and bought her plenty of books, and from her various British, French and Italian babysitters. It was a real team effort.

At any point in time, we could have easily given up and opted for the easy option, that of leaving it up to school to teach her to read, and only in Spanish. But we wanted to give her the opportunity of multilingualism well beyond basic oral expression.

Today, the results are evident. Through reading, her vocabulary has been enriched enormously in each language. She has also discovered the culture behind each language. She can talk about the adventures of Tintin, Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus until the cows come home. And we’ve been able to explain to her the various facets of colonialism, and other themes such as the exploration of space.

What’s the next step?

I would love to read Harry Potter with her in its original language. It’s the dream of any true non-English mother tongue HP fan. She’s reluctant at the moment because she still thinks it’s too scary. However, I know that one day she’ll say to me, “Mum, let’s just read the first chapter together”. And, just as soon as our backs are turned, she’ll carry on reading on her own! Because our multilingual child has become a true bookworm.

What about our youngest child?

Well, we still at the cooing and babbling stage. But she’s exposed to all four languages the same. Just as with our elder daughter, we’ll try our very best to teach her to speak and read in different languages. We will not force her, simply encourage and reassure her. And we’ll give her all the tools we can to help her learn. We may have to adapt our method. Who knows? Everything in its own time. Everyone’s learning path is different. Every child is different. And that’s just as well.

Compétences-Cuisiner©Boredwithborders2020 Lockdown Highlife

My Lockdown Lowdown

  • 15/05/202015/05/2020
  • by Coralie Neuville
It’s been almost two months since our lives suddenly changed. From one day to the next. We’ve had to take stock of a new situation, adapting ourselves to a perimeter that has shrunk dramatically. Our home’s become our universe: a school, a gym, an office, a crèche, a playground, a campsite. An all-in-one space.
Two months is a long time, but it’s flown by. It all depends on your own perception. In Andalusia, we’re used to spending lots of time with our older daughter during the long summer months. And, ho-hum, this year the big hols are gonna be even bigger! But, with no possibility of going out, at least during the very first six weeks, and no school, no family, no after-school activities, we’ve all had to invent and reinvent ourselves.

So, on a personal level, what have I been up to during these last two months? What new skills have I acquired? Because, we’ve all developed skills, right? We’ve all been getting up to something a bit different from usual. What have you been doing? How have you been spending these two months? Learnt anything new? Developed a new passion? While I wait to read your answers, let me give you my own lockdown lowdown:

  • Urban kitchen garden

… that’s most likely not going to bear any fruit … or vegetables! But at least we’ve tried, and, by this time next year, I really hope our fingers will be a shade greener. For 2 or 3 years now, we’ve been saying that we’re going to grow stuff on the terrace, and, then, we don’t. But, faced with the uncertainty of certain supplies, and an irrational churning fear in our stomachs that the end of the world is nigh, we’ve managed to create some sort of desperate garden on our terrace. Not having that green gene, however, we made the mistake of putting possibly a few years’ worth of seeds in just two wooden boxes of 40 by 30 by 50!

Don't put all your seeds in the same urban garden box during lockdown.
There’s plenty of salad, some courgettes poking through, and, probably at some point, some tom-toms all fighting for precious space!

Ah, all gardeners despair!

  • Cook up mash up

I’ve been too busy lately to don apron, roll sleeves and cook it up. Truth be told, I’ve become a bit of a take-away junkie. But, there’s no joy on that front, since our usual Friday – and any other day – night deliveries aren’t an option. So, we’ve gone back to the hot stove. Both adults, in turns. We’ve dug out recipes from the back of our cultural cupboards. And we’ve given ourselves over to batch cooking. Our wallets can only thank us for removing apps such as Glovo and Deliveroo from our mobes!

