For months now Rainbows Of Hope have been popping up in windows all over the country in recognition of our key workers, and for 7 year old Amelia Rampling her French “arc-en-ciel d’espoir” picture has pride of place for an extra special person.

Amelia, who lives in Newmarket, completed her beautiful picture in recognition of her Dad Mike who is a medic in the ambulance service. Single parent Mike has continued working throughout the Coronavirus pandemic and Amelia has continued to attend school.

But why in French?

Both Amelia and Mike share a passion for languages, in particular French, which Amelia has been studying since last year. Mike explained, “I spoke a few words of French to Amelia last September and she found it fascinating and fun especially when she copied me. She took it upon herself to start learning lots of different words and could even decipher labels of ingredients on food packaging! Amelia has had a somewhat difficult start in life so when she asked if she could learn French “properly”, I wanted to support her as much as I could with something she would enjoy, so we signed up to local French teacher Kristine Bantick’s weekly French Club”.

Schoolwork has continued for many during the lockdown and has been enhanced by online learning. This is the case for Amelia’s French Club as Kristine successfully moved her classes onto an online platform.

Kristine, who runs La Jolie Ronde Fun French For Children, teaches extracurricular classes for local children in Newmarket and Fulbourn, said

”Whilst nothing can replace face-to-face teaching I was determined for all my pupils to continue their bilingual journey so took the plunge and successfully moved my classes online.

Amelia is an enthusiastic learner with natural ability. Her ‘arc-en-ciel’ picture was part of our topic on colours and Amelia jumped at the challenge of working out the various shades that were written in French.

It was heart-warming to hear that she had completed the picture with her Dad in mind”, she added.

Mike concluded

“I felt sad that Amelia might lose the progress she was making in French. However Kristine was on the case and with the online classes, Amelia was able to continue her lessons from home. Despite my poor IT set-up at home (initially no working laptop and no broadband), we managed to get up and running using my old mobile phone. Even this kept overheating and turning off but we persevered and with some frozen peas (or petits pois) we have had lots of fun with Kristine’s classes.  

I’d say that having the opportunity for Amelia to learn French is one of the best choices I’ve made. It’s fun but also supports the other learning she does in school and adds self-discipline, confidence and knowledge.

The La Jolie Ronde method that Kristine uses is clearly working very effectively. I’m even learning some myself along the way!” he added.

To find out more about Kristine’s Online French Classes in Newmarket, Fulbourn and the surrounding areas, email: kristine.bantick@lajolierondeclasses.co.uk or call 07721 633808.