Le Jardin Enchanté is the main program at The Garden House.  It is a French-immersion program, guided by native and fluent French-speakers. This program is appropriate for children with any amount of French (even none) spoken in the home. We have many families in which one parent is French or of French-descent; other families speak no French in the house but are interested in raising their children with exposure to other languages. Some have ties to French-speaking countries other than France, including Canada, Switzerland, Algeria, and Belgium, to name a few.  It is important to note that children will not be “taught French.” Rather, we play, sing, and interact with children in French, in a developmentally-appropriate way, and the children naturally learn the language as a by-product of having fun. 

 

We celebrate not just France, but also the diversity of French-speaking and French-influenced places around the world – Vietnam, Senegal, Morocco, Haiti, Belgium, Tahiti, Canada, and more.

 

There are many benefits to being raised with more than one language: Studies have repeatedly shown that younger children can absorb new languages naturally and easily; not only does this not hinder language development in the dominant language, it actually seems to stimulate language and overall academic performance down the line. And in fact, exposure to more than one language as a child seems to help the learning of any foreign language at later ages.  To learn more about some of the benefits and strategies of raising children bilingually, please see our Learn More page.

 

We are currently building a website with information about The Garden House / Le Jardin Enchanté in French; please check back here.