Favorite French Cartoons for Little Language Learners

March 11, 2014 by Michele Cherie

My husband and I are quite selective about what our children watch. In fact, they don't watch any live television, but they've seen their share of Pixar films. For entertainment and language comprehension, though, my four-year-old daughter and I occasionally watch French cartoons on YouTube while her little brother naps. Here are my top four favorite French cartoons (dessins animés) for young children, selected for their clear language, amusing and age-appropriate plots, and entertainment value:

When Mothering is a Struggle: On Anger and Forgiveness

March 06, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Reflections on Parenting

My heart is heavy, mes amis, because I yelled at my little ones today--full volume anger about their inability to get along harmoniously while I made dinner. It was an extra-long parenting day since my husband couldn't make it home until bedtime. My children and I had passed the afternoon with violin lessons followed by free play in the pouring rain, but the kitchen was a mess and my fatigue reared up with such harsh words. I apologized and embraced my children, trying to restore those bonds of love, but even though children are able to forgive and move on so much more quickly than adults, we adults know the damage is deeper than they realize.

Carnival in France through Children's Eyes

March 04, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Cultural Reflections, Reflections on Parenting

Living in the U.S., I've always associated Mardi Gras with the beaded necklaces and parade trinkets linked to the New Orleans celebration. Now that I am raising my children in French, however, I've learned that the pre-Lent carnival season in France is largely an occasion for children to celebrate, somewhat like Halloween in the U.S. Here's what I mean:

A French Magazine for Early Childhood: Toupie + Chansons

March 03, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Teaching French, French Resources, French Language Learning

Bonjour, les amis! If you're searching for a French children's magazine for ages 3-6, my four-year-old and I highly recommend Toupie et Chansons. (If you prefer a French magazine for toddlers, try Popi; for other ages, here's how to subscribe to other French children's magazines.) We've subscribed to Toupie for two years now, and my daughter re-reads the issues several times per week. Well, technically she can't read yet, but she spends impressive amounts of time staring at the pages and re-reading them with me.

C'est le Weekend: Links You'll Like

February 28, 2014 by Michele Cherie

Bonjour, les amis! We jump into March this weekend, though my children have already been puddle jumping for weeks. This last week was so rainy and windy that many neighborhood trees broke, including a century-old cedar that fell across a nearby road. It was a sad sight and I didn't photograph it, but it reminded me of when I took photos of our neighborhood cedars for my first blog post last September.

Making Your Children's Books Bilingual

February 26, 2014 by Michele Cherie in French Language Learning, Teaching French

When I began reading to my infant daughter, her books weren't difficult to translate into French because the vocabulary was so simple. As she grew a bit older, the texts became a bit more difficult, of course, but my translating became more habitual and effortless. Now that she's about to turn five, however, I'm more concerned that the text on the page consistently matches the words that she hears, because I want her to make the phonetic connections that will eventually lead to reading on her own.

So when I spotted Les œufs verts au jambon--the French version of Green Eggs and Ham--at Anthropologie last year, I was tempted to buy it even though we already own the English version. But my daughter saw me ogling the book and pointed out that we already own it. She didn't care that our version wasn't in French, because I had always read it in French anyhow. Point taken. But I'd also wanted it because my oral translation is never as good as the written translation--especially when it comes to the rhyming lines of Dr. Seuss.

Living Without Dairy Products: A Healthier Diet

February 24, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Home Management, Cultural Reflections

I've always loved dairy products--I grew up eating cold cereal with cow's milk for breakfast and after-school snack, and if you had asked me in my preteen years to describe my ideal diet, my answer would have included a lot of Kraft macaroni and cheese. (I was an American child of the 80s, when processed foods were proliferating). But in my early twenties I started noticing that certain yogurts gave me gas, and after I got food poisoning in Hungary, I started experiencing brief but recurrent stomach pain. It took a miserable (but free) nasogastroscopie in France for me to understand that my stomach was fine, but it could no longer digest the dairy products I was putting into it.

Nonetheless, it wasn't until I read Alisa Marie Fleming's nutritional guide and cookbook, Go Dairy Free, that I realized that replacing dairy products with plant-based foods was probably one of the best nutritional actions I could take--and it was much easier than I had realized.

Ironic Comedy: Speaking a Foreign Language in America

February 21, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Reflections on Parenting, Teaching French, French Language Learning

As a non-native French speaker in America, I find that using French with my children provokes amusing responses from others. Never mind that I'm a certified French teacher--when family members first heard me speak to my children, they stared at me like I'd walked into the room dressed as Marie Antoinette with her signature wig. Some of my in-laws hadn't even realized I knew French, apparently.