Our bilingual approach in a nutshell
At Crechappy, we strongly believe that bilingual environments should not be a privilege of the upper middle class or of multi-cultural families. We also do not want to transform children into little genious, we only want to create a natural exposition to the two languages. We welcome those who believe as much as we do that being bilingual is already a norm and an easier skill to develop for young ears and brains. Half of the planet grows up with at least two languages and almost everyone learns several languages over a life time nowadays. It is time to develop in France a stronger exposure of very young children to foreign languages !
Finding English speaking or bilingual people with a diploma in childcare remains a challenge in France. Quite often, bilingual nurseries are created from a couple of individuals, one being from another language, but no organized network of bilingual nurseries has been developped yet. We believe that recruitment is the bottleneck, because parents’ demand is quite clearly there !
Here is our « solution » : we aim to split our recruitments in two equal shares, looking for French speaking or English speaking collaborators. Since it is a team of two adults that is looking after the children in a micro-crèche, if we pair a French speaker with an English speaker, children will hear both languages all day long.
This 50/50 immersion in two languages is our target for all the micro-crèches we hope to open. If we have bilingual recruits, perfect ! But recruits could also speak only one language, provided they speak it perfectly, because we want children to hear good accents, and they are keen to learn the other language. We may have to recruit abroad, and we will look for partnering nurseries in other countries. It is quite an adventure and we still have a long way to go, but if we make it happen, this will be an opportunity for Crechappy collaborators to have a continuous language training, and possibly to work abroad. Collaborators at Crechappy will have a good chance to become better bilinguals, just like the kids ! And with our workshops and evening classes, our offer to progress in French and English while having fun could impact everyone around the Crechappy babies. We do bet on people, no matter the age !
Beyond this natural oral exposure to both languages through the contact with our team members, babies will be exposed to many English and French speaking cultures around the world through stories, songs, games, and celebrations. Crechappy’s receipe is not more complicated than doing the same than any other nursery, but in two languages and many cultures !
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