SEVEN children, aged six to eight, dressed in the uniforms of various Drogheda junior schools, sit playing Happy Families, shooting back answers to questions about the cards they're holding in French. C'est quoi ca?" La famille poisson." C'est ta famille?" Non." The fact that they're learning French is more "or less forgotten in the drive to be the first to put together a nuclear family from the animal kingdom. C'est ta famille?" Robert claps his "hand over his eyes. Oh no! Non, " he says.
This is a group from a class of Le Club Francais in Drogheda, run by Pascale Menard, a French woman who lives in the town. The club is one of dozens throughout the country, part of an educational movement that started in Britain and has been operating in Ireland for three years.
The idea is to learn through playing, singing, colouring and drawing. The emphasis is on structured play, using children's natural impulse to learn to help them pick up vocabulary, and their lack of inhibitions to get them speaking with a good French accent ..early on.
One the teachers often says five is about the best time to learn to roll a French `r'," says Tony Burdett, who heads the clubs. in Ireland. The Club Francais educational movement started in England, and the basic course was designed by three linguists, one of them French, with game lessons devised by a Belgian child psychologist.
There are specific courses targeted by age and experience five year olds may learn the same vocabulary as 10 year old beginners, but they will be using less complex games or worksheets. "It's not school, and I tell them they must not worry about learning everything the first time, that they will pick it up the next time, or the time after that," says Pascale Menard.
"Hard stuff", like grammar, the children will learn at senior school, she emphasises there is no homework and anything they learn here is meant to be fun to learn. Pa scale shows prompt cards with pictures of animals' and the children are hopping off their seats to identify them. "Zooihso," says Aine, when a picture of a bird comes up. Everyone's having difficulty with this the word for bird is new this week. Oiseau," says Pascale. Everyone laughs.
The second time through the cards, confidence is improving. When an answer is blurted out in English, Pascale repeats it in French. And although conversation is in English, prompt questions C'est quoi ai", Combien?" are often in both languages. A few moments later the children are picking cards, and acting out the animals for the others to identify. Aine pulls off a shockingly accurate tortoise. "Tortue," everyone yells.
THE club now has 3,000 members aged between three and 12. There are groups around the country from Rosslare to Donegal, and each teacher is fluent in French. "Most are native speakers or graduates," says Tony. "Many of our clubs are based in schools, and some schools use our courses in ordinary classes," he adds.
A membership card and badges, club cassette, comics, activity sheets and a tape are supplied. There are no text books, but there are competitions, merit certificates and pen pals. The charge varies according to teacher and venue, but most work out around or less than £3 a class.
