How to Help Your Children Learn French During the Holiday Season

Even though educators know that foreign languages are best learned during childhood, most schools don't offer any type of language education to children. As a parent, if you want your children to succeed in learning French and becoming fluent one day, it's best to take an active role in helping developing their language skills. While your children are home from school this holiday season, try using some of their free time to introduce French vocabulary and expressions. Small exposures to language over time are much better than trying to learn a whole language in a traditional course.

Sing French Christmas Songs Together

One of the most fun and easy things for the entire family to do is to sing French Christmas carols together this holiday season. Even if you don't know a single word of French, you can print out copies of the lyrics to the most popular French Christmas songs and try to sing along with the music. With the help of a dictionary and some online translations, you can help both your children's and your own French vocabulary. Many French Christmas carols are sung to the same melodies that you already know. For example, "Douce Nuit" is the French version of Silent Night, "Vive Le Vent" is the French "Jingle Bells", and "Maman Embrasse le Père-Noël" is a French Christmas song sung similar to "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." More French Christmas songs can be found here .

Make French Crafts and Ornaments

When I was a kid, I loved the opportunity to sit with my friends and make Christmas ornaments together. Using simple art materials, you can do the same. But the trick to making it an educational experience is to find festive pictures that can be glued or drawn onto the ornaments. Then, in an English-French dictionary, look up the words and have your children write them on the ornament. When they're looking around the tree during the holidays, they'll be exposed to the vocabulary many times which will help them remember the vocabulary better. Here's a tip though- remember in French, unlike English, all objects are either masculine or feminine so you will need to write "un" or "une", "le" or "la".

Cook and Bake Together

Nothing smells better than a house filled with baked goods during the holiday season. But the time it takes to cook and bake can also be educational. Using an English-French dictionary, you can find the French equivalent of common ingredients such as flour, salt, cinnamon, eggs, sugar, and etc. If your French is good enough, you can try asking your children which ingredient comes next in the recipe in French and they should answer in French. Even a few minutes to an hour of being immersed in a language can help your children with their French when it comes time to learn it late in middle school or in high school.

Learning French outside of a classroom without the stress of grades and verb conjugations can actually make learning this language much more interesting for both parents and children. This year, try introducing some elements of the French language into your holiday celebrations. That way, your children will thank you when it comes time to being tested and graded on their French skills. Plus, it's a simple way to add a touch of something unique to your holidays.