After having my own children, I became fascinated with speaking and singing to them in French and wanted to start my own French sessions to give children as young as 3 months an early exposure to language learning. In September 2015, I launched Les Petits Pois Fun French and I now teach around 15 sessions per week across St. Helens and Warrington; parent and baby, parent and toddler and after school fun, as well as running private sessions for childminders, nurseries and schools. Sessions are themed and the children learn through singing, stories, craft and play. The learning is wrapped up inside the fun activities. Although we are learning French, we cover all areas of the early years framework and many from the national curriculum.

Having taught older children for many years, they often dislike language learning as they find it extremely difficult to reproduce the sounds. Very young children can mimic new sounds almost perfectly, much to their parents’ amazement. Children as young as 9 months are able to follow instructions in French, clapping hands, touching body parts etc.