NURSERY rhymes at a Blackburn infant school have taken a continental twist -- after staff decided to teach the tots to speak French.

Children as young as four at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School new Early Years Department have started lessons and are the youngest in Lancashire to get to grips with a foreign language.

The children are being taught how to speak, sing and even rap in French by teacher Jacqui Osborn.

Originally from Rising Bridge, Jacqui returned to Blackburn this year after working in London and near Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where she picked up the language.

She said: "We wanted to try something different and, to begin with, were only going to teach years one and two French.

"But I sang a song one day to reception children one day and they picked it up very quickly.

"It's very basic stuff because at this stage it's just a bit of fun, but the earlier they are exposed to foreign languages the better."

The new department opened in September and caters for children aged four to seven.

Jacqui, 32, spends about 30 minutes to an hour each week with each class on French.

Together they sing nursery rhymes such as Frere Jacques and English songs translated into French, such as the classic Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

They also learn simple phrases such as 'Hello' and 'My name is' and even have a recording which the children rap along to.

Jacqui said: "It's important at this early stage that they hear recordings and the French accent rather than hearing the language constantly spoken in an East Lancastrian accent."

Head of Early Years Kym Marshall, said the move had been popular with parents and language teachers at the senior school were keenly monitoring progress.

She said: "The children really enjoy it. It's going to help build their confidence in learning French and will help them later on in their school lives.

"I think we are a bit behind in this country -- they seem to learn languages much earlier on the continent and we need to be more competitive."

The new department is situated within the QEGS campus in the building known as Lawn Bank.

There are currently 43 pupils in the three year groups.