OEYC works for me

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that we've only just started using the services of our local OEYC (Ontario Early Years Centre). Almost a month ago, on a rainy Monday, I thought it would be nice to visit the toy library there. We had never been, so I looked online to see what the hours were; I found that they offered drop-in playgroups in both French and English, and that the immersion playgroup (for families with limited French, which describes D although not me) was on Tuesdays.

D & me, in "la Belle Province" a few weeks ago

The girls and I have been going for the past three weeks, and it is a delight! For about an hour and a half, the kids play at whatever activity centre they want: there's painting, play dough, a sand table, a water table, a train set, a craft table, a play kitchen, and various large toys (trampoline, slide, stationary bike) and toy sets (cars, dinosaurs, potato heads) that vary from week to week. Then the kids and their care givers tidy up and gather on the carpet for about 10-15 minutes of French songs. It's been great to have the interaction with other bilingual parents, and to learn new music to sing at home; D's been humming the tunes to herself a lot lately, and occasionally tries out the words. We also picked up a copy of the play dough recipe (en français, bien sûr!), which we'll make after I've done this week's food shop. I'll never forget Prof. Paré's words to our 4th-year French class, that you can't teach someone a language without tying it to its culture. At least not if you want it to stick.