Hooray!

Much jubilation in the household today as we have just learned that the Minx has been accepted at the local French immersion school and, come September, will join their petite maternelle section and be taught 80% in French. The school itself is lovely with small class sizes and a real family atmosphere and the Minx loved it to bits in her 'interviews'. 

I studied French at university and can speak it pretty well, but even after twelve years of study could never match the effortless bilingualism that tiny children can muster if taught early enough.  We're absolutely thrilled that she's going to get this opportunity and happy because it also means she will receive a rather more Euro-centric education than she would have done in a normal American school -useful for when we decide to return. And even better, it means that going to live in France in a few years is now a possibility.

Having said which, it looks like we might be staying in Seattle longer than we originally thought as the chances of her getting such a good education back in London are zero.   And the thought that the Minx's education is now sorted for the foreseeable future is a very relaxing one.

And yes, I do realise that we are just one big hideous ambulatory middle-class parental cliche'.

Comments

[maja]

c'est manifique! now is the perfect time for her to start learning a new language. i did the immersion thing twice, once at an international school in france, and the other time as exchange student in denmark. i was 12 and 16 respectively, but would have certainly benefitted from starting much younger.

[corine]

You are none of these things!

And your (amazingly beautiful) daughter already wears a crown like a reine!

You know, i like the educational system here. Less about memorizing and more about developing the whole individual. With a French shool you get best of both worlds.

[Camilla]

Congrats to the Minx.

But when she's not speaking French won't she be talking with a US twang that you were at pains to avoid?! ;-p

C
xx

PS There's always the Lycee in South Ken, when/if you do return. With the bonus of spotting Madonna at parents' evenings.

[paola]

We are already fighting a losing battle with the Yankee accent. And apparently there are now so many French in London that if you're not a French national it is IMPOSSIBLE to get into the Lycee (which begs the question how Madonna managed it). Maybe we'll just have to move to Paris instead :)

Corine, thanks for saying that my daughter is beautiful. I too like the idea of mixing French discipline with the more laissez faire Anglo Saxon approach (though the thing that tickles me most is that she will learn the very curly, oh so French handwriting). But at the moment she is being such a PITA that I'm just sad it's not a boarding school....

[megan]

Oh, congratulations to the Minx!

[dana]

What a heart-tuggingly beautiful picture of the Minx! I dare you to look at it in ten years time without crying. Congratulations on her acceptance to the ecole francais. What a great chance for her.

[Di Overton]

We sent our youngest daughter to a school that taught French from the age of 3. She now lives in Paris and is more French than she is English.
Your little Minx looks adorable.