Coucou Loulou

Bali friends with small humans!

Come and join me and Loulou for a multilingual singalong at .bali this Sunday 11 am.

Because it takes a village 🙏🏼
and because singing is ALWAYS a good idea ✨

Come and share the joy, connect with your littles and learn a few words in another language at the same time - pretty nifty!

From « ma famille » to yours: have a beautiful, peaceful, loving and HEALTHY END OF 2021 and start to 2022.

I hope that 2022 brings us all closer as a family and that our children continue to grow into happy, healthy and (bloody) strong minded individuals 😂🙈🤯!

What do you wish for 2022?!

✅✅Mistake Monday - or a bit of grammar… ✅✅

Wait, what. GRAMMAR?! 😬🤬😩

I know. Big scary word and one that often puts people off learning another language altogether.

But don’t worry - with Coucou Loulou’s unique play-based methodology, the kids don’t know they are learning new grammar - they are just having fun!

This one is a tricky one to grasp for English speakers. Nouns? Genders?! What?!?!

But yes - in French 🇫🇷, words are either feminine or masculine. And therefore, when you want to say “my” something, the word “my” will ALSO be masculine or feminine. Or plural - if there is more than one.

Sometimes, the gender is super intuitive:
mum——> feminine;
dad——> masculine
but other times, not so much
war ——> feminine;
love ——> masculine!

The best way to learn is through practice, and… TRIAL AND ERROR!

And most importantly, do you want to know a little secret?

It really doesn’t matter if you get it wrong.

Seriously: it doesn’t.

Saying “mon” instead of “ma” doesn’t break communication. The person in front of you will still know exactly what you mean.

And what better thing to model to your children than having the courage to have a go, AND make mistakes along the way?!

So have a go - post you answer in the comments - and bonus points of you have no idea and dare to get it wrong! What’s the French for “my dad”, “my mum”, “my parents”?

Une carte spéciale Fête des Pères SUPER FACILE - avec Coucou Loulou!

👨‍👦Il vous faut (you need)

❤️ une feuille de papier (a sheet of paper)
❤️ des feutres bingo (bingo stampers*)
❤️ du washi tape (painters or washi tape)

👨‍👦 comment faire (how to proceed)

❤️ écris ‘PAPA’ en washi tape (write PAPA with your washi tape)
❤️ on tamponne!! (Let’s get stamping!!)
❤️ on attend que ça sèche ⏳⌛️( wait until it’s dry)
❤️ on retire le scotch toouuuut doucement (take off the tape reeeeeaaaally slowly)
❤️ TADAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

👨‍👦 Some useful words:

❤️ colle /koll/ - stick
❤️ tamponne /ton-ponn/ - stamp
❤️ attends /ah-ton/ - wait
❤️ décolle /deh-koll/ - peel off; un-stick

*if you don’t have bingo stampers, you could also use a wide paintbrush and paint lots of dots. Another really fab idea is to use an old tooth brush and ‘spray’ pain on the whole sheet; a little messier but it looks fantastic!

Et oui, c’est tout facile mais le résultat est super chouette. Plusieurs enfants peuvent contribuer et c’est pour tous les âges, même les tous petits!

(Yes, it’s super simple but the result is really fab. Several children can contribute and it is suitable for all ages, including very young kids!)

Montrez-moi vos œuvres d’art!

(Show me your masterpieces!)

👨‍🦱😍🐢 NEW FLASHCARD ALERT 👨‍🦱😍🐢

Joyeuse Fête des Pères to all the fabulous Papas out there - enjoy practising your best French accent this week-end with our brilliant Papa-themed flashcard, complete with pronunciation help!

Search all our previous flashcards with

Don’t forget to save this flashcard (click the little flag below this picture, on the right) - you can even create folders, so you could have a folder just for these flashcards and then practise them on the go!

What will the Papa in your family get this weekend? Une grasse matinée? (Which means ‘a fat morning’… how this came to mean ‘a lie-in’ is beggar’s belief…!) Une bière? Un bisou? Un câlin? Un petit-déjeuner au lit?

Or all of the above? Comment below to let me know!

👨‍🦱🧔👱 Bonne fête papa 👨‍🦱🧔👱

It’s Father’s Day in many countries this coming Sunday - and here is a wonderfully delicious and entertaining gift idea for all the Papas around the world!

Do you know the game ‘Tic, Tac, Toe’ ? In French, it’s called ‘le morpion’ [luh moor-pee-on].

This sweet idea comes from (photo credit to them).

I have tweaked the recipe however and am sharing with you my ULTIMATE ‘sablés’ recipe - it will never fail, is super quick to make even for small Loulous, tastes amazing and isn’t too sweet. You might want to add a flavour, such as lemon zest or vanilla, or go off piste and incorporate lavender and thyme or even a bit of rhum! MIAM!

You will need (French version in the pictures)
🍪 120 g butter
🍪 260 g flour
🍪 80 g sugar
🍪 1 egg
🍪 1 pinch of salt

Steps:
🍪 Mix all the ingredients together
🍪 Leave the dough in the fridge for about 1 hr
🍪 Preheat your oven to 210°C
🍪 Roll it out to approx. 5mm thickness
🍪 Cut out the letters P and A with a knife
🍪 Make 4 strips of dough and connect them together to form your grid
🍪 Bake for 8-10 minutes
🍪 HAVE FUN!

