Uh oh

[jethrien]

We have a visitor coming in for a conference tomorrow...who's bringing a six-year-old. Who only speaks French. And while I'm not the primary person responsible for taking care of him, I'm supposed to keep an eye on him and keep him well supplied with paper and markers. And my French is wretched.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

When your husband was a lad, my German friend had a French foreign exchange student for three weeks. No one spoke French but me. The first day, we took him out for pizza because 1) all kids like pizza; 2) I could say "fromage." It was a smashing success.

Zoot alors!

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Keep him supplied with paper and markers, and make sure he doesn't get set on fire. Pretty straightforward. The only word you're likely to need ("No") sounds the same in both languages.

If in doubt, I'm sure he would understand "chocolat" through your wretched accent, as well.

[cubby-t-bear.livejournal.com]

Disposable stuffed animals. Too bad they don't make $5 teddy bears anymore. Cubby T. Bear was one of those :)

[deltagrl.livejournal.com]

I semi-babysat my brother's host mother's 5-year-old grandson in Chile. It's actually much easier watching a child than talking to an adult in a language you barely know/remember. I play guessing games with them if they're talkative. Example, I'd hold up a red car and ask: "Azul? (blue?)" and he'd go "nooooooo." "Verde? (green?)" "nooooooooo" "Que color es? (What color is it?)" "ROJO!!!! (RED!!!!)" I was actually very proud of myself, and now you can be too, with the amazing, "WHAT COLOR IS THIS?" method! Bon chance! :)