French 1 - how do I pick?

[prim*rose]

Dd is going to start a foreign language this fall, and while initially selecting Italian, I think she's going to end up with French due to the lack of hs Italian classes. I've been madly reading past threads and I'm really not sure which program is going to be the best for her. It looks like the following classes seem to be highly rated:

 

- TPS

- Debra Bell/AIM

- Currclick/Mr. G

- Classical Learning Resource Center

 

Dd tried taking a TPS class this past year, and we were less than impressed with it. The teacher wasn't very good, she rushed through things, etc etc, so I'm not sure if TPS is going to be a good fit for us. That said, I *do* want a class that is very high quality, where dd can eventually get to fluency and speak/read/write well. We'd prefer a class where there was a lot of interaction and practice speaking, but at the same time, I don't want her to feel rushed through a class just so the teacher can get to the next lesson, if that makes sense. Dd is quiet and introverted, so I'm thinking a smaller class size might work best since she tends to not speak up and can get lost in a larger class.

 

I'll stop rambling and hope that someone has some insight that will help. The classes are all a bit pricy, so I'd like to try to pin down those that would work best for us.

 

Thank you!

[yvonne]

My daughter is taking French 1 at TPS this year and both she and I have been very happy with it. The instructor, Mme Starosciak, is very kind and supportive. She is not French herself, but her accent is very good and she very clearly loves France/French culture. My daughter really enjoys the classes because Mme S. adds so many neat bits of information about France/francophone countries & culture. The class has made solid, steady progress through the text.

 

My daughter is taking the regular French 1 class along with the (reduced price) French conversation supplement which is all extra speaking practice. Hm. It looks like TPS is moving to two day a week classes for French 1 & 2, though, so that probably incorporates the conversation supplement.

 

Other reasons we chose TPS's French program overall are...

 

1) It runs seamlessly from French 1 through AP French.

 

2) Classes are conducted in French as much as possible, less so in French 1, of course, but completely in French by at least French 4. (We don't have any experience with Fr. 3.)

 

3) French 4/5 classes are based on actual French literature. I could not find a lit-based French class anywhere else other than a 4 year university and my boys were too young for that. This year, my boys in French 4/5 read Les Misérables (an abridged edition), Gide's La Symphonie Pastorale, Molière's L'Avare (this might have been abridged), Une Si Longue Lettre, adn Les Aventures de Tintin.  Students in French 4/5 also work through a comprehensive grammar review book.

 

TPS French has been a good fit for us!

yvonne

[rhrice3]

Sorry, Ladies, but could you tell me what "TPS" stands for or give me a link. We are starting foreign language next year, and after much thought, we are probably going with French.

 

Thanks

ReneeR

[prim*rose]

Thanks, yvonne. How did you feel about the class size of TPS for French? I'm worried it might be too large.

 

rhrice3 - TPS = The Potter's School

[crazyforlatin]

DD is taking French at Classical Learning Resource Center but not at the high school level even though I think she could have handled it. We happen to have the book he uses (MP's French), and I wasn't sure how serious she would pursue French last year. French was never supposed to be the main foreign language. But, it's one of her favorite languages now.

 

The class is very small; for example, there were about 5 kids last semester, 2 this semester. Dr. Godwin adjusts according to what the kids tell him, so if he thinks he's assigning too much work, he'll slow down or ask for feedback. DD is good with languages and actually likes a faster-paced class. I won't be switching to anywhere else for French unless the schedule doesn't work out. Dr. Godwin does teach a high school class. He did mention this semester that he hopes to teach completely in French with more advanced levels. I imagine that his high school class is small as well. Clrc doesn't seem to get many students, so class size seems to be small. We've taken a few classes already.

 

Dr. Godwin also speaks Mandarin and Arabic. We will also enroll in Arabic next semester which is held on Mon/Wed, 11-12 Pacific time. TPS's Arabic schedule doesn't work for us next year.

 

Currclick French's textbook is great! Colorful, engaging with large font, but there is no CD that I could find. There are 50 kids in the French class this semester. I enrolled this semester to test out currclick. There is rarely an opportunity to speak unless you are agressive in raising your e-hand before others. Usually DD can speak once per class. There are 3 classes per week, one hour each, so I suppose it's good in that you can hear more French than a once-per-week class. He does lecture a lot in English. So the pace for currclick is like this - what she is learning now with Mr. G is what she learned last semester with Dr. Godwin. French 2 at currclick just means level 1, semester 2, NOT level 2. Mr. G is engaging, but it's a very slow-paced class.

 

Another thing to do is to enroll in any of these classes and add in a tutor from livelingua.com. Dr. Godwin may tutor Dd in the summer, but if not, then I would probably go with livelingua.com 1-2 times per week.

 

I wish more people would enroll with clrc because they are small but the teaching is quite excellent. Anne Van Fossen and Mr. Gallitin are very responsive with emails.

[crazyforlatin]

Yvonne, may I ask where you went for French 3? I see that your twins are now in French 4/5, but I'm curious whether they started with French 1 at TPS or somewhere else. If CLRC's schedule doesn't work out for us, then I hope to switch over to TPS's French in a couple of years.

[yvonne]

Yvonne, may I ask where you went for French 3? I see that your twins are now in French 4/5, but I'm curious whether they started with French 1 at TPS or somewhere else.

 

The boys did French 1 with Veritas Press online in 7th. 

