Here is a VERY incomplete example of just French...from my study ages ago. It doesn't have subjonctive. And I'm not sure where you would put conditional graphically... ETA, it says too big, so I'll have to reduce it later today as I'm going out.... I would like to have examples of the tenses underneath as well. Then below that, or above, the English and German - past, present, future tenses, Konjunctiv. Thanks for any help or additions to this!

I'm trying to understand and easily show how the tenses compare in these three languages. I know they are not a perfect fit as some languages emphasize some aspects of the past (eg French) differently than we do in English and German has Konjuntiv I and II, etc. When I was studying French ages ago, we could make nice little time line and slot the verbs into different positions on the line....In the middle was the present and on the right the future tenses and the left the past tenses. That must have just been for the indicative and then perhaps another line underneath with past present subjunctive. There I'm already over my head as I've never really mastered subjunctive. Has anyone done this and could therefore share a picture ? I've been looking for a website that puts this in a good visual form but so far none are even close.... Any links or ideas are greatly appreciated.

It does look interesting and makes me think of buying it for my own education. Did you see there are versions in the series that have extra questions at the end (version augmentée)?

Her general idea is a good one in that if you want to do modern history, the thought level is probably closer to 5th grade than to 9th grade for an average 6th grader (sorry I don't lknow specifics about your 6th grader). The 9th grade level could be drier with smaller print, etc... AND the academie en ligne is CNED, you can see it up at the top left...so you could poke around on that site to look at the higher level books. And they probably have the teacher/parent 'book' as well to get answers to questions.... In relation to different publishers, some are better than others in terms of the types of questions they ask....I used to like Hachette but don't know if the others have gotten better...

If you can wait a bit, I can try to find the CNED online versions or get out my history books and take some photos. There is more text the higher you go, but one thing you should understand about the French textbooks is that they try to encourage dialogue and thinking through conversation...It's not just about a student sitting and reading everything.....I actually at one point liked the Hachette ones better though haven't investigated recently and they had an online teacher edition so that you could get an idea of the answers they were looking for when discussing the pictures. Here's an example that comes to mind although from Geographie... There would be a picture of a bidonville and then the teacher would ask questions (I think the questions might also be in the student book but forget if there are more)...to get the student to study the picture and really think about the lives of the people in the picture. I don't know your level of French to know what level of conversation you could have with your children...but it's a good approach for learning a language as well.

You can go to the publisher to find out more about an offer...perhaps be able to look inside for some. http://www.joursoir.magnard.fr They say for 'la maison' but that's as homework practice...most kids aren't doing homeschool in France.

Here's another example on Canadian Amazon... https://www.amazon.ca/Histoire-Géographie-3e-Enseignement-moral-civique/dp/2091718971/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1491672783&sr=8-4&keywords=histoire+geographie+3e You can partly tell by the price....they're not free... But the CNED might have similar texts online for free...at least they did several years ago...

The book you link is just like a homework book....a supplement if you would. The real texts are like the one I linked...

I'm not on enough these days to know what grade-level you need....presuming high school if you're talking about the IB. There probably are IB History books in French but I don't have any recommendations. I know 9th grade better than 12th grade... The series for French school 6-9th grade follows WTM with Ancient History 6e (6th grade), Middle Ages 5e (7th grade)...so most recent history would be for 9th grade which is 3e... They always do it with Geographie for that level...and the Geographie is more like Human Geography....We found these books to have pretty interesting information...we ended up following American texts for 10-12 just due to testing reasons, need for American History, AP exam, etc....And of course since it's a French series, they will have more French history than American or UK etc history... Eg. Histoire Geographie

Interesting...I see it's by an American publisher too. The cover looks just like many of the student language books here. Both yours sound motivated. Thanks!

Your child sounds very motivated and it is impressive for the US. I'm guessing that the way the language was taught also had an influence as there are very different ways and the methods they use here in Europe tend to get the kids speaking very quickly and well so it can be done. A good teacher helps as well but if his was not as fluent, perhaps it was the program and personal interest ? Would you be able to find out the name of the book or the program that they used? It's hard to find language programs in the US that really work well. Thanks,

I just started using Babbel...looks promising but I don't have long term experience with it.

Great for learning how to pronounce German correctly!

It's true that once they made the new French AP, there aren't many books. We used the ones by Pearson - Allons au dela and AP French...have you looked at the College Board Website ? - there's much more 'cultural' information than the previous AP... You're right about there being many resources for the DELF....with CD's etc...

For French news - there's just been a proposition to ban homeschooling except for – l’exigence de soins médicaux, – situation de handicap en attente de scolarisation dans un établissement médico-social, – activités sportives ou artistiques, – parents itinérants, – éloignement géographique d’un établissement scolaire. You can see here: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/propositions/pion3704.asp Search : domicile Petition here:http://www.citizengo.org/fr/34417-le-retrait-du-projet-loi-ndeg-3704-du-27-avril-2016 Punishment being code pénal prévoit une peine de six mois d’emprisonnement et 7 500 euros d’amende pour les parents qui refusent d’inscrire leur enfant dans un établissement d’enseignement

I'm treating myself to a little discussion :-) - otherwise it's work, work, work :-) :seeya:

Isn't literature analysis more like philosophy rather than learning to speak French like a native? I'm just thinking aloud here...thinking too about some of Monica's comments....as I'm frequently thinking about my French, every time someone starts speaking to me in English because they hear my accent ....There's they whole way of phrasing a thought that can be different in different languages....and so when we talk about 'levels'....it's very hard to measure in some ways - as speaking like a native is thinking linguistically like a native, not just thinking in French....if you see what I mean. I'm not a linguist so this is probably discussed much more profoundly on some kind of linguist board.... Here's another topic that really eludes me in French.... the use of 'irony'....a friend was saying how much irony is used in French...and how a friend of his went to Massachusetts and his 'irony' went over like a lead balloon....When our friend gave some examples ....we were like - no...that wouldn't be well accepted in the US...Another French friend, a translator, told me how much they love to play with words in French....and when I listen to their conversation, I can see an emphasis that I don't normally hear - but perhaps that's because we're more of a 'science' than a 'literature' family...

