wetwang

This is only an opinion with no measurable basis for truth but I would say it is not possible.

The two years spent learning very basic French is two years lost learning better English. I suppose only you can be the judge of how important English might be in your children's life.

French kids are very keen to learn English as that's where many believe their prospects lie as internationally French is becoming a very secondary language.

There is a huge difference between speaking English and learning English. Even going to the USA might be a better option than France if you want your kids to be international players.

It's just too easy to advise others on how to bring up their kids but I would prefer mine to have first class English only rather than second class English and French.
Only you know the real bottom line of why you are considering living in France so accept my opinions as just that and not advice.

Peabrain

Point taken; perhaps I should have said if a child is a peabrain, like me...

terrygees366

English is of paramount importance, but I thought I might kill two birds with one stone - as it were. I feel, it's the Catholic guilt feeling in me, that it would be reprehensible of me not to allow them to become native speakers of English.
You have echoed my 'innermost' thoughts and I thank you for your opinion.
The most likely way forward, seemingly, is a holiday property in France and an education in the UK. Oh how I look forward to those long inclement days back in the UK! It's currently 28 Celsius in my part of China - but it is the third world with all its attendant problems; pollution, tainted pork and chicken, censorship, corruption............

Who coined the phrase, 'You can't have your cake and eat it.'

wetwang

It wasn't Marie Antoinette.

Peabrain

MillieF

Terry, you are a parent, ergo you feel guilt! It goes with the territory! Parents come in two basic moulds, those who care not a jot, and those who care far too much!

I too am very critical of the French educational system, it drives me scatty. Peter Gumbel's Book ' On achève bien les écoliers ', or 'They Shoot Schoolkids Don't They' summed it up very well for me. Well worth reading, it's available in all French bookshops in French and in English on Kindle.

I happened to be in France when I had our son, and various reasons made it important for us to stay there. If I had the gift of hindsight, I would not have done it that way. Our son was in a good small private school, for Primary, but all of the secondary schools were bloody awful near us, be they state or private, and would therefore have meant us moving, hence we came to Canada, where I am happy to say he is blossoming, his confidence has grown, and he's getting good marks....and NO, we don't have time for Golf. Perhaps in the Dordogne, things will be good, I don't know the area. Had we initially moved to Nantes, Angers or Tours, we'd probably still be in France, maybe.

As a parent you can only try to do your bloody best, but I think most of us grope along hopefully! Trying not to cock it up completely

Chatter Static

To have the barrel full and the wife drunk

loy loy

We arrived when our daughters were 4 and 7. They are now approaching the finish of their second year here.

And yes they are fluent. But as said, to a degree. They chat with their friends, understand at school, get top grades etc. But take them out of school and their peers then they struggle. We are immensely proud of their achievements but there is a fair way to go. Saying that, my youngest corrected my French homework at the weekend :-D I also think a bit of this is shyness, they are fine around their friends but freeze up a bit out of school/play.

We did neglect our eldests English to a degree and have just started getting her to read in English as well French when she chooses books.

We haven't started with the English (reading) with our youngest because we didn't want to confuse things as all the letters and combinations sound different etc. She starts elementaire next year. We will probably start her English in a year or so.

I think children can be thrown in and they just get on. The first few months were hard, but luckily both schools have been amazing with them, as have the pupils. Our eldest did have extra lessons before school.

Personally, I'd avoid the UK like the plague. If you want them speaking English I'd find somewhere else like the US or Canada. Or do it yourself at home.

Novocastrian

I agree in part. Language acquisition by young kids is amazing. My story is of taking two sons aged 2 and 4 at the time to live in Germany. Of the four of us, I and I alone had one year of schoolboy German to offer, i.e. none of us spoke a word.

We all managed to survive quite nicely and both kids became and remain (26 years later) fluent in German, if not truly bilingual as discussed above. We (the parents) also remain capable of reading German and having normal conversations in the language.

My wife is half French and very good at the language (but again perhaps not truly bilingual in the rigorous sense invoked by ET). I, on the other hand, still struggle to avoid thinking in German when trying to communicate in French (although reading & writing is less problematic).

Both boys' English is completely fluent, though even though we've lived in Canada since leaving Germany. This will be corrected soon.

Peabrain

Why, if you don't mind my asking.....

Novocastrian

All those immigrants, innit?

terrygees366

Let's go back to 'The Good Old Days' of building walls, bows and arrows, hot pitch etc......

As E.M. Forster wrote in, 'Two Cheers for Democracy' if you can name your eight great grandparents you have some idea where you've come from.

He also said that the last bastion of a coward is patriotism.

Scroungers, be they immigrants or locals are to be despised but a lot of immigrants contribute to society in a positive way.

How many immigrants, I wonder, roam the town centres in the small hours looking for trouble?

There are many reason(s) for 'avoiding the UK like the plague' - I left in 2001 and have no intention of going back - permanently.

loy loy

the English actually

Gordon Barlow

I don't have any answers, but as an old codger let me just tell my personal tale of my Norwegian-speaking grand-daughters. (Yes, Norwegian, not French, but the principle is the same.) They live in Norway with their Norwegian mother; their father (my son) speaks to them only in Norwegian; the only time they speak English is for two periods of two weeks each, each year, when they are with their grandma and me. As one poster said, kids learn at different speeds. The nine-year-old is very quick, and by the end of the visit she can chat to us in colloquial English; the twelve-year-old translates one word at a time, and has little sense of idiom. However, they both understand every word we say, and are able to listen in on our conversations.

How will they cope when they're older? Quite well, actually, going by the examples of their mother, their father, and their father's girlfriend. The two women speak fluent English, though with an accent. They picked it up in adulthood as they went along. My son speaks fluent Norwegian, though with an accent. He also speaks fluent Spanish, picked up in his twenties while living in Mexico. He should speak English with his daughters, but he doesn't. (Sigh.)

I conclude that the girls will learn English when they need to. Unless they intend to "pass" as English, their accent won't matter much. Reading will follow speaking. Writing is far harder, and if they need to write English they will have to take a formal course some time. No big deal.

As you can tell, I am fairly relaxed about the whole thing. I don't think they are going to be handicapped for life if they don't speak any foreign language fluently now.

Karlo

I tend to agree with Eurotrash on this, to use my Stepdaughter as a perfect example.
She arrived in france just turned 11 years old , having passed for a girls grammar school back in the UK at the tender age of 10 years old. The College she started here in france had never had an english student before, so it was in her interest to learn the language as quickly as she could in order to communicate with the fellow students there.
And learn it quick she did....... she was lucky in that she had a teacher who took it on himself as a personal challenge to teach her, she had many extra lessons from him, but totally astounded the teacher and many other french people the way she picked up the language so quickly, speaking it well enough in only 3 months, enough to converse and be understood.
As Eurotrash mentioned she fell into the category of being a reader , writer and liked languages which did help her. Her command of the language still astounds me even today, the way she would reduce insistent french" Cold Callers" on the phone to jelly for me. On a short vacation back in the UK she came across an unruly bunch of French students making a nuisance of themselves in the City centre. She stomped of and tore into them with such a barrage of french that had the locals standing around looking amazed, and the poor french kids wondering what the hell had just hit them.
She has been commented on several times that she speaks the language with no trace of her english accent at all. Mind you she made it difficult for the next english kids who arrived at same college after her, because the teacher who taught her french thought this new bunch were going to learn it just as fast .......not so.
She finished her education here got her Brevet and Baccalaureate with no problems, the only down side to her language achievement is that she has returned back to the UK to work as it is so dire for finding work here. And for a twenty year old ...... France is just so boring for her.