Conversation Exchange
Abe took a leap forward today in his efforts to learn French. He met for the first time with a conversation exchange partner. With a little prompting on my part, he signed up last week for a web site for people hoping to do exchanges (okay, technically I signed him up). He met today with Maria for about 2 hours - for one hour they spoke English and for the other hour French as they walked around the city. They talked about her experiences as an au pair for a rich but unfriendly family in Connecticut (shades of Nanny Diaries), and as an au pair in Spain (she's tri-lingual). They talked about the history and architecture of Paris, family, and lots of other random things. They haven't pinned down an exact schedule, but it seems likely they'll keep meeting.
Meanwhile, Ella had a fantastic week at the centre de loisir (a.k.a. "camp"). They went on outings to the place de vogses playground and did lots of fun art projects. Apparently, Ella "accidentally" chose music instead of plastic arts the first day of camp and, to her disappointment, was stuck with it the whole week. But, frankly, the music activities sounded like a lot of fun, and secretly, I think she thought so too. In addition to cool rhythm activities and playing instruments, she learned some fun camp songs (my favorite: "Tour E, tour E, tour Eiffel. Monte, monte jusqu'au ciel. Si l'ascenseur est cassé, allons prendre l'escaliers" [The Eiffel tower goes up to the sky. If the elevator is broken, let's take the stairs]). This week of having fun with her peers has really seemed to solidify Ella's feeling at home here. She told us she likes French better than English "because that's the language my friends speak." And, she told me today that she is going to be so sad to leave everything here when we go home this summer.
Another benefit to Ella going to the centre was that I was able to work a regular week. I'm really glad I did, because it was a good week. We did our first analyses on the preschool study data and got some really interesting results about the relationship between parents' own eating habits and the way they feed their children. It's a great feeling when the very first analyses you run turn out interesting.
Meanwhile, Ella had a fantastic week at the centre de loisir (a.k.a. "camp"). They went on outings to the place de vogses playground and did lots of fun art projects. Apparently, Ella "accidentally" chose music instead of plastic arts the first day of camp and, to her disappointment, was stuck with it the whole week. But, frankly, the music activities sounded like a lot of fun, and secretly, I think she thought so too. In addition to cool rhythm activities and playing instruments, she learned some fun camp songs (my favorite: "Tour E, tour E, tour Eiffel. Monte, monte jusqu'au ciel. Si l'ascenseur est cassé, allons prendre l'escaliers" [The Eiffel tower goes up to the sky. If the elevator is broken, let's take the stairs]). This week of having fun with her peers has really seemed to solidify Ella's feeling at home here. She told us she likes French better than English "because that's the language my friends speak." And, she told me today that she is going to be so sad to leave everything here when we go home this summer.
Another benefit to Ella going to the centre was that I was able to work a regular week. I'm really glad I did, because it was a good week. We did our first analyses on the preschool study data and got some really interesting results about the relationship between parents' own eating habits and the way they feed their children. It's a great feeling when the very first analyses you run turn out interesting.
posted by M-E Family at 9:25 PM
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