Page 10 - link magazine

10 LOCAL LIVES
Taking 1992 personally - part two
Ruth Ogle launched the new Local Lives page last January by describing how her family was building European friendships.
In this second contribution, she provides an update on what has happened over the last six months
In February we prepared ourselves to give young children the opportu- though she never had any doubt ing in French. Amazing! It really
for another major turn in our lives. nity to learn another language by about taking part in the exchange was quite odd to hear herchattering
Having been host for six months to immersing them totally in another since the idea was first mentioned to away with the three children in the
a French nine year old, we were culture. It had certainly worked for her when she was seven. family, sounding as if she was a
about to despatch her and our Katiana. After a month with us she However, taking the girls to French child. She was rolling her
daughter Rosemary to live with was speaking in sentences and al- France and leaving them was hard. R's in a way which doesn't exist in
Katiana's family in the Ardeche, though shenever lost heraccent, she Katiana had become a close part of English and Martine told us her ac-
south-east France. developed a huge English vocabu- our family and how do you cope cent had become very good.
Expanding the family to three lary. Katiana proved it was possible with giving up your daughter to She hadn't actually forgotten Eng-
children took some getting used to, to pick up a foreign tongue quickly, someone else, even though you're lish, but it took a few days for her to
reducing it to one was going to be but we couldn't quite believe we confident she'll be in good hands. use it spontaneously. However her
even more difficult. would soon be hearing Rosemary
The exchange was arranged by talk French.
En Famille, an organisation started Rosemary wasn't too sure either

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SwiNdoN 555876 FOR A PROFESSIONAL
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Come and see our full range of Water Softeners including the
AQUADIAL, DOMEXTRA, EURO, OAKLANDS, PERMUTIT
Also Available: Granular, Tablet, P.V.D. Salt
All at Unit 4, Oaklands Enterprise Estate, Braydon, Nr. Wootton Katiana and Rosemary in front of the Town Hall at Aubenas in the Ardeche
Bassett. Open Saturdays ONLY 9.30am - 4pm. OR
Ring Swindon 853156 for further information or appointment. She lived in a tiny village in the vowel inflections had become to-
south of France and attended a tally French and these are still to be
school with only thirteen children. heard two weeks aftercominghome,
At first, things were difficult for her. along with the occasional word.
Desks Coping with a new language, a dif- Katiana hadn't forgotten her Eng-
ferent approach in school, eating lish eitherand in the week we stayed
Tel Swindon meals much later than she was used with the Gohiers, both were switch-
to and generally living a different ing to and fro and providing a trans-
way of life were all a strain and lation service for our son Alexander
& 791177 . initially our weekly telephone con- and ourselves.
Taking part in an exchange is
versations were tearful.
We gave her lots of encourage- something we would recommend,
Fax 790973 ment and wrote positive letters with- if the child concerned wants to try it.
out referring much to life at home Rosemary is very pleased she went
Chairs and as the weeks past, she got used to France because she learnt French
to the lifestyle. We were thrilled and did lots of exciting things. Both
when Martine, Katiana's mother, children now have another family.
wrote to say that Rosemary had Katiana is likely to visit us in Febru-
USED OFFICE started to talk French. ary and Rosemary will probably go
In fact phone conversations be- to France some time next year.
came quite fragrnented as we started Obviously learning another lan-
to increase the time between calls guage and gaining cultural aware-
FURNITURE and Rosemary began to forget her ness cannot be underestimated. But
English. After five months it was as important is the relationship we
sometimes difficult to understand now have with a French family and
Large stocks of quality used furniture in what she was saying as her English the stronger relationships within our
was quite stilted. own. The difficulties shouldn't be
stock at lowest prices. The Gohiers, the French family, ignored, but these can be overcome
were very kind and took Rosemary if one can be tolerant, open minded
Visit our showroom today to view or call skiing, rock climbing, on a long and you can plan the exchange into
camping trip and swimming in the your lives.
us with your requirements. local rivers as the weather warmed Many French families want to
up. engage in exchanges, but not enough
Unit 4 Lotmead Business Village Containing our excitement was British families come forward.
difficult as August approached and Should you want to know more
Lotmead Farm, Lower Wanborough we were due to visit the Gohiers. about 'En Famille,' drop a line to
Swindon, Wiltshire SN3 4AJ When we arrived, Rosemary had Maria Hearl, Farthing,' Twyford
grown a couple of inches but seemed Place, Tiverton EX16 6AP or give us
little different, except she was talk- a call on 872282.