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Pros and cons of Power-Glide Ultimate French? Breaking the Barrier French?


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and found it was a disappointment. It uses a very non-traditional approach to teaching a language. French I is all about a King, a Prince, their Kingdom, etc., rather than the usual greetings, colors, transportation, food, etc. Even the highschool students are disappointed with it, as they see much more purpose in learning how to manage simple greetings and processes if they are in France or Quebec...they are not interested in learning the vocabulary surrounding a fairy tale type story. The 2 teachers at the co-op have had to supplement with lots of grammar....read verbs:tongue_smilie: We will not be continuing with Powerglide II as had been planned, but the students will be taking a French II course at our state Virtual School.

I am unfamiliar with the other program you mentioned, so unfortunately can't compare the two.

Hope this helps a little!

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languages. We used Power-Glide French years ago when we first started homeschooling, and I can't say my daughters or I retained anything from it. You are supposed to be learning the language through hearing spoken conversations, i.e., inductively, and eventually figure out the differences between a male and female speaker and other subtleties (French uses one -e for the masculine ending and two -ee's--one with an accent mark---for the feminine ending) through listening. I just don't think it's enough. Personally, I think it's best if a student learn another language through much reading and conversation and writing, but with a solid foundation in grammar. Power-Glide, in my opinion, doesn't give that foundation in grammar.

 

I've heard good things about Rosetta Stone, but from what I've heard, I wouldn't say that is high-school level, either.

 

Cleo in Quebec speaks French fluently, and she might be a tremendous resource for you as you look for a good French program. I can't remember the name of the French books we used in college.

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You are supposed to be learning the language through hearing spoken conversations, i.e., inductively, and eventually figure out the differences between a male and female speaker and other subtleties (French uses one -e for the masculine ending and two -ee's--one with an accent mark---for the feminine ending) through listening. I just don't think it's enough.

 

No experience with Power Glide but I wanted to note that I personally would be challenged by this methodology. My son and I are using French in Action which has listening and reading components. I have found that my old ears have problems distinguishing some of the sounds and thus I must rely on the written word. This is not true for my son who can distinguish between certain subtle differences.

 

On the topic of learning languages inductively, Parisarah had a rant on the general board. Here is her blog post addressing the issue on the importance of teaching grammar.

 

Jane

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This program was designed by a Canadian woman, who's first language is French. She developed this program based upon phonograms, and it does make sense. We teach our children to read English based upon phonetics, so why wouldn't we teach students to read French the same way. For the Middle School and Highschool students, Ms. Filion has incorporated grammar, which is essential. When we used this program, we also had a French tutor, who augmented the material with conversation and repetition. My children learned so much that year. The only frustration we found was that in attempting to make the curriculum work for all grades, the conversation on the CD was very childish for my Middle Schoolers. Here is a link to the developers website. http://www.theeasyfrench.com/index.html

So, just another thought for you:001_smile:

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when the children were in Grade 5 & 7. My child who at point was in Gr. 7 felt the story line was very childish. This afternoon I took a little time and looked at Marie's(she was in our homeschool group in Canada for a time) new publications and they look great. She has really beefed up the level of complexity, incorporated lots of grammar, and the story line is much more mature. Please feel free to pm me if I can help any further.

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