  • Self-styled hair stylist

Armed with a pair of half-broken kitchen or, alternatively, our eight-year-old’s kiddie-craft scissors, and an old comb, I styled a cut surely satisfactory enough to get me into barbers’ school. A grand success! Just don’t ask me for a photo, I didn’t take one, and, modestly speaking, it probs won’t quite make the double-page spread of Barber’s World anyway.

  • Certified video-conferencing expert

Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, WhatsApp, LearnCube, Facetime, whatever you throw at me, I can take it! Have you used any another video-chat? Am I missing anything out? Tell me, and I get on the case over the coming weeks!

Just to add a few more lines to my CV!

How many socials can we bear to have on our phones during lockdown?
When practically all social relations are virtual …
  • Website dev

Our third child, we’ve been working on it for quite some time, but between children and (real 😉 ) work, we’d had to leave it to one side. Well, it was finally time to get back to it, refine it, update it, in short, take a little more care of it. You can do your bit too. It loves to be Social, get Likes, Shares, Comments, and of course Subscriptions. So please don’t hesitate to indulge it. You can do the same for the corresponding Facebook page and Instagram profile too. The proud parents will be thrilled!

So much for the list of accomplishments, or semi-accomplishments. For a proper lockdown eval., we need to look at the negatives too, what’s left undone, what needs working on?

Let’s take a look at what I haven’t been able to bring myself to do or I’ve been putting off. Some points on this list could potentially move from the dark side into the light, since in Granada, we’re still in Lock-down Release Phase 0. What’s LDR Phase 0, I hear you ask? Basically, nothing! I can therefore continue to develop both useful and useless skills to enrich my skill set.

Without further ado then, here’s my list of “didn’t do’s”:

  • Netflix / Disney binge

Zippity zilch! Though it’s not for lack of trying! We had a go with Money Heist, or “La Casa de Papel“. Since living in Spain without having seen arguably Spain’s most famous series aboard seemed something we should feel an inkling of shame about. So, one evening, armed with chocolate and blankets, we dove in and managed to get through the first episode before Morpheus took us hostage. The next evening, we tackled another. And then, nothing! I know I’m going against the grain here, but it just didn’t quite click with us. Just as we didn’t get the bug for Game of Thrones, Outlander, Breaking Bad, and all such like. Sorry all you megafans out there!

  • House Party

We got down and dirty with some virtual drinks. Bit of karaoke here and there. We celebrated the Day of the Cross, one of Granada’s most popular festivities, but, no, we haven’t done a House Party. No remote Pictionary, Heads Up, Quick Draw, Trivia or drunken masquerades. There you have it, we’re obvs not as on-trend as all that.

Don't shoot the lockdown photographer!
Camera, lights, action!
  • TikTok whatnot

If we’d felt like joining the virtual party, why not TikTok? To be honest, I have had TikTok on my phone for going on 2 years now, though I never use it. I just dip in occasionally to check up on challenges I never partake in.

You might not know it, but I’m caught up, down to a T … for TikTok

  • Challenges from your lounges

Speaking of challenges, done any? Because there’s been quite a few over the last few weeks. Among the most popular there’s the Pillow Challenge, Dalgona Coffee and the #JLoTikTokChallenge. Sorry to disappoint yet again, I haven’t transmogrified myself into a body-jerking JLo, donned a pillow for a dress or spooned a thousand-calorie drink they dare to call coffee.

  • Controller freak

Last but certainly not least, no Y-X-B-A, no gamepad bashing, no Animal Crossing. I must admit that I was tempted by the idea of buying a Nintendo Switch from the get go. Even if I know I wouldn’t use it all that much. Only our daughter would play! So no Switch, no Animal Crossing. But, hey, having never been a fan of The Sims, I’m not convinced I’d get hooked on Animal Crossing.

And that’s all for now for my lock-down eval. I’ll probably have more to say in a month or so’s time about other projects we’ve got cooking.

In the meantime, feel free to comment and share. Recipes, TV series, games, family activities – I’m all ears!

