The Teddy Bear Club was featured and quoted in the last issue of the French publication France-Amérique. We are thrilled to be recognized for our efforts in bilingual education! To save you a trip to the newsstand, here is an excerpt from the article translated into English:

The Bilingual Preschool Boom

Contrary to many traditional preschools suffering from the economic crisis in the United States, French-English bilingual preschools are holding up quite well to the recession as confirmed by Steve Barnett, Director for the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University, by Pascale Setbon, founder of the Language and Laughter Studio in Brooklyn, and by Francois Thibaut, founder of the Language Workshop for Children in NY.

In the Boston suburb of Newton, Laura d’Angosse Perlman, founder of Le Club Nounours - also known as The Teddy Bear Club - states that enrollment has not dropped and she is even considering opening a school in New York. “Parents are coming to realize that a bilingual program is important in today’s world,” she explains. “Since our opening in 1993, we have experienced consistent growth. In 2009, this trend will continue.”

À bientôt!

Children all over France wake up Easter morning, excited to find chocolate Easter eggs and candy hidden throughout the house or the yard. Except unlike American Easter legend, the Easter bunny isn’t responsible for these presents – the eggs were brought by the Easter bells! (We call them “Les cloches de Pâques”).

According the tradition, all of the church bells in France fly to the Vatican three days before the Easter holiday. No bells ring in France from the Thursday before Easter when they depart for Italy until Easter Sunday, when they arrive back in France – with all of the Easter eggs and gifts they’ve picked up on their travels. By the time they ring again on Easter morning, all of the children know the bells are back in town and bearing gifts!

This is why if you are in France over Easter the windows of patisseries are filled with beautiful chocolate bells intricately designed and decorated, in honor of the Easter trip the bells take every year.

À bientôt!

With the start of our blog we wanted to take a moment to talk about our philosophy and why bilingual education is so important to us. Our son was raised in a bilingual environment, and we feel that in addition to the obvious benefits of speaking two languages he was exposed to cultural differences that fostered an understanding and tolerance he may not have otherwise learned.

Researchers tend to agree with our anecdotal evidence. Countless studies have demonstrated the value of learning a second language at a young age, though the idea is not a radical or new one. In fact linguist Eric Lenneberg created the critical period hypothesis (CPH) in 1967, stating there is a critical period of language acquisition that ends by puberty – thus preventing those learning a language after childhood from being truly bilingual.

From a cultural perspective, psychologists also seem to concur. The Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology states, “Bilinguals can act as links, not only within the nuclear and extended family and the community, but across societies…Because language and culture are inextricably linked, bilingualism provides the opportunity to experience two or more cultures in very authentic ways…Furthermore, because two languages provide access to a wider cultural experience, there is often a greater tolerance of cultural diversity.” (p. 106)

The encyclopedia even posits that bilinguals may have cognitive advantages over their peers, including faster progress in early cognitive development and greater understanding between objects and their labels.

We feel that the students at the Teddy Bear Club are being exposed to the same nurturing environment our son was. By learning the language, customs, food, and holidays of another country we are celebrating differences and embracing common values.

À bientôt!

We all know April Fool’s Day in the US is a day to play tricks and practical jokes. In France this custom is similar, but just a bit different. We call it “poisson d’avril” (meaning April’s fish) and the prank is always the same – children spend the day trying to attach a paper fish to other people’s backs without being noticed.

There’s no concrete evidence as to why the date of April 1st is significant, but we do know that France adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1582, shifting New Year’s Day to the first of January from the first of April. Legend has it that with the resulting confusion the “April Fools” who hadn’t yet adjusted to the new calendar were wishing people a Happy New Year in April, and practical jokes sprung up as a way to poke fun at their mistakes.

But why fish? Your guess is as good as ours – perhaps you should cut out a paper fish and try the “cultural experience” yourself!

À bientôt