Jennys

Can anyone help me find a set of booking conditions for a gite in French? I have seen the English version posted on a thread last year but I think it would be very difficult to translate into French myself. Thanks Jenny

Jason My children came here 3 years ago, aged 4 and 6 and settled in very easily at school. They also both started activities out of school, swimming, football, judo and gymnastics. All these activities are completely independant from school, often run by associations. You can ask the other parents what their children do and the local Mairie often has a list of associations in the area. There was no problem in them being accepted with the other children, although their lack of understanding of French was a problem to start with, but they learnt very quickly and they could always copy the other children. One problem you may have is the age of your daughter as I found that a lot of activities started from aged 6. Good luck with your move. Jenny

Just thought I would add my experiences. We moved here just over 3 years ago with our 6 year old son and our 4 year old daughter. They couldn't speak French at all except for the basics: hello, goodbye, yes, no, please and thank you and a phrase I thought was important, if they were caught short in class "Je veux pipi". They found it difficult for the first couple of weeks, but they had the advantage of being in the same school, so they had each other to speak to. As for making friends, my son's birthday is in the middle of September and he already had his invitation list after 2 weeks at school. After several months they were both completely fluent in speaking French. We always speak English at home, so I didn't hear them speaking French until I started taking them to swimming lessons with a French friend and they spoke French in the car. I was amazed at their progress! I think they would start to lose their English if we did not speak it at home as they do sometimes use the French grammar rules. As for reading and writing in French, I am not sure how long they took, but they both have no difficulties when compared to the other children in their classes (who are all French). I also buy English revision books (via the Internet from England) and we have "English" lessons at home. Hope this helps. Jenny P.S. As I am new to this forum, can someone please tell me what LOL means!!