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Grenade, quand allons-nous pouvoir pleinement profiter de toi ? Quand pourrons-nous sortir et t'admirer tranquillement ? Des instants volés de toi, voilà notre quotidien. ______________________________________ #granada #andalucia #AndaluciaTequiereEnCasa #EspañaTeEspera #SpainWillWait #ok_granada #total_granada #tourisme #turismo #travel #spain #espagne #andalousie #vieenandalousie #place #voyage #sortie #beautifuldestinations #TeEnseñoMiGranada

A post shared by Coralie Neuville (@coralieneuville) on May 9, 2020 at 1:56pm PDT

Fournitures scolaires Life abroad

The Spanish school system

  • 23/08/201929/08/2019
  • by Coralie Neuville

If you’re planning on settling in Spain with family and you don’t want to enrol your children in an international school, here’s what you need to know:

Educación Infantil – non-obligatory ‘infant education’

Divided into two phases, from 0 to 3 years old, and from 3 to 6 years old, ‘infant education’ in Spain roughly corresponds with that in other countries, though there are some important differences.

The first phase is nursery school. While state nurseries do exist, most families will have to pay for the service, and many nurseries are privately run. Class sizes are generally small, but one nursery will vary considerably from the next, so hunt around for one that best suits your ideals.

The second phase, from 3 to 6 years old, is when school starts proper. Though the whole phase is non-obligatory, the majority of kids will start at 3, and, at 6, will be better prepared for starting obligatory education. Another reason for taking advantage of the system at this point is that, from now on, unlike nurseries, infant school is practically free, though you will have to buy some materials, and, at private schools, may be asked for a tax-deductible donation. This is not the place where you drop your kid for a few hours to get the shopping done! It’s where you children will begin to develop a routine, and learn to adapt and socialize with other children.

Educación Primaria – obligatory ‘primary school’ lasting 6 years

Primary school in Spain lasts a little more than in many other countries, taking children from 6 years old right up to 12. You’ll will find that the majority of Spanish primary schools are bilingual, most bilingual Spanish-English, although some teach French, Catalan and other languages. As well as providing direct language lessons, the approach is also to teach various other subjects and content through the second language, such as maths, sports, natural and social sciences, music, arts and craft, religion – especially in religious charter schools called ‘concertados’. Another third language is then taught later on, so that children starting with English, in a bilingual Spanish-English, may then be given, for example, French lessons, though this third language is not used as a vehicle for other subjects.

Educación Secundaria – ‘secondary school’ lasting another 6 years

Secondary education starts at 12 years old and runs right up to 18, though children can also leave at 16, walking away with the qualification of ‘Educación Secundaria Obligatoria’ (ESO), that is ‘Obligatory Secondary Education’.

Those that decide to continue can take another 2 years to work up to obtaining the qualification of ‘Bachillerato’, or ‘baccalauréat’, equivalent to a high-school diploma or set of A-levels in the UK.

À étudier

The Spanish education system is thus similar to other countries in the total number of years, though is divided up rather differently.

Timetable

For infant and primary education, there are two competing models here in Spain, depending on the region, the first from 9 am to 1 pm, and then from 3 to 5pm, and the second from 9 am straight through to 2 pm. This rather short timetable is balanced out by not having half-term holidays, and so children are in school for roughly the same total hours per year as in other countries. To accommodate working parents and extend the day out a little top and tail, there is an ‘aula matinal’, or morning class, with some basic activities, and often a ‘comedor’, or luncheon service. However, at least in Granada, many children simply do not make use of these services, but rather rely on grandparents, family and friends to take up the slack.

But what the heck do children do the rest of the day?

Extracurricular activities! In Spain, they are particularly fond of clubs and outside activities, such as extra classes of English, music, dance, football, yoga, photography, tennis, swimming … practically anything you could think of! And for parents, what does this all mean? Well, (1) running about lots and juggling the various activities of siblings, (2) making sure you or someone else is available to do (1), and (3) paying an arm and a leg for all of it! The upside of this model is that kids and parents can freely choose from an unbelievably wide range of activities. The downside is that it discriminates against poorer families, since adding up a few days a week may well tot up to around 200 Euros per month per child, not to mention the costs of petrol, transport or simply time off work.

