The majority of our students come from a French immersion background, followed by core, private and then homeschool. Students are broken into 3 age categories: 5-6, 7-9 and then 10-13. In our youngest age group of ages 5-6, many children have not yet started French immersion or are considering it while some have maybe had 1 year experience. In our older groups there are mostly french immersion students, however we do often have enthusiastic core, private and homeschool students and this is awesome too!

NO, we do not speak French 100% of the time. At Les Petites Pommes, whether it is during our in-person or online programming, we have chosen to use a bilingual approach to language learning. This means that while we will speak French the majority of the time (and our teachers are fluent in both French and English), we will use English to support the teaching of new concepts and not penalize children for not being able to communicate 100% in French. We find that this creates an inclusive, accessible and supportive environment for language learning as students are not constantly called out for being at different levels of their development and language learning journey. We can quickly identify students levels and if we notice for example, they are not communicating in French to their potential, we will encourage and motivate them positively to try again en français.

Data shows that students using a bilingual method of language acquisition score just as well on tests but more importantly to us, as we consider that language learning is a practice that takes years of study and self motivation on the students part outside of their time with us, a bilingual approach leaves a student feelings more confident by increasing their instances of positive interactions and ultimately more satisfied with their learning experience. This will increase their success as they go on to other stages of their language learning like back to school in September, exchanges in Quebec or France, high-school, post-secondary etc. We have practiced this method for the past 11 years and have seen the positive.

The bilingual approach mentioned above is one of the key ways how we manage and address multiple levels in one classroom in terms of ensuring understanding, participation and a positive learning experience for our campers. Another way we manage this is by specifically creating activities that have different tiers and paths towards completion. For example, a writing activity which may ask about what a child’s favourite part of the day was maybe completed with a single sentence, varying lengths of a paragraph or simply a picture depending on age and ability. This allows students to work at their own levels and not compare themselves to each other. When students are not constrained by expectations and fearful that their work is not good enough, they simply start to take joy and pride in their accomplishments and improvement naturally occurs. This is the opportunity that camp provides us and what makes our program a place for students to flourish and keeps them coming back every year. You’d be surprised how often we hear, “At first my child didn’t want to go to French camp, but now it is their favourite camp!”

YES! Many of our students in our 5-6 group have not started French immersion yet. It is our honour to be your child’s first experience with learning and hearing French and our main goal is to leave them feeling excited, confident and motivated to start at school!

At Les Petites Pommes, we have always tried to lead with kindness and generosity and now more than ever, we believe it is what is going to get us through the pandemic. If you sign up for camp and after the first day your child decides they do not like it for whatever reason, we are happy to refund you for the days you did not use. You will only be charged for the day that was used plus the cost of shipping the workbook to your house.

We have had many shy children attend our camps over the years and this is no different in our online programs. In the case of online, if the child is very nervous, we usually recommend them participating with their camera off for the first little bit as they get used to the new people and get comfortable with us. We still include them in conversations and we wait until they want to participate by choice. This is just one scenario, we are happy to work with families and come up with different solutions together.

As teachers running this program, we also share these concerns and will address them with you:

1. Too much screen time: An increasing number of paediatricians and researchers are beginning to believe that it is not exactly the amount of time spent on screens but the kind of screen time that really matters. Online camp is “Active Screen time” where your child will be engaging both mentally and physically with us as oppose to “passive screen time” where the child is simply watching YouTube or Netflix. Active Screen Time with our camp will allow your child to boost their French skills and connect with children across Canada creating a sense of community and belonging.

2. Eye-Strain: To battle this, we are implementing the 20-20-20 rule. Developed by an optometrist in California, this rules says that for every 20 minutes spent looking at a screen, a person should look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. We will watch the clock and prompt this for our students and teachers as well (of course, we will make it into a fun game).

3. Sitting too long: As teachers who will be running 6 hours of online teaching, we also share the concern of sitting for too long which is why we built into both our AM and PM sessions’ curriculums movement components including stretching, yoga and dancing en français!

Our teachers for our online camp are native French and FSL post-secondary students who are currently completing their French degrees in pursuant of a teaching degree and also current teacher’s college students who are on route to becoming French teachers. They are youthful, enthusiastic and motivated to help your child succeed in French.

While we are based in Hamilton, Ontario, we welcome students from all over Canada to come and participate in online camp with us. Please note that our sessions 9:00am-12:00pm and 1:00pm-4:00pm are listed in Eastern Standard Time and the time difference will have to be taken into account for your participation.