Oh là là! Children will be learning French with Scruffy the dog

A CHELTENHAM dog children learn French.

Scruffy is a six-year-old cavachon and the star of a new book called Speak Scruffy! Have a Go! Learn French with Scruffy.

The little dog is owned by Katy Unsworth, 50, a teacher at Holy Apostles Pre-School, who has lived in the town for 25 years.

Scruffy is bringing the fun back into learning languages in his new adventure, which sees him embark on a journey with his best friend, Whiskers the cat – a friendship based is helping on real life. Scruffy has also been on a plane, although not to France, but to the Isles of Scilly for a family holiday.

However, he is set to travel soon to his owner’s school, where the children can play with him while enjoying the book.

Explaining why she chose Scruffy to inspire young minds, mum-of-two Mrs Unsworth said: “I started out to solve a problem. When you go abroad and you feel like that English person who can’t say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and they tell you and they correct you, but you can’t quite do it – it can put you off trying.

“So I decided to start at the beginning with the children. There was nothing out there, really, for fun, basic language learning. It was all just non-fiction books.

“I wanted a story where they could learn simultaneously the culture and the language, because it can be quite daunting. I thought I’d do a travelling story and I’ve got a dog called Scruffy, so I thought he could be the star.”

She added: “Scruffy is going to come into school with me. The kids love the idea of him and learning while playing. It’s been really rewarding when they’ve started speaking it independently.

“He’s preparing the kids for when we can travel again and reminding them that there will be brighter times, and giving them something to look forward to because things will get better.”

■ Speak Scruffy! Have a Go! Learn French with Scruffy is available at major book stores and electronically on Kindle.

> Katy Unsworth with Scruffy