Holidays

School runs from mid-September to mid-June, finishing earlier and resuming a little later than in many other countries. But let’s not forget Spain’s hot climate in many of its regions. For example, when school’s out in Andalusia in June, temperatures often soar well above 30 degrees Celsius. The side effect of the longer summer is less holidays in the school calendar, there being only two main holiday periods, Christmas and Easter. Children usually celebrate the last day of school on the Friday before Christmas and are back just after Epiphany, that is the 6th of January, here celebrating the arrival of the Three Kings in Bethlehem often with a street procession, hand-thrown sweets and presents at home. The Easter holidays last at least a week, sometimes more depending on the region. Added to these longer holidays are shorter national, regional, provincial and local holidays, often long weekends – off on Thursday or Friday and back on Monday or Tuesday.

Different types of school

Like elsewhere, Spain has both state schools and private, but it is also has another category, the ‘concertado’, that is essentially charter schools partly funded by the state, partly funded by the church and partly funded, to a lesser extent, by parents. At a national level, it is estimated that 65% of children are educated in state schools, 27% in charter schools and 8% in private schools. However, numbers vary greatly from region to region. For example, in Granada, the city not the province, it’s the other way round, far more children attend charter schools than state or private schools. It is important to remember that places in many charter schools, and even in some state schools, are strictly limited according to a points system that accounts for where you live, where you work, the number of children you have, and so on. So, if you live in the south of the city, you probably won’t be able to enrol your child at a school in the north.

Costs

School books usually don’t come free or cheap, though, during the last financial crisis, a book ‘cheque’, or voucher, scheme was introduced for public and charter schools. This regional government aid, which does not cover all of the required books, is given indiscriminately to all pupils enrolled at a school, though not every year. Other school materials, such as pens and pencil cases, are not supplied, and, therefore, come September, families get a long list of things to buy for each school subject in the curriculum. At charter and private schools, there are other costs to consider, some optional and others not so, such as a resident doctor service, an ad-hoc app service for communicating with teachers, school uniforms, sports kits, extra-curricular activities, early morning class, lunch, donations, and so on. Finally, charter schools will often require a separate tuition fee, much like private schools, for the last two years of prepping for a ‘Bachillerato’ diploma.

As in every country, the school system in Spain has its advantages and disadvantages. You can find further information on the education system on the website of the Spanish Ministry of Education (not yet fully translated in English). Welcome to Spain!

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Aujourd'hui, on commence la préparation pour la rentrée scolaire. En Andalousie, c'est le 10 septembre (après 7 semaines de vacs !). 1. On doit aller chercher les livres. Notre fille rentre en CE1 mais elle a un livre par matière ! 2. Acheter le matériel scolaire (on vous recommande même les marques !) sauf l'agenda que nous achèterons à l'école directement. 3. Vérifier la tenue de sport (aux couleurs de l'école), et donc en acheter une nouvelle en cas de changement. 4. Finir le planning des activités. L'école finit à 14 h et l'après-midi est consacré à une activité. 5. Trouver des baby-sitters. Une pour chaque langue. Si avec tout ça elle ne va pas à Oxford (d'où la photo), on aura échoué notre mission de parents !😂 ________________________________________________ #rentree2018 #rentree #espagne #andalousie #oxford #programme #organisation #parents #enfants #viedexpat #viealetranger #ecole #findesvacs #reprise #babysitter #temps #planning #monument #liste #architecture #universityofoxford #grenade #erasmusengranada #backtoschool #vueltaalcole #maristas #ooheecommunity

A post shared by Coralie Neuville (@coralieneuville) on Sep 5, 2018 at 1:20am PDT

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