Every single student I have, from the 5 year olds up to the 12 year olds, can go "onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten!" faster than I can even flip the flashcards. But if they are ever asked a number out of context, like "how many are there?" or "how old are you?" or even when it's not really a question, just counting backwards or asking "how do you say 15 in English?" the lowest three levels give me a look of confusion and terror like I asked them to recite a sonnet or speak Chinese.
I really don't have a whole lot of sympathy for French children learning English numbers anyway, because once you get to twenty it's all golden. None of that quatre-vingt-dix malarkey that we have to deal with. Um, I just wanted to say "ninety-nine", not do mental math for half an hour.
For those of you who don't speak French, I'll explain. Get ready to have your brains exploded.
Life proceeds as normal until you reach 70, then all hell breaks lose.
70: soixante-dix (sixty-ten)
80: quatre-vingt (four-twenty)
90: quatre-vingt-dix (four-twenty-ten)
So 75 is soixante-quinze (sixty-fifteen) and 99 is quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (four-twenty-nineteen).
That seems almost deliberately confusing (so much so, they changed it in Canada) so I don't want to hear it from the kids anymore when I call out a bingo number and immediately, without even a second of contemplation, they all yell out in perfect unison C'est quoi "eleven"?!?!?!?!
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