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Meeting: February 1st

Want to know what to expect at Collège? What should you look out for when choosing the best Collège for your child? What options are available? What should you do about English lessons and homework?

Come along to the next bilingual support meeting on Monday Feb 1st in Chef Boutonne. Meet other parents with children already in Collège and share questions and experiences. Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert will lead the discussion with a focus on the bilingual child.

5€ for non members and 3€ for members. Please contact Kathryn to reserve your place or for more information.

Tuesday, Dec 1st - informal discussion group:

"The joys and pitfalls of bringing up bilingual children in France".

We had an enjoyable meeting and lively discussion about the opportunities and challenges facing us and our children. We were lucky to have several participants who had grown up in multilingual families themselves as well as teachers (both English and French) and of course, Suzanne guiding us through the research and strategies available on bilingualism. A summary of the discussion points is available here.

Our next meeting will be Feb 1st 2010. You can join our Facebook group to keep up to date with our discussions and planned.

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Accents are pleased to announce the launch of the all new

Bilingual Support Group

On June 12th, Accents hosted the inaugural meeting for the new Parents' Support Network in Civray (86).  We were overjoyed to welcome over 30 interested parents who all had the same aim - to meet other parents in a similar position to themselves to share ideas, concern and knowledge.

After a brief introduction by Peter and Kathryn, we opened the meeting up to discover the topics and ideas of the parents (and teachers) present. This is a summary of the many points put forward (please note that this is still work in progress):

FORMAT

Whilst initially the group will be regionally focussed on Poitou-Charentes, the long term aim is to unite all expat (immigrant?) parents across France to share both experiences and knowledge in order to support their children through the French education system. This will be via an on-line forum as well as through seminars and workshops tackling specific issues.

TOPICS

An initial list of subject areas was identified:

0. Language / Communication between parents and teachers
0. Bilingualism - how to achieve and the challenges along the way
0. Basic information on the French education system
0. Internet forum for exchanging ideas and knowledge
0. Focus on transition stages - e.g. primaire to collège
0. Special help for specific needs like dyslexia
0. Relationship with health and other services (including diet /school meals)
0. Out of area / home schooling options

TO DO

• A steering group to be formed
• We need to gather information
• Collate a list of individuals willing to support the PSN
• Develop an internet forum
• Arrange a seminar on Bilingualism for Sept / Oct '09
• Approach Euro MPs for funding

Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert (author of Language strategies for bilingual families–OPOL) will explain the schooling system and share the latest research into language acquisition with this age group.

Sarah McKeown (British State Registered Speech Therapist) will also talk about the development of speech at this stage. What is perfectly normal and when should we seek help with their English?

Come along and speak to other parents in the same situation and parents whose children have already completed Maternelle.

€3 for members / €5 for non-members

Lunch is available at La Grande Galerie afterwards and details will sent out as participants confirm. If you'd just like to come along for lunch and to meet the other parents, let me know. To reserve a place please contact Kathryn on 0549 971017 or by e-mail .