Peso Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Hi everyone, After a disastrous year which included some latin and a little greek, my daughter wants to turn to French as her primary foreign language study. Any suggestions? She has not studied french before and will be in 10th grade, so ideally the program would have 2-3 levels that would last her the rest of high school. However, any and all ideas welcome! If we can't find anything, french might just be where she starts her community college adventure, but ideally, she'd start it here at home. With gratitude - Penny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Start with Duolingo and/or Getting Started with French (go through it quickly.) We are using a combination of mostly Breaking the French Barrier and Carnegie Mellon OLI (a free MOOC). If you finish Duolingo, the Carnegie Mellon course and a couple of levels of Breaking the Barrier, that should cover a really solid couple/ three years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peso Posted April 20, 2017 Author Share Posted April 20, 2017 (edited) Thank you so much! That is great advice about starting with Duolingo and Getting Started with French, both had completely escaped me. The book is on order and we'll pop into DL later. She enjoyed Getting Started with Latin, so I'm sure the French will work well. I love this board - people never fail to help! Thanks again - Penny Edited April 20, 2017 by Peso Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 If she wants to really learn the language, do Breaking the Barrier 1 and follow it up with French in Action. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peso Posted April 20, 2017 Author Share Posted April 20, 2017 Thank you Roadrunner! She'll use the intro books then move to Breaking the Barrier, etc. That should set her up. Plus we can go to Montreal for speaking a few times a semester. It's all good. Like I said - I love this board! :) Penny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peso Posted April 20, 2017 Author Share Posted April 20, 2017 You know, now that I really look at Breaking the Barrier I'm wondering if I can just start with that. It seems like the Level 1 covers the things DL or GSF would. is this true? Many thanks again - Penny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gstharr Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Breaking the Barrier does look interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Lots of people also recommended Galore Parks So You Really Want to Learn French. I bought the level one with CDs ,then Ds decided to take it at the CC instead. (Mine is for sale on the classified boards here, if you're interested) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 You know, speaking French in Montreal is not like the French you learn in textbooks, just FYI, but heading to Montreal for a culture field trip is great too :)- we're nearby as well 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peso Posted April 20, 2017 Author Share Posted April 20, 2017 Regarding Montreal - I do know that. I learned textbook French in high school during the dark ages, and we went to Montreal often just to hear the cadence and read the signs. Plus you really can understand a fair bit... if people slow down when they talk! lol Montreal is a great city - so clean and friendly. Any excuse to visit is a good one in my very humble opinion! Thanks everyone for all the ideas - I'm pretty sure we're going with Breaking the Barrier, although I might get GSwF for myself as a refresher ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 At times Youngest has preferred Memrise to Duolingo. French isn't available yet, but I hear good things about a new online site called, "Langauge Zen". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 You know, now that I really look at Breaking the Barrier I'm wondering if I can just start with that. It seems like the Level 1 covers the things DL or GSF would. is this true? Many thanks again - Penny It does cover the same material, but IMO, you need more than just Breaking the Barrier. It goes fast, and gets kind of monotonous. We've really liked the Carnegie Mellon OLI- native speakers and lots of targeted listening practice. French in Action looks good, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peso Posted April 20, 2017 Author Share Posted April 20, 2017 hmmm. That's good to know. I see I have some thinking to do. Thanks very much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 Lots of people also recommended Galore Parks So You Really Want to Learn French. I bought the level one with CDs ,then Ds decided to take it at the CC instead. (Mine is for sale on the classified boards here, if you're interested) Galore is what we used, but Galore is for middle schoolers, so I wouldn't start there in 10th grade. You need a grammar foundation and some basics covered before starting French in Action. I think Breaking the Barrier will give you that foundation. Once she is comfortable a little with the language, add in reading, add in videos... more you do, more she will get out of it. But the key is to start somewhere. If I were to use Galore books for high school, I would want to cover all three books in a year, maybe 1.5 years at most. French grammar is complicated, so you will need to hit those topics several times to let them really soak in. Galore provides grammar basics, but it won't be enough for mastery. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 You know, now that I really look at Breaking the Barrier I'm wondering if I can just start with that. It seems like the Level 1 covers the things DL or GSF would. is this true? Many thanks again - Penny It does. Both of my dds used BtB French with great success. It does come with audio CDs, and certainly you can use DuoLingo or any other supplemental resources as needed for extra practice. You can get the iBook with student book and audio for $30. That might be a way to see if you like it before ordering a print package, tests, and so on. I may still have the tests if you decide to go that route. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peso Posted April 22, 2017 Author Share Posted April 22, 2017 Thank you for your thoughts, they are very encouraging! I ordered the set this morning, so I don't need the tests, but that was a very kind offer. Many thanks - Penny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
learners4life Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 There have been a few threads on this in the last year or so. Here is one: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/559413-high-school-french-need-suggestions/ Maybe a search will bring up some others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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