Susannah Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 We are interested in starting a foreign language with our first grader. I am looking for a natural approach. I don't want material that expects the child to read and write the language at first. I also think programs that start out with full sentences/conversations in the target language are too aggressive (but I am open to input if I am wrong on this.) Has anyone helped their child learn French and has a good curriculum to recommend? We really want to give her a good foundation before puberty, especially. Hubs speaks with a good accent but is not fluent. (He will be instructing.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yinanyinu Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I used Tatou le Matou to introduce DC to French. I found this program researching what various Alliance Francaise courses for children used, and I bought the teaching set, "Malette pedagogique" It involved a lot of songs, and cutting and pasting craft-y activities. There was also a lot of repetition, which helped DC get the vocabulary, without my having to translate. The Alliance Francaise in Singapore has information about this program that might be helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susannah Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 Thank you! She would love the cutting and pasting crafts! We will check it out. Open to other curriculum suggestions if anyone has one to recommend.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
attaboygirl Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 *IF* you are fluent-ish (not necessarily native-speaker level, but pretty knowledgeable), we love two different publishers' programs: The CLÉ materials (French publisher) Alex et Zoe and Amis et Compagnie form the path my daughter has taken. This year, in 7th Grade, she is practice testing for the DELF A1 and is doing really well. I feel like the CLÉ materials have given her a solid, working fluency. The CD recordings are fantastically well-implemented, and there's a good scaffolding from learning to speak/listen to beginning to study the underlying grammar. Alex et Zoe is their mid-elementary curric, while Amis is their middle school level. We're in Amis level 2, after 3 years with Alex et Zoe, starting in 4th grade. For my 1st grader, though, we switched publishers to Didier, because their early elementary level was way more appealing to my probably-future-engineer son than the CLÉ Les Petites Grenouilles. Didier's early elem level is called Ludo et Ses Amis and so far, it's pretty much perfect. Ludo is a robot, which was the big draw. ;) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susannah Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 Okay, hubby checked out all the suggested material, but doesn't feel like he can teach it. The curriculums you each have suggested seem to be written in French, or at least their websites associated with them are in French, and we can't read it enough to know if the programs will work. Plus, a promotional website in French seems to indicate that maybe the materials don't have any English in them? We are continuing to look on the internet for other options that will work for non-fluent parents and be appropriate for early elementary. Thanks for responding, anyway! I'm glad you all have found things that work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Alex et Zoe is their mid-elementary curric, while Amis is their middle school level. We're in Amis level 2, after 3 years with Alex et Zoe, starting in 4th grade. I am interested in Amis materials. Which components do I have to have? Where do you buy them? How much is the cost per year? Also, any idea where you would place a kid who finished Galore Park series? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Okay, hubby checked out all the suggested material, but doesn't feel like he can teach it. The curriculums you each have suggested seem to be written in French, or at least their websites associated with them are in French, and we can't read it enough to know if the programs will work. Plus, a promotional website in French seems to indicate that maybe the materials don't have any English in them? We are continuing to look on the internet for other options that will work for non-fluent parents and be appropriate for early elementary. Thanks for responding, anyway! I'm glad you all have found things that work! Try posting on the Curriculum board, instead of this one. This board is mainly for families that are already bilingual, so material recommendations are going to be mostly from that perspective. Names I have seen on the curriculum boards: DinoLingo (not to be confused with DuoLingo, which is excellent but for older kids/adults) Little Pim ... I'm sure there are many others, but since we are bilingual, I only look at the threads out of curiosity from time to time. :-) Good luck! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest helenwilsonusa Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 (edited) Hello, French language courses are very much popular these days. You can learn them from different schools and institutions. The best school is http://www.inlinguautah.com/ to learn French in more detail. By learning French language you are able to communicate with the people around.If you visit French cities then it becomes very easy for you to connect with French people and learn more about their country and traditions. You can easily talk to them and understand them and tell them your views about their traditions and cultures. Edited December 10, 2015 by helenwilsonusa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 Okay, hubby checked out all the suggested material, but doesn't feel like he can teach it. The curriculums you each have suggested seem to be written in French, or at least their websites associated with them are in French, and we can't read it enough to know if the programs will work. Plus, a promotional website in French seems to indicate that maybe the materials don't have any English in them? We are continuing to look on the internet for other options that will work for non-fluent parents and be appropriate for early elementary. Thanks for responding, anyway! I'm glad you all have found things that work! I don't know what a natural approach means, but in your shoes, I would look at the