Bonjour To Fun French Stories For Kids

For most people born and raised in Ireland, our first introduction to learning a foreign language was at the age of twelve or thirteen when we looked at subject choices for secondary school.

That is five or six years later than our European counterparts who are introduced to a second (or in some cases a third or fourth language) at the tender age of seven. From a learning perspective, a child's brain at seven or earlier is the perfect sponge for absorbing new languages. And they are happily unselfconscious about practicing pronunciation in front of their peers.

A New Language Made Easy

Teacher and entrepreneur Grainne Ryan Schaeken, introduced us to FrenchBooksForKids.Com on this week's Kickstart Your Business.  Looking at the market, she saw there were no storybooks in French aimed at English speaking kids and so developed Danny Cool, a series of humorous stories in French, featuring an Irish family in leafy Foxrock. Beautifully illustrated, the series is set to have  Irish children exclaiming 'J'adore Danny Cool' when they reach for the books.

More Student, Less Teacher

As Gerard suggested on the show, students are attracted to a particular book, not because they want to learn something new, but because they want to read the story. Bringing out the humour and playfulness of the stories themselves on the website, rather than the learning opportunity behind them, will better attract and engage Grainne's real customers (who will in turn persuade mammy or daddy to put their hand in their pocket).

Over To You

How can Grainne bring the story of Danny Cool to life through her website? Listen back to the show on Kickstart Your Business and let us know what you think. 

We'd love to hear from you.

Kickstart Your Business is broadcast live on The Right Hook on Newstalk106 in Ireland every Thursday at 6.40pm and is available on Playback.