021: Michele Cherie | How Non-Native Speakers Can Raise Their Kids Bilingual

Bilingual Kids Rock Podcast: Raising Multilingual Children, Multicultural Living, Growing Up With Multiple Languages.

My guest in this podcast episode is Michele Cherie and she’s the founder of Intentional Mama. She writes about making purposeful choices for culturally-rich, perfectly paced family life–with a French twist.

Michele is a former French teacher who is now dedicated to raising her two children and she’s also a non native speaker who speaks French to her daughters. I was very excited to talk to Michele about her views on language and raising bilingual kids as a non native speaker.

In this episode of Bilingual Kids Rock podcast:

00:45 Introduction to Michele Cherie – founder of Intentional Mama

02:23 How did Michele learn language that paved the way to her career as a French teacher?

05:41 What made her decide to teach her daughter to learn French?

07:45 Did Michele go through French children’s books before she started reading to your daughter?

10:15 What was her family’s reaction to her decision to teach French to her kids?

12:17 Michele’s take on her husband speaking Thai to their kids

13:00 Did it take a long time for Michele to speak French to her daughter?

16:40 Does Michele have any tricks of learning French?

18:00 Did she have a hard time when she also started speaking French to her son?

19:01 What language does her kids speak to each other? French or English

24:12 Does Michele speak French or English to her children in public?

26:01 Discussing road trips and moving to a state

27:09 Michele recommends one of the best resources book for parents teaching French

29:30 Should parents continue speaking a non native language to their kids even if they feel they’re not up to par with the language level?

33:42 Does she have to put in more effort to immerse her kids in the French culture since Michele grew up in a different one?

35:40 World citzens VS one culture citizens

37:00 Michele Cherie’s career from volunteer to French teacher

39:24 Homeschooling – Is it a path that Michele wants to do for her kids?

43:11 What is Michele’s advise for parents who are looking to raise their kids

45:10 Closing Remarks

Quotes

• “I think studying abroad is the best way to become fluent and fully immerse yourself to be more comfortable in the language”

• On teaching her daughter French – “It’s a gift that I want to be able to give to my child. It’s something that I really love – the French culture and language”

• “Progression is more important than perfection”

• “Everything you give to your child is beneficial. Just do your best. Seek out a community, get support from native speakers and organize a play group for your kids”

Items mentioned in this episode:

Raising a Bilingual Child by Barbara Pierson

Les Petits Livres – French books for children

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