"I speak French and Korean."

Emmett is really proud that he speaks French. He will tell anyone who asks, “I speak French and my mom speaks French but my dad doesn’t.” Speaking French is probably the only thing our four year old can do that his dad can’t -- and he is milking it for all its Oedipal worth! Emmett also took a Tai Kwon Do martial arts class for a few months last year and they taught him to count in Korean. He still likes to do the push ups, yelling out the push up numbers in Korean. When people ask if he speaks French he says “Yes, and Korean!” Even though that is a bit of a stretch, I love that he is excited and proud about his language skills.

Homemade language flash cards not pretty but they work!

Emmett and I made our own flash cards and have been having a great time with them. First, we draw six boxes on a piece of regular paper with a thick black pen. Then, following Emmett’s instructions, I drew a picture in each of the boxes with the word written under it in French. We laughed a lot over my bad drawings (the orange juice picture looked like a UFO landing). Emmett has never really liked store-bought flash cards and always got bored and restless right away when I tried to bring them out, so this was a great way to turn reviewing vocabulary into a fun game.

To play, I point to a box and he has to say in French what the picture is of. If he is having trouble remembering them, I say a word and he has to point to the one it is. Before we start I read through the words again, pointing to each picture and asking him to repeat after me so it sinks into his memory. If he gets five right he gets a gummy bear! We have about six sheets like this and they are really easy to carry around in my purse and bring out when we’re on a long subway ride, or waiting for food at a restaurant.

After much thought and work (and input from children like Emmett) we've finally developed a fun series of Little Pim flash cards in Spanish and French.