We often think of elementary school as a series of measurable milestones. Times tables. Past tense conjugations. First paragraphs written in a second language. All of this matters, of course. But something else is happening — something less visible and yet far more decisive.
Between the ages of six and eleven, a child shapes their relationship to learning. They learn to face difficulty, to sit with not understanding right away, to try again without losing faith in themselves. In a school where learning happens in two languages, this process is doubly enriched. A child who struggles in French may find their footing in English, and the other way around. They discover that understanding doesn’t follow a single path, that thoughts can be expressed differently, that effort doesn’t always lead where you expected — but it always leads somewhere.
It is within this carefully held space of challenge that confidence takes root. Not in ease, not in mechanical repetition, but in the repeated experience of stretching beyond what felt possible. A child who learns to move between two systems of thought learns, without knowing it, to be flexible, attentive, and resilient.