 

In 8th, we did French 2/3 at home, using the standard French text book that our local brick and mortar uses. We also had a fantastic native French tutor that the boys met with an hour/week via Skype.

 

This year in 9th, they're using TPS 4/5 and meeting with the tutor an hour/week to do more conversational work.

 

[yvonne]

rhrice3, 

I'll check next time my daughter is in her French 1 class to see how many students are there. I'm usually within earshot during the class, and I've been pretty happy with how often the students speak in the regular classes. It's definitely not as much as in the Conversations section, but Mme S. does do a good job of calling on students to answer/repeat. I'll pay more attention during her next class.

 

I have to say, I was really impressed with how gentle and positive she is about students' attempts at pronunciation.  The first few weeks, when there are a lot of students completely new to the language, it's almost painful. But Mme S is sooo patient and kind about bringing those students along, probably without them ever knowing how far off they are/were. It seems like maybe she picks certain sounds to focus on, develops those, moves to the next. I'm not sure, but whatever she does, a lot of those French 1 kids actually sound good or at least much better than at the beginning of the year. It's been interesting for me to watch since I tend to be one who wants to correct every last thing, from the beginning.

[crazyforlatin]

The boys did French 1 with Veritas Press online in 7th.

 

In 8th, we did French 2/3 at home, using the standard French text book that our local brick and mortar uses. We also had a fantastic native French tutor that the boys met with an hour/week via Skype.

 

This year in 9th, they're using TPS 4/5 and meeting with the tutor an hour/week to do more conversational work.

 

Thank you, Yvonne.

 

When your kids were studying French 2/3 did you have to provide the same book to the tutor? Or I guess it's similar to what happens with our Spanish tutor - she can determine during conversations what needs more focus. So the conversation part is completely separate from the textbook we are using.

 

I'm just wondering what is more effective since right now what seems to be happening is that Dd knows more grammar than what she is able to demonstrate during a conversation. But I suppose that really just means she needs more conversation with her tutor.

[yvonne]

Yes, our tutor did get a copy of the text we were using. 

 

I wrote up a schedule for the year to make sure we got through all the lessons in the text book. I gave the schedule of weekly lessons/topics to the tutor so that we were both sync'd up on the subject matter being covered each week. 

 

During the week, the boys worked on the lesson vocabulary and grammar and did the workbook exercises with me, partly orally & partly in writing. I'd correct them. If there were free writing paragraphs, I'd send those to the tutor to correct with the boys since I wasn't confident enough to correct them.

 

The tutor met with the boys at the end of the week, corrected any free writing work, and reviewed grammar and vocabulary through discussion with the boys. So they got lots of practice speaking, but mostly their conversations centered on and reinforced whatever that week's vocabulary/topic was.

 

I don't know if a student could really demonstrate mastery of all the grammar he studied through conversation alone, at least for French. For example, French verb endings can sound alike in the 1st/2nd/3rd person singular and 3rd person plural. They can sound the same in different tenses. Etc. In conversation, the tutor wouldn't necessarily be able to tell whether the student was using the correct verb form or not. She'd really need to see it demonstrated in writing, but I covered that angle with the textbook and the tutor could judge their mastery from their free writes.

 

For French, I think we get the most "bang for the buck" by syncing up speaking practice with what the boys were studying in vocabulary/grammar. Now, in French 4/5, the boys talk about the literature they're reading or the current events (TV5Monde) that they listen to.  They still send the tutor every other written assignment, just to make sure she knows where their weaknesses are.

 

If your daughter is doing any sort of free writing/open-ended answers to textbook questions, maybe she could send those to the tutor to give him an idea of what's she's mastered and what still might need work?  That might help focus the work the tutor is doing with her?

 

 

Thank you, Yvonne.

When your kids were studying French 2/3 did you have to provide the same book to the tutor? Or I guess it's similar to what happens with our Spanish tutor - she can determine during conversations what needs more focus. So the conversation part is completely separate from the textbook we are using.

I'm just wondering what is more effective since right now what seems to be happening is that Dd knows more grammar than what she is able to demonstrate during a conversation. But I suppose that really just means she needs more conversation with her tutor.

 

[crazyforlatin]

Thank you very much, Yvonne! I need to rethink how we can make the use of our time with the tutor. A French tutor costs a lot more than a Spanish tutor, so if the tutor were in sync with what Dd is learning, I think that would help her improve so much more. I'm going to give it a try during the summer when our schedule is a bit more open. With Spanish, she used to do this with languageconvo but can't really for Homeschool Spanish Academy. With French, she may not know enough, but Dr. Godwin did have the kids write conversations to each other and email him the final version for correction. Livelingua French tutors do cost less than a tutor in the Bay Area.

[yvonne]

 Livelingua French tutors do cost less than a tutor in the Bay Area.

 

Our tutor is a native of France, but she's living up north at the moment. She's stellar. I think I'd have a very hard time finding anyone better. I don't know how her rates compare to Livelingua, but I'm not even tempted to look! :)

 

PM me if you'd like her contact info.

 

[crazyforlatin]

Our tutor is a native of France, but she's living up north at the moment. She's stellar. I think I'd have a very hard time finding anyone better. I don't know how her rates compare to Livelingua, but I'm not even tempted to look! :)

 

PM me if you'd like her contact info.

Sent you a PM, thanks so much!