Recently I was trying to translate a text for dh....granted it was a somewhat technical text, but not that hard....it was so troublesome. And the same goes when he asks me to translate newspaper articles. Yet I really enjoy simultaneous translating which I've done when we've had English speakers on field trips given in French for example....It seems pretty easy. So I was wondering about this and realized that it's probably related to what people have mentioned in other places, that written French - written properly - is very different from spoken French. (yes, spoken French has different levels, argot, familier, etc but here I'm talking about 'courant'). Anyway....as Monica says, the more you know, the more you realize you don't know...whereas I can't really say that happens to nearly the same extent in English...Properly written French feels completely outside my grasp even with extensive study...

Hello everyone! I still can't resist reading discussion about this comparison.... As loesje mentioned, we were dealing with this problem. The language tested was different - German. And dd got a 4 on the AP exam but I'm not sure that really reflected her knowledge as there were computer problems and she ended up having to redo her oral exam after sitting alone in a room for more than an hour over lunch time while the AP people here were trying to reach the US (where it was still very early morning!).....she was emotionally exhausted and felt she hadn't done as well the second time....Bref....she tested into Goethe Niveau B1.2. in German....that's the second half of B1 level....shortly after...She had spent time in German as an au pair and everything.... Not sure if you can compare German to French but it is at least one indicator.... While she did AP French, it is impossible to compare as she was raised in a Fr speaking country. By the way - OP mentioned there not being as many materials for the one vs the other....were you thinking of not as many for the AP or for the DELF ?

Grass is greener on the other side of the fence :-)

In France and CH....in the literature studied at the Jr. Hi level, they include some Bible stories....and in history they give some of the Judeo-Christian history - I think it is in the effort to remind the inhabitants of their roots due to the cultural differences that are becoming very difficult in Europe.... But even so, it's a one time stop, not ideas that are foundational to a large percent of the population....and thus they're not used for analogies in daily life.... But here's a question - does knowing Bible stories give a culture 'western values' ? And what are 'Western values" these days? That would hijack your thread which is not my intent - I'm just curious in reading this discussion and thinking about the cultural situation here and that in the US which I admittedly only 'see' from time to time....

There is serious deception going out my country of residence. At the time of year for young children to be enrolled for the following school year, the posters say something like "every child is obliged to be enrolled in school" Yet the law says that every child has to receive an education in the 'state' where I live - not all the states, not go to school to get the education. So the public thinks it's illegal at home. I haven't been keeping track of what's being presented in France, but recently there was a tv show (well I was given the link recently) where the kids at home, were not doing that much studying, so it made it look pretty bad - It's called "C'est mon choix" but not the link to send to your tutors. Probably the biggest link is the Les enfants d'abord one. I really haven't been keeping track of all the blogs but it could be an interesting assignment for your daughter to do some Google searches (in your search criteria, make sure you've enabled "French" results...)

There are lots of 'homeschoolers' in France ! But the term varies greatly depending on the group and ideology.... IEF - instruction en famille One site IEL - instruction en liberté Enseignement à domicile Scolarité à la maison/domicile L'école à la maison Hors murs Les enfants d'abord - one of the original groups in France Nosco - no scholarité - unschooling A book against it And I'm sure others will name more options! There is LOTS of info out there and there have been various programs on TV as well.... lots of Facebook groups too My perception in CH, there are more 'unschoolers' than 'schoolers', tho with exams, I think they end up more 'schooling'......not sure about France...

Well, French is already a more 'wordy' language than English... I have two French books about 'literature and youth' but they're packed away somewhere. Hopefully I'll remember to tell you about them once we unpack...Maybe they'll mention 'good' abridged versions. You know for the Swiss matu, Jules Verne is on the list...I think you can analyse his works at different levels....the same for the Fables de la Fontaine and others. Perhaps that's a starting point for you....if you want your children to read the abridged versions of classics, you could look at the Matu reading list... Go to this page and scroll down looking for the http://www.sbfi.admin.ch/themen/01366/01379/01626/index.html?lang=fr Liste des oeuvres littéraire I've actually come to like the 'way of discussing' aspect of French - sometimes - just because they end up saying things in a more delicate and diplomatic way (when it comes to a sensitive topic)... I haven't studied it officially - that's just a perception, so I don't know what 'experts' would say....

The problem is that they don't actually have as much literature - classical that is - written by French authors for younger readers - which is why you are seeing more translations.... If you think of it in reverse - how many 'classics' for younger readers - do we have that were translated from the French ? It does create problems for multilingual families who want to read the classic in the original language. My HE friends whose children didn't read in English but liked to read, just read all the translations. You've probably seen those pink and green sets of classics here.....