I just left a French lesson, and all I want to do is burst into tears. It’s all I wanted to do for most of the hour and a half I was there. Not because my French is so bad… which it is. Because Kaitlyn’s is worse.
The teacher I had today was Kaitlyn’s teacher yesterday. She started my lesson by telling me she just doesn’t know what to do about Kaitlyn. (join the club) Kaitlyn seems to think the lessons are great fun and play time… but she doesn’t seem to take it seriously. But I don’t know how much any four year old really takes seriously. The teacher said she thinks Kaitlyn isn’t learning much of anything. But she said when she reviews the previous week’s lesson, Kaitlyn knows the answers.
Do we keep the lessons? Drop the lessons? Maybe it’s all just too much for her? I mean, sometimes I think it is too much for me, and I don’t have to spend all day immersed in French.
While mulling all this over, I went to pick Kaitlyn up for lunch. She hopped up from the table where she was playing with play doh and started telling me all about what she’d been making. The teacher stopped her conversation with another parent to tell me the obvious: Kaitlyn parle beaucoup. Mais, en anglais. Yes, yes. I told her that Kaitlyn has been taking French lessons and she seemed happy to hear that… but there’s no denying it doesn’t seem to be doing much.
I don’t want to push her so hard that it becomes a battle I can never, ever win.
[The following was written by an amateur writer on a closed course of advice. Do not attempt at home.]
Maybe the approach is simply the opportunity to be immersed in French is far from meaning it’s mandatory. Kaitlyn communicates with both of you in English, and must be doing okay at school where they don’t speak English, however she’s communicating. She may become a master charade player, but that’s an accomplishment, too. If your goal was to teach French at a university when you return to the US, more intense attention would need to be paid to your learning curve. Since that isn’t your goal, just bask in the fun of living in a foreign country, interacting with the residents however it happens. I’d let Kaitlyn continue French lessons until she seems to balk at them. She too doesn’t have to become fluent. Whatever happens, happens!