Who said the TV was bad for the kids?

All around us scientist and experts are saying that children watch too much TV...Well I agree! But why not use the things they like to do to interest them in something we care about...

Learning French is not an easy task,in fact learning any language can be difficult. Especially if you take only the school road : grammar, exams, etc. It puts too much pressure on something that should be fun and almost exciting.

Learning a second language can open you doors, give you new opportunities, get better jobs (or at least more choices).

Before you learn it, you have to develop an interest for it.

First you get in contact with it, after you want to use it or understand it,than you learn it and finally you try to get better at it. It puts a meaning to the act of learning.

This is how I learned English, it all started when I was in High school, there was never anything on TV when I came back from school, so I started watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air...I loved that show! At first I could only understand a couple of words here and there, and the more I watched it, the more I could understand it. That's where my passion for languages started.

So my suggestion for today is simple:
- if you have young children at home, find a program they might enjoy watching ( in French please :) ) and sit them in front of that enemy. Usually if you start very early you won't get many complaints. And it will be easier for you to insist on the importance of French when school will start.
- if they are a little older, give them choices and insist that they watch ONE program of French everyday...even the news, anything will do..they want to watch TV after school, well French it is...they can't switch to English until they watched one full program.
- if they like to plug themselves on video games, well in Quebec a lot of games now have the French option, tell them they can play only if it's in French...oh yeah, expect a lot of complaints but maybe one day they will thank you!

We are so blessed in Quebec, the language is right there...the movies are made in French (actually Quebec is a big part of movie production in Canada)not translated. Radio-Canada and Télé-Québec have a great amount of programs for children and young adults...use the tools you have to the maximum! Expose them to the language as much as possible and it will come easier to them when the teacher talks to them in French on the first day of school!