A visit from Joséphine!

Last night, we took the boys to play in the "aeroplane park" round the corner, then after homework played "Snail Trail" to learn colours and numbers. I am so glad that I kept a lot of the games that I used to use for teaching English to little children at home : most of the games can easily be used for teaching French to English grandsons. We only had 4 players, but needed 6, so Nana and Tony were roped in in absentia to make up the numbers. Well done, Tony, you came in second.

Louis came home from school last night with a comment from his teacher written in his notebook : "Louis is tired." We are doing what we can to help them to recuperate from the Spanish trip. Louis had to make up the homework he missed, so I have been feeding it in by dribbles.

Today, Wednesday, there was no school. The boys slept in until 8h45, then we got ready for the swimming lesson, which went very well. They are in the same class, and they soon understood  that if they didn't understand the instructions, they could take their cues from the other children. "We don't even need to speak French! " Hmm.

Gestures are a great help, and they boys are learning fast. Sacha over lunch gave us a tremendous imitation of the face his teacher pulls when she doesn't understand him, complete with Gallic shrug, raised eyebrows, and puffed out cheeks.
After lunch, came the long-awaited visit from Joséphine! They haven't seen one another since the beginning of the year. She has grown in teeth and inches, and is now the perfect little French girl. Agnès, her mother, is very pleased with the school that they have found for her in Nantes, and she has adapted to the French system very easily.. They were all enchanted by this reunion, and had  a good scream together.We took them to the Arboretum, where there is a nice playground.

 Then back to the house for tea in the garden.

For the final homework session, François heard Louis read, and I went over Sacha's songs with him. He enjoyed the attention, and had understood A LOT. I shall reassure his teacher that all her lovely lessons are not falling on stony ground.