Need French help

[Melmc]

Here's the situation. My two oldest kids have had French in school for the last three years. My oldest currently has three 45 minute sessions a week with a native speaker. My middle has the same teacher two times a week. My youngest gets about 20 minutes a week in her preschool class.

 

The two oldest both want to continue French, but I have no idea how to go about this. To complicate matter, I do not speak any French at all! (The same goes for Latin and I've really appreciated having the PL DVDs to watch as we afterschool.)

 

Do I buy a program such as Rosetta Stone or something along those lines? My sister has her kids doing K12 language which is Powerglide.

 

Would I start them at the beginning of a program and just let them work through it faster?

 

And what about the youngest? I would rather her learn Spanish since it's my father's first language and I know some of that, but with her siblings doing French should I just keep them all doing the same language?

 

Any suggestions/opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Julie in GA]

has this subscription you can get for the curriculum that is cheaper than buying the packaged curriculum. It includes all three levels. If you're not sure how to place them, you could get this subscription (it's still over $100, but not $200+ like the sets are) and let your dc find their places.

 

Check out their website, rosettastone.com.

 

I have not used this curriculum, so I'm not recommending it per se; just thought you'd want to know about the 3-level combo deal you can get.

 

I hope you get some more help!

[In The Great White North]

At the end of 4th grade, we needed to start at the beginning. Basically all they had retained from 3 x a week was some pronunciation. We dropped the French, picked up Latin and continued German. Fortunately, I had German, so I could explain the grammar.

 

The oldest (after 6 years of it), I started in a regular German Textbook and Henle I. The transition to writing a lot instead of mostly oral was painful but necessary for a high school language course. We have since added Lingua Latina.

 

The youngest I took out in the middle of 4th. We started with Latina Christiana I, which it has taken her a year and a half to get used to, and doing German more or less the Waldorf way but focussing more on grammar and less on songs.

 

I've discovered that they are both oral/aural learners, which is a critical discovery for a foreign language.

 

We have to do the vocab from LCI out loud in the car til she knows it BEFORE she can do the workbook.

 

LCI is definitely the right level for her.

 

Memoria Press has a new French program modeled after Latina Christiana that you might want to try. There is a pronunciation CD.

 

Rosetta Stone is very user dependent. I wouldn't expect a 4th grader (or younger) to be dedicated enough to get much out of it.

 

They could certainly do Spanish also. Europeans study several languages at once all the time. The idea of one foreign language (or none) is purely American.

[karensk]

Here's one I've been looking into (it's on clearance at Alpha Omega Publishing's site): Auralog's Tell Me More French.

 

From what I've read, a beginner might have an easier time starting out with Rosetta Stone than with Tell Me More. So, your kids who have been studying French may actually prefer Tell Me More.

 

Here are a couple threads I found on it:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=151434&highlight=auralog#post151434

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18486&highlight=auralog

 

Maybe your library has Rosetta Stone and/or the Auralog series? Then you could have your kids try it before buying anything.