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A study focusing on two groups of French children (6 and 8 years old) during their first year learning English as a foreign language produced some unexpected results in measure of English listening and speaking skill. Six-year-olds performed as well in L2 listening as the eight-year-olds (which they do not in L1), but they are less productive (in numbers and length of utterances produced in a speaking task). There is an interesting disparity at the individual level in listening and speaking skills : the most productive children are not the best at listening, and vice versa. The article investigates emergent listening and production skill in L2 English, with a focus on this listening-speaking discrepancy.