I will be posting more ideas and vocabulary this week so stay tuned.

What are your plans for “La Fête des Pères”? Comment below to let me know.

It’s TOP TIPS TUESDAY!

This is something that o have been asked so many times: which games should we play with our children to facilitate speaking in the minority language?

Well, a while ago, I asked YOU guys, and these are some of the wonderful responses you gave me, so I wanted to share them today.

What are your favourite games to play (or facilitate) to encourage your child to speak French?

Comment below 👇🏽 to let me know!

And don’t forget to save this post for future reference ✔️

It’s MISTAKE MONDAY!

Uh oh - I am bored = ⛔je suis ennuyé?⛔? Non!

Je suis ennuyé = I am annoyed? ⛔⛔⛔ Non, non, non!

🥱 I am bored = je m’ennuie [juh mon-nweee]🥱

And

😤 I am annoyed = je suis énervé [juh sweet eh-ner-veh] 😤

🤦‍♀️ and guess what? “Je suis ennuyé” isn’t actually technically incorrect French - however it means something along the lines of “I am bothered by this/this doesn’t sit well with me” and is pronounced [juh see zon-nwee-eh]

Super easy mistake to make, because ‘ennuyé’ [oh-nwee-eh] does sound a little bit like ‘annoyed’, right?

And also, how weird is it to say “Je m’ennuie”, effectively “I bore myself”?!

But hey - one thing you realise when you learn languages is that every language has their own little quirks.

And that Google Translate, although super helpful, cannot replace actual translators and context!

Did you check out our Sunday Quiz in Stories? There is still time if not!

SAVE THIS by clicking on the little flag bottom right of this post - you can even create a folder and save all the future posts - and search them with the hashtag

❔❔What other common mistakes would you like me to share next Monday? Comment below to let me know!😘😘

 

IT’S FLASHCARD FRIDAY!

In our online course - First Steps Into French - there is a whole lesson about reading to your child.

Reading daily is a brilliant habit to develop from as early as possible. Did you know that a 20-week old foetus can already hear you? And thy a brand new baby can recognise voices from when he was still unborn?

It’s never too early to start reading to your child. And if you want all the tools, tips and tricks to make it super easy (and fun!) en français, enrol onto the course and get all the insider info.

There’s a little discount code available for newsletter subscribers, so just DM me your email address and I’ll add you to the newsletter list.

Search all our previous flashcards with - don’t forget to save them all!

Downloadable versions coming soon on the website.

Don’t forget to save this flashcard (click the little flag below this picture, on the right) - you can even create folders, so you could have a folder just for these flashcards and then practise them on the go!

🐢🇫🇷5 SIMPLE TIPS TO PROMOTE THE MINORITY LANGUAGE AT HOME 🐢🇫🇷

(FULL LENGTH ARTICLE ON THE BLOG, LINK IN BIO!)

But first - what is the minority language?

It is simply the language spoken by the minority; so if you are a French family living in London, French is the minority language. If you are a British family living in the UK but choosing to speak French some or all of the time with your kids, then French is still the minority language.

Ok. So how do you promote the minority language at home?

Here are 5 simple tips that you can put into practice - TODAY:

1. PLAY
If you have been following Coucou Loulou for a while, you will know that this is what we will always advocate above anything else.

“Play is a child’s work.”

Playing with your child is the single most effective way to promote the minority language.

You can even use it as a bit of a bargaining tool - “Ok, I’ll play with you, but in French.” Trust me, your kid loves playing with you so much that they’ll trade almost anything for it.

And don’t worry - it needn’t be for long.

10 minutes a day of focused, uninterrupted playtime is plenty.

2. CREATE THE NEED
I’ve talked about this before, but without creating the need, your child will probably just slip back into the majority language.

Kids are just like water - they will always take the path of least resistance!

So create the need - make sure your kiddo knows that it’s “French time”, and be consistent.

—— FULL ARTICLE ON OUR BLOG

What are YOUR top tips? Comment below to let me know!

🌍🐢EARTH DAY🐢🌍 here’s another great flashcard for your collection, to celebrate EARTH DAY!

As a family, we are on a mission to reduce our carbon footprint and the kids attending The Green School meaning that they will hopefully become environmental activists very soon 🙏🏼🌍🙌🏼!

Some of the small things we do to minimise our impact (but we’re in no way perfect!)

🌍 use washable nappies - I’ve had these 6 years now and they are still incredible

🌍 use eco friendly laundry detergent

🌍 refrain from using a dryer when we can

🌍 buy second hand whenever possible

🌍 buy good quality items that will last and will be passed or sold on (rather than end up on landfill...)

🌍 educate our children 🙏🏼

What is ONE THING you want to implement from today?

Comment below 👇🏽to let me know!

🇫🇷C’est la rentrée! Bonne rentrée si vos enfants retournent aussi à l’école aujourd’hui! 📚✏️🚍




🇬🇧It’s back to school! Good luck and all the best to your children if they’re going back to school today too! 🚍📚✏️