About The AUTHOR

Katy Unsworth enjoyed a career in human resources before she retrained and became a pre-school teacher.

Katy has always enjoyed travelling and has a degree in French and sociology. Many children are introduced to the experience and concept of travel when they are very young. Katy passionately believes in the importance of building confidence in language learning from an early age and in fostering an appreciation and respect for other cultures.

Katy lives in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, with her husband, two children and a dog called Scruffy.

About The Book

Scruffy is an adventurous dog who wants to explore the world but finds himself a little bit lonely and a little bit confused…until he has a go.

Speak Scruffy! Have a Go! is a French language-learning bilingual picture storybook, written for children of approximately 3–8 years of age. It introduces the concept of travel and languages. It is a first step in developing young children’s ability to communicate with French speakers, aided with pronunciation hints such as for ‘Thank you’ there is ‘Merci’ (mair-see). Families can communicate essential language with confidence when they travel. In addition to the enjoyment of learning a language, parents and teachers can foster an appreciation and respect for other cultures.

This is an entertaining, uplifting, interactive story about a dog’s journey, not just a travelling journey, but a journey which involves uncertainty, kindness, understanding the world better, perseverance, building confidence, celebrating difference and gaining a new language skill. It’s a fun, shared experience to be read over and over again.

Learning a language provides many benefits such as improving cognitive function. Languages are a lifelong skill that can be used in business and pleasure, enabling communication, discovery and a wider cultural understanding.

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Review by Lloyd Rees writer, teacher, lecturer author

Just read a lovely book. 'Speak Scruffy! Have a Go! Learn French With Scruffy' by Katy Unsworth. It's a kids' book - it's targeted at 3-8 year olds - and it sets out to introduce some basic French phrases that kids could try out. The idea is excellent, because Ms [...]

Got featured in another magazine, this time it’s Primary Times

Primary Times is a magazine that is distributed free of cost to primary school children all over the UK. This time, due to COVID, the magazine goes digital. You can find the feature of my book on page 5. Check here. [...]

I was invited to host my first zoom primary school assembly.

It was a fun session with the children. We talked about how I wrote the book. I also tried to answer as much of their questions as time allowed. Scruffy also joined us, and the children were really amused. The feedback was amazing; I was told that this session inspir [...]

Gloucestershire Echo featured my book

What a pleasure to appear in a paper other than the online space! Gloucestershire Echo published an article about my book titled 'Bonjour! Meet Scruffy the dog who's inspiring children to learn French.' [...]

Learning French and Understanding the World with Scruffy at Pre-school

We spoke French with the book and a cuddly Scruffy. We also used SPEAK SCRUFFY! HAVE A GO! to explore the concepts of travel, languages and different cultures. We used a globe alongside the book and talked about countries and oceans. [...]

A Very Catchy Article About My Book Published by Gloucestershirelive

'Meet the Cheltenham dog inspiring children to learn French,' is the title of a small feature article about my book. Praising my baby dog, the article wrote; "An adorable little ball of fluff in Cheltenham has been helping children learn French." [...]

READING SESSION AT HOLY APOSTLES PRIMARY SCHOOL

Good afternoon, Today my book was read by a French teacher via zoom to teach a French lesson to class 3 at Holy Apostles Primary School. They also used it to learn the names of animals. [...]

Holy Apostles’ official site covers a French learning session with my new book

Children can learn French better with my book and at Holy Apostles' pre-school, this is being taken advantage of. I held a French teaching session with the help of my book. Read more <a class="_ps2id" href="https://www.holyapostlespreschool.co.uk [...]

Holy Apostles’ celebrate my book on their official site

So encouraging to see my book being acknowledged in my workplace. Holy Apostles' website published a detailed note on my work and on how important it is. Read more here [...]

Book Play Activity – Creating French Flags

Today we made French flags from my book “Speak Scruffy! Have a Go!” We sequenced the flag in the correct order to make it. Sequencing is a life skill and crucial in a child’s development. We enjoyed mark-making and the responsibility of carryi [...]

Book Play Activity – Scruffy and Whiskers created with stencils/rubbing plates

At Preschool we created both Scruffy and Whiskers by carefully drawing round animal stencils then coloring them in. We also used stump crayons to rub on our dog and cat rubbing plates. The children worked side by side chatting about the story and ‘havi [...]

Provide a child’s first step in learning a second language and celebrating diversity.

This article explains how ‘Speak Scruffy! Have a go!’ became a storybook for young children and a different approach in providing confidence in language learning, celebrating difference and explaining the world. Initially I wanted to solve a prob [...]