MamaSprout Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 We used Minumus 2 this year to consolidate our Latin learning. I think we need something similar for French. Does something exist? ETA: I have a few children's books in French and a magazine or two. I can see translating them as being similar. Should I have DD write down the translations? How should I approach it? Her retention in French hasn't been good. We've done First Start French through lesson 18 twice. She's also using Mango daily. Some of it is that we need to devote more time to it. She doesn't have issues retaining Latin, so I think we also to look at our approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 What approach does Minumus use? I think you would get more responses from French-teaching families if you described exactly what you are looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted May 5, 2015 Author Share Posted May 5, 2015 Good point. Minimus uses a story done in comic panels about a family living in Roman Britian. It has a lesson following the story with vocabulary words, relevant grammar and bits of history and mythology. I think it would be weak as a stand alone. We used it as a follow up to our regular Latin this year (bbll2, first half), which teaches a lot of vocabulary, chants and vocabulary roots with a little translation thrown in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 I don't know of any French program that takes exactly that approach, but you may want to look at L'art de Lire (Nallenart French). They use a story approach, though it's not so well integrated. Each chapter/unit starts off with a little story that uses the vocabulary & grammar that will be introduced in that chapter. The stories are independent, though, rather than following an ongoing storyline, and they don't really include any history or culture. I know some people have had trouble getting print copies of the Nallenart workbooks in the past due to supply issues, but you can buy e-copies/downloads from their website now. I have heard others share similar complaints about a lack of retention with First Start French. How old is your daughter? There are a lot more options for French at the upper elementary/middle school level. My oldest used Nallenart French for several years before switching to Galore Park's middle school French (So You Really Want to Learn French), which is a far superior program. I now have my younger children using Galore Park's elementary French (Skoldo). It's not perfect, but I feel like it's a good early elementary introduction to French before switching them to SYRWTLF in 4th grade. Other options would be: Alex et Zoe (requires fluency on the part of the parent) Breaking the French Barrier Discovering French 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted May 5, 2015 Author Share Posted May 5, 2015 I probably ought to look at SYRWL French again. She's 5th grade. She mostly likes the Galore Park stuff we've used before. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 It's from the 1920s but you might be able to find a copy off Amazon form a seller: Colette et ses Freres. It's very similar to what you are describing. Some of the words are obviously outdated, but if you are familiar with French at all they should be easy to spot. I'm using it with DS. Most of the work is oral but it's not that hard to incorporate written work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted May 6, 2015 Author Share Posted May 6, 2015 I did find I have access to TumbleBooks through my library this morning. There is a whole section of books in French (and other languages, some of which are read aloud.) I think we'll play with some of those along with the other things we're doing for the rest of this year and jump into SYRWLF next year. TumbleBooks looks worth checking into. I had to go into the children's page for my library to find it, though. We're using Mango through our library, too, and we do like it better than DuoLingo. I need to supervise with Mango b/c DC can move on without repeating the phrase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 Not a curriculum, but to improve understanding of spoken French, and possibility to increase fluency, if you have some background in French, the two of you could watch some of the short, simple French cartoons on youtube like Petit Ours Brun. The words are fairly clear and distinct. The sentences are simple. The vocabulary is pretty clear from the video. (Some people like the French Caillou segments, but I cannot stand the squeaky, annoying voice of the French Caillou. You really have to strain to make out the words.) With Petit Ours Brun, you could pause the video, repeat the sentences, and replay. Younger ones seem to pick up a lot from hearing the language in the context of the video. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted May 6, 2015 Author Share Posted May 6, 2015 Not a curriculum, but to improve understanding of spoken French, and possibility to increase fluency, if you have some background in French, the two of you could watch some of the short, simple French cartoons on youtube like Petit Ours Brun. The words are fairly clear and distinct. The sentences are simple. The vocabulary is pretty clear from the video. (Some people like the French Caillou segments, but I cannot stand the squeaky, annoying voice of the French Caillou. You really have to strain to make out the words.) With Petit Ours Brun, you could pause the video, repeat the sentences, and replay. Younger ones seem to pick up a lot from hearing the language in the context of the video. I've run into the higher squeaky voices in other French programs. Not sure why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted May 8, 2015 Author Share Posted May 8, 2015 We've added in translating a children's books this week, but I'm not really sure how to approach this for DD10. I can read the simple ones just fine, although I've found some "turns of phrase" I've had to run through Google Translate (which is sort of helpful.) Tumblebooks reads it out loud and I have her work out the meaning with me prompting her in French (and hand gestures LOL it's pretty bad, actually). Do you think I should I have her do some of the translating to paper? How have others approached this? I tried googling to see what others have done, but I'm not finding a "method". Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 I wouldn't ask her to write out translations. In fact, I would not ask her to translate very much at all from French into English! It sounds like you have some background in French. I'd read her the books (in French), let her look at the pictures, and ask her questions (in French, if you can manage it) as you go along. Let her answer in English if she wants. This is what my husband did with French read alouds when the kids were younger. I think it's why they have a fairly extensive vocabulary. Conscious translating from French to English will slow her fluency. Really, if you can read lots to her and/or watch some super simple cartoons, anything that has pictures that she can use to pick up the meaning of the French words from context, she'll grow her vocabulary and, hopefully, bypass that translating to English step as much as possible. My kids hear a lot of French. If I stop and ask them what x sentence meant, they have to stop and think to get it into English. If I ask them for an answer to the French sentence, they can immediately give an appropriate answer. To me that indicates that they're comprehending the French w/out needing to translate it to English. They can't necessarily answer in French; it's always harder to generate the language than to simply hear/read and understand. But they can answer immediately in English. I found that when I got very fluent in French, I no longer translated any of it to English or from English to French. I think it's the same for kids. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 You might think about subscribing to some of the Bayard magazines: http://www.frenchmagforkids.com/collection_mag.html They are pricey, but you can buy them used on eBay for much less. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 There is also LesPetitsLivres.com - an online library of french books. So far the books that they've sent out are pretty accurate according age-wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted May 9, 2015 Author Share Posted May 9, 2015 I have some books from the library that would suitable- really simple ones. We are working through another one right now about a girl and her cat. The story isn't obvious from the pictures and I think dd would like to finish. I will keep it verbal. She was exposed to quite a bit of spoken French through television, movies and online games when she was younger. We had a "rule" that if she wanted to re-watch a movie, she needed to switch the language to French. She just doesn't watch much TV right now. She used to really like a program called dinosaur king. I did get a hold of a Mother Goose in French, which I haven't looked at yet, and I wonder if we could do some sort of "Five in a Row" in French with a rhyme each week. We got a new CD of children's songs with the words printed in the case, and dd was reading and singing along for the entire two hour car ride yesterday. I still have Au clair de la lune stuck in my head. Ack. She had fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted May 9, 2015 Author Share Posted May 9, 2015 You might think about subscribing to some of the Bayard magazines: http://www.frenchmagforkids.com/collection_mag.html They are pricey, but you can buy them used on eBay for much less. These look great, sort of like Cricket Magazine, but French. Holy wow on the price, though. How are you searching for them in ebay? I'm not getting much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 I did get a hold of a Mother Goose in French, which I haven't looked at yet, and I wonder if we could do some sort of "Five in a Row" in French with a rhyme each week. That's a great idea to apply the Five in a Row approach to simple books or rhymes! Andrew Pudewa was talking once about how, when he was learning Japanese, he couldn't achieve the fluency he was looking for. So, he took a page from his Suzuki training and set out to master a simple children's story to the point that he could tell it from memory, in a captivating way, to children. (Jack & the Beanstalk maybe? I don't remember) He practiced reading and re-reading it and telling it out loud. I can't recall exactly all the details, but I think that was the gist of his story and he credited that experience with helping to further his Japanese study & fluency. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 These look great, sort of like Cricket Magazine, but French. Holy wow on the price, though. How are you searching for them in ebay? I'm not getting much. I just searched by the individual title + Bayard, and I bought them in bulk for a fraction of the cost of a new subscription. For example: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=l%27art+de+lire+bayard&_from=R40%7CR40&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xj%27aime+lire+bayard.TRS0&_nkw=j%27aime+lire+bayard&_sacat=0 You kinda have to watch the listings awhile to find the titles/price you want. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted May 9, 2015 Author Share Posted May 9, 2015 I just searched by the individual title + Bayard, and I bought them in bulk for a fraction of the cost of a new subscription. For example: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=l%27art+de+lire+bayard&_from=R40%7CR40&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xj%27aime+lire+bayard.TRS0&_nkw=j%27aime+lire+bayard&_sacat=0 You kinda have to watch the listings awhile to find the titles/price you want. Thanks! I found a Canadian seller shipping from the U.S., so their prices are pretty reasonable. I was able to find dd's favorite comic book in French and two bundles of magazines that I think will work well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Lectures Thematiques (Hachette) has questions at the bottom of the page and some french to french explanations of hard words. We use History and Art History so far. We also use 'A mots contes' from Belin, these are leveled readers with a wide assortiment of texts. These also have questions at the bottom of the page. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 EllaD, My kids' favorite, favorite French stories were the Caroline books by Pierre Probst! I got several from ebay, way back. If you can find some (the older ones have the best illustrations!!), try one of those with your daughter. They're about a little girl and a band of animals (cats, dogs, etc.) and their (mis-)adventures sailing, at the beach, at the carnival, etc. There are English translations, so be sure you're getting the French version. Fun, fun books. :) ETA: Here are a couple: Caroline en Vacances, Caroline et Ses Amis a la Mer, more Sometimes you have to stalk ebay for decent prices. ETA2: There's also a picture story series called Martine, but we found them cloyingly cute. Even my daughter never got into them. Kind of paled in comparison to Caroline. Some children do like them, though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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