galore park material. They look pared down, but a lot is packed in. there's a CF with each book. I'd give you mine to look at but I'm saving them for my nieces/Dd. You can see pdf samples online Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimicoto Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 *IF* you are fluent-ish (not necessarily native-speaker level, but pretty knowledgeable), we love two different publishers' programs: The CLÉ materials (French publisher) Alex et Zoe and Amis et Compagnie form the path my daughter has taken. This year, in 7th Grade, she is practice testing for the DELF A1 and is doing really well. I feel like the CLÉ materials have given her a solid, working fluency. The CD recordings are fantastically well-implemented, and there's a good scaffolding from learning to speak/listen to beginning to study the underlying grammar. Alex et Zoe is their mid-elementary curric, while Amis is their middle school level. We're in Amis level 2, after 3 years with Alex et Zoe, starting in 4th grade. I would be really interested in knowing more about these programs.....we are a bilingual home - DH is French, I am an anglophone who falls into the pretty-fluent-ish category, and both DCs (Grade 6 and Grade 3) are bilingual. Until just last year, both DCs were in a private, French-American school. Since beginning homeschooling in 2014, we've not been able to find a solution for French instruction and CLE sounds promising....it sounds fairly all-in-one. Although I've been able to read through the materials on their Web-site, I'm unclear as to what materials we need for a 'complete' curriculum and how I should place the kids within the program. Any suggestions? I'd ask DH to help me figure it out, but he is up to his earlobes in work right now and while he is a huge supporter, he has not been able to contribute to the homeschool effort to any degree. Thanks for any further guidance you might provide! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
attaboygirl Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 I am interested in Amis materials. Which components do I have to have? Where do you buy them? How much is the cost per year? Also, any idea where you would place a kid who finished Galore Park series? I would be really interested in knowing more about these programs.....we are a bilingual home - DH is French, I am an anglophone who falls into the pretty-fluent-ish category, and both DCs (Grade 6 and Grade 3) are bilingual. Until just last year, both DCs were in a private, French-American school. Since beginning homeschooling in 2014, we've not been able to find a solution for French instruction and CLE sounds promising....it sounds fairly all-in-one. Although I've been able to read through the materials on their Web-site, I'm unclear as to what materials we need for a 'complete' curriculum and how I should place the kids within the program. Any suggestions? I'd ask DH to help me figure it out, but he is up to his earlobes in work right now and while he is a huge supporter, he has not been able to contribute to the homeschool effort to any degree. Thanks for any further guidance you might provide! Hi Roadrunner (sorry, never got a notification that you were curious!) & Mimicoto, Okay, what we are using right now for Amis 2 is this: Livre de l'élève. Cahier d'activités Guide Pédagogique Classroom 3 CD Set (comme ça: http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/209032774X?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00) It's probably about $120 for the whole set, and it will likely last the whole year. The CDs are the most expensive part, but while my accent is pretty good for a non-native, hearing the native speakers at normal speaking pace has been vitally helpful all these years. I ordered the components from Amazon.fr, as they had all the pieces I needed, and it was just as simple as could be. It does take forever to arrive, but I ordered at the beginning of the summer and we had them in hand with plenty of time to spare. I would have to say it's pretty difficult to suggest a placement. And actually, I'm not sure at all what we'll do when/if my dd decides to take an outsourced French class. So far, the books are reading/writing/speaking intensive, but not in the traditional grammar-first way that textbook language learning often is. For example, this year dd has covered passé composé, futur proche, and beginning phonetic orthographie fundamentals. It's a cool mix of usable language and deep language learning. BUT, she's not practicing conjugations at the level that I remember at her age. Anyway, I've talked plenty, so let me know if there are more questions and I'll do my best. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 http://www.theeasyfrench.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimicoto Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) Thank you attaboygirl! Really helpful :-). Will take a closer look and may be back with questions. I am right there with you vis a vis pronunciation. My kids correct mine all the time, even though (I'm told) I speak French well. BTW I see you are using Wayfarers.....we are using it to and just love it! I have several pieces of Barefoot Ragamuffin curricula and have been so pleased. If ever you do find a suitable online option for your DD id be all ears - that's what I'd hoped to find, but it seems near impossible. Another forum member mentioned The Potter's School - her DS is enrolled in an online advanced French course there. I'm not able to link just now but will do so later if you're interested. Slache - I looked at Easy French....it looks great but sadly it won't work for us because of the accent, which (from what I heard on the sample lessons) is much closer to a French Canadian accent than a European accent. It is very different from ours and would definitely be confusing for the kids... They are native speakers so what I really need is help to keep that going plus equip them with brass tacks such as grammar etc. Really too bad as it looks like a lovely program. ETA : I just did a quick search on Amazon.ca and they offer CLE products at a much lower price! We have friends and family there and arrangements could be made! I'm on the hunt 😀😀 Edited December 22, 2015 by Mimicoto 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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