Brilliant episode of Peppa Pig on Channel 5 this morning.

Early on Daddy Pig picks up the phone, which he then claims is “talking gibberish”. Mummy Pig – ever the more sophisticated – quickly realises that it is Monsieur Donkey, speaking French, and arranging for his daughter Delphine to come and visit for the day to improve her English. Peppa and Delphine are about the same age and have been friends for ages.

Meeting Delphine (whose English is alreay pretty good) at the station, Daddy Pig is taken aback at the size of the trunk she has brought with her. Monsieur Donkey explains that it is full of  “zings zat you don’t ‘ave over ‘ere. Cheese, bread, water…”

That evening, Delphine sings Peppa and her brother to sleep with a lovely rendition of classic French nursery rhyme, Frère Jacques.

The following day, Peppa takes Delphine to her playgroup (so I’m thinking Peppa and Delphine are perhaps four years old) and asks if they can teach Delphine an English song to help with her language skills. “Of course!” says the teacher, and the whole group joins in with the song.

Delphine closes the episode by saying, “Wonderful! I have learnt lots of new English words. Bing, bong, bingly, bungly, boo.”

And if that isn’t a scathing comment about the different educational systems either side of the Channel, I don’t know what is. All wrapped up in ten minutes of fun so that the average bleary-eyed five year old can’t tell the difference. Brilliant.