One Third Stories teaches French and Spanish through storytelling

I didn’t start learning foreign languages until I started secondary school and got my first taste of French aged 11, but nowadays, many children start before then: both at school and in after-school clubs. Now an interesting company called One Third Stories wants to help.

Aimed at 4–9 year-olds, it’s a way to learn French and Spanish that’s based around stories and something called ‘the Clockwork Methodology’ inspired by A Clockwork Orange. NO WAIT COME BACK this doesn’t involve pegging children’s eyes open with nasty metal devices and forcing them to read dictionaries. Really it doesn’t.

Instead, One Third Stories is about storybooks that, as you and your child read them, gradually introduce more words from the foreign language, just like the fictional ‘Nadsat’ language is introduced during Anthony Burgess’ famous novel.

“We create engaging books that children love, complete with beautiful illustrations. They begin in English,” explains the company on its website. “Gradually, words in the target language are introduced in contexts that make their meaning immediately apparent. Words become phrases, phrases become sentences and sentences become whole pages in another language.”

The books are delivered in ‘story boxes’ which also include worksheets and extra exercises designed to help children practise writing as well as reading in the language. You also get sent an audio version of each story with speaking exercises, to be used before the box arrives.

Parents pay a subscription of £13.99 a month to receive a new box every month, although it’s cheaper if you pay for six or 12 months up front. For now it’s just French and Spanish, although more languages are on the way.

I really like this idea: and (importantly!) it looks like a lot of craft is going in to the project, from the stories themselves to the materials that come with them. It’s well worth a look.