TV5 Monde?

[yvonne]

Anyone subscribe to TV 5 Monde? Is it worth it? Is there much content appropriate for kids? Are there many documentary or animal ... shows? Or is it more like the total junk, commercial channels in the US?

Thanks!
yvonne

[CleoQc]

We have TV 5 although I rarely watched it. I used to, eons ago, and it was mainly good programs. The idea behind TV 5 is to take the best in francophone tv programming and spread it worldwide. Therefore you can have programs from Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, and African countries. As long as the program is of good quality it may be selected.

I used to watch 30 millions d'amis (http://www.30millionsdamis.fr/lemission/au-sommaire-de-la-semaine.html) and loved Thalassa (http://www.tv5.org/cms/Asie/programmes/p-4724-s4-z1-lg3-THALASSA.htm?prg_id=272161&)


They seem to have new shows: Humanima (http://capsuleshumanima.tv5.ca/) and Zoom animal (http://www.tv5.ca/emissions/zoom-animal-100251415/sentinelles-de-la-nature-islande-100256276.html)

[yvonne]

Hi Cleo,

Thanks for your take on TV5! We don't watch commercial television at all, so I hate to introduce tv watching even if it is in French, but, short of a tutor, I don't know how else to get more French into the kids!

yvonne

[jld]

Yvonne, we had it here until recently, and for some reason it's off the air now. I hesitated to weigh in on this, because I never watched it much when we did have it. We could have watched sports more, or some of the detective shows, but I just didn't think it was the best use of our time, even if it was in French. The kids usually did watch a half hour cartoon most days, but the quality wasn't great. I only turned it on for the language.

Now I mostly just put a Disney movie on in French, or put in the Petit Ours Brun dvd for ds1, just to supplement. That's not perfect, either. It is better than nothing, though, or at least that's how I justify it. Sending them to the grandparents in France has been far and away the best way to improve their French. Could you send them or go with them and visit your in-laws?

[yvonne]

Could you send them or go with them and visit your in-laws?

My babies?!?!? :)

You know, we really should think about doing that. My nieces stay with my in-laws for a week at a time and everyone survives. :) My in-laws aren't really kid people. Hm. Maybe when the in-laws come in the spring, my boys could go back with them for two weeks (three, if the in-laws were open to it) and then my husband and/or I could go over and get them.

Tell me again... How old were yours when they flew alone? I know one flew pretty young, but he was with the older sibs....

yvonne

[CleoQc]

How old were yours when they flew alone? I know one flew pretty young, but he was with the older sibs....

yvonne

The very first time I flew alone, I was 6yo. But the first time I flew alone to Europe, I was 13.

[jld]

Dd15 and ds8 were 14 and 7 last Christmas when they went for 6 weeks. Ds5 went with them for 9 weeks in April and May, when he was 4. He is so attached to dd15 and did great. Ds5 and dd15 will go for 6 weeks again at Christmas, and ds11 and ds8 plan to go for 6 weeks at Easter.

Six weeks is really good for us because it really lets them get into normal living in France, and not just the visiting mindset. I can't tell you how much it has helped their language skills and cultural understanding. My in-laws are as grumpy and set in their ways as any other older French couple, but the kids manage somehow, and it has made dd appreciate her father and me even more, lol.

Obviously, every family is different, and maybe language skills aren't worth being away from your children. Being perfectly bilingual and bicultural isn't the be-all, end-all of an education. But it is an opportunity to be carefully considered, I think.

One more note: I send the kids to France to escape from India at least as much as for them to develop their language skills. It can get really hot and mosquitoey here, and some of our kids just don't cope very well with that. And it is just such a treat to be in a clean place again.

[burckeri]

I don't know anything about TV5, so I can't help you there. However, I can share my experience with using French tv as a supplement. Basically the only tv my 5-year-old son watches is TFO (the Ontario French-language educational tv network, sort of like PBS in the US). They have commercial-free children's programming in the mornings. My son got in a habit of waking up earlier than my husband and I wanted to get up, so we started leaving the tv on that channel before we went to bed. When he comes in our room in the morning, we can tell him to just turn on the tv and watch it until we get up. It might sound like lazy parenting, but it works well--he's entertained and practising his French and we get a little more precious sleep so we can function. He usually watches a half hour or an hour a day, which I think is reasonable. At this point, he doesn't seem to realize that our tv also gets children's shows in English, because he's never seen them. I particularly like the live-action shows because they show real people (including kids) speaking French. Even though it's unconscious, being able to see the shape of people's mouths and how they move while they're speaking is helpful in learning a language, and cartoons don't provide that.

My son recently spent a week with his grandparents, who don't speak French. He watched TFO there as well. When he came home, he started conversations with me in French more frequently than usual. He seemed to miss speaking French. Watching tv is no substitute for having a conversation and using the language to communicate your own thoughts.