Upper School Students teach French in pre-Kindergarten

Lower School expanded its language program this year to include pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students so girls can have more exposure and experience before they decide which language they want to take. Since this is the first time many of the little girls have been exposed to foreign languages, they often mix them up.

“A lot of the time they will blurt out the wrong language and I’ll easily be able to correct them and say, ‘Yes, that’s how you say it in Spanish, but what about French?’” Such are the challenges of teaching a foreign language to pre-kindergarten students explains senior Daniele who taught French in Lower School this quarter.

The Upper School French students have helped the girls learn basic greetings, vocabulary of classroom objects, numbers, conversational phrases, and colors in French. “My favorite color was rouge [red]. I like red bows,” says pre-K  student Kate, practicing her new vocabulary.

“I’ve been able to talk to them about my experiences growing up in a French-speaking household and also the benefits of being able to speak another language,” Danielle says, since she speaks French and Spanish. She has taken both French and Spanish classes at Hockaday, as well.

Danielle has experienced the benefits of being a teacher figure in these girls’ lives. Having attended Hockaday in the Lower School, Danielle has loved returning to her roots by traveling back down to the language department where she spent many fun hours as a Lower School Hockadaisy.

“It’s kind of fun to be that person that they all look up to. Then I’ll see the girls at lunch or walking by in the halls and they all wave and smile at me— it’s nice to feel connected to lower school again. It’s been a while.”

Though the girls are small, they catch on quickly. Danielle says, “Surprisingly, even though I’ve only gone to help out a couple times, each time I went back it was really rewarding to see the improvement and progress they had made.” She continues, “When you first introduce something new they are all pretty lost but after reviewing a few times, they catch on very quickly!”

Junior Megan, another helper with the program, has seen the same transition in the girls, and she says, “I’ve loved watching the girls go from tentatively saying vocab to being able to shout it out with a big smile and fully participate in the games.”

With Danielle and Megan, the girls like to blurt out answers, even if they don’t know the answer. They are very eager to be called on by the older girls and then answer the question. Megan laughs, “I’m not really sure how the word for a female teacher sounds like the word for a table but somehow that tends to be the guess.”

Megan and Danielle play games with the girls, use puppets for some activities and sing lots of songs. These teaching techniques have made a lasting impression on the girls.

Pre-k student Paige favorite part of class was “when we got to have puppets,” while another pre-kindergartener, Ashley chose “Playing the Roscoe Game.”

When they play games with their eyes closed, the girls peek every time. Danielle says, “Even if I call them out on it, they just look through their fingers.”

At the end of a class “They hug me and all say ‘Au revoir & Adios,’ Danielle says, “I feel kind of bad that we don’t give our Upper School Teachers the same reactions. It’s quite rewarding.”

—Andrea