French materials for child in bilingual program (posted in wrong place)

[madteaparty]

Here's my issue, and I would love the advice of the wise parents here.

 

My 6YO is in a dual-language program. Last year, the program was comprised of over 60% completely fluent (as in native/two french parents/French spoken exclusively at home) and the rest (like my son) English speakers. The issue is, when they do French, (every other day), they REALLY do French, in a way I imagine schools in Paris would teach. Because these kids are fluent, they are not learning the language as such. So during that time, I very much feel like my son is lost. Completely lost, staring at the ceiling. We are invested in this program and will stick to it, but I need to make it better for him. What I intend to do this fall is:

--ask the teacher in advance for the "Word of the Day" list for the week. We can practice a tiny bit at home so at least he can follow along and maybe have one sentence ready if he feels brave

--weekend French language class at FIAF fall semester. If this goes well, we continue year round. If not, I am considering a tutor.

--I will try to read him baby books in French--I am at a basic level myself but learning more every weekend.

 

Are there any French materials/workbooks you recomend? I afterschool (just math, and the proposed French plans above; we also read a lot but I do not consider that afterschooling). I saw someone mention the Kindergarten french book--I'd love a recomendation for the name/brand. Many thanks in advance.

Edited August 3, 2010 by madteaparty
spelling

[enviromommy]

I can't really help with any materials, but have you spoken to the school about this? It seems odd if close to 40% of the kids are non native speakers that they wouldn't have a French language class designed to get the Anglophone kids up to speed. This can't be the first time they've had a situation like this. What happens in the other classes? Is it just French class that is taught entirely in French, or are the other classes also?

 

As far as materials, I'm curious to see what others recommend. I bought l'Art de Dire for my 5 year-old and I find it very disappointing, not an impressive program at all.

 

Good luck!

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

At that age kids should be like sponges. Many many families around me send their kids to an immersion program like this one. By Christmas time, most kids are fluent in the target language, or close to it. This is the way kids younger than 10 learn best.

 

If your child is not there yet, I would definitely have a talk with his teacher. Is he paying attention when the class is in French? Or is he just tuning out and hoping for French time to be over? I know I was just tuning out when I was that age. It took me years to be anywhere near functional in English. I failed year after year after year. For me, the only thing that worked was reading in English. Immersion didn't work for me. But kids like me are an exception, not the norm.

[Shifra]

Many parents who have a child in an immersion program say that their child feels overwhelmed for quite some time. So you are not alone. On the website of Canadian Parents for French they have this brochure, which talks about how to support your child who is in an immersion program.

 

But I think that your ideas are great! You may want to read some francophone books in both English and French like Babar or Madeline, page by page (first read one page in English, then in French) so that way your son will get the meaning first, then the language.

[madteaparty]

Cleo--he was in this program for one school year so far (K and 1st grade class mixed). I do think he is tuning out when French is spoken, I would too, it's completely overwhelming when fluent people are going on and on at their normal speed, and you are just in the middle. When it's French time and the teacher wears a special necklace, NO English is spoken at all.

 

He did learn quite a few words, and the ones that he agrees to say out loud for us are in perfect accent:001_wub: His teacher is from Paris. I also should add his *English* reading and writing improved during this age...He basically learnt how to read (in English).

 

I will have a conversation with the teacher when this school year starts.

 

Where can I find a bilingual Babar or similar book, anyone know? Many Thanks!

Edited August 5, 2010 by madteaparty

[Chez J]

My daughter was in a program like that: 50% French 40% English 10% Spanish. She would tell me she didn't know any French at all after a long time in school. So after talking with the teacher, I discovered that she was interacting in French class in French. SHE just didn't realize that she was speaking and listening in French. LOL! She just thought she was talking and didn't even realize the difference.

 

May just be the same for your son.

 

Lesley

[anabelneri]

I've worked on French with my daughter through K and 1st grade, though we don't have the benefit of the immersion that your son does. Hopefully the other folks' ideas that maybe he's learning more than it looks like he does are correct. But I thought I'd mention two programs, because they're pretty Ok for younger children, just in case you do want to supplement. The first is Muzzy, which is an old BBC production that's entirely in the target language, and it builds vocabulary and grammar slowly through the show. We were lucky enough to get it through the library. The other is the Learnables, which is a look-and-listen system that works largely through telling stories, also entirely in the target language. You might want to talk to the Learnables people to see if they could help with placement. We've found the Learnables to be really helpful in keeping an immersion style while being able to tell from the pictures what exactly the speaker is talking about.

 

Besides that, listening to CDs in the car is great, and watching movies in French at home is good too. Many of the the Disney/Pixar movies have a French soundtrack. The "Franklin" TV shows on DVD also come with a French soundtrack option.

 

Good luck!

:)

Anabel

[burckeri]

That was probably me who mentioned the French kindergarten workbook on the afterschooling board. Currently I'm using one called "Vive la maternelle!" from Éditions Marcel Didier. If you visit their website (http://www.marceldidier.com/), you can see that they have many workbooks at different levels targeting different subjects, and many of them have PDF sample pages. I was in Quebec a couple weeks ago and took advantage of the opportunity to browse through a variety of workbooks in a bookstore. I've looked at them on online bookstore sites (such as http://www.renaud-bray.com/ or http://www.amazon.fr/), but it was helpful to flip through them and see what they looked like inside. I liked the ones from Marcel Didier and Chantecler, and didn't care for the Chouette ones from Hatier (though I liked the 1-2-3 Maternelle series).

[Shifra]

Where can I find a bilingual Babar or similar book, anyone know? Many Thanks!

 

Well, I don't think that Babar comes in a bilingual version, but you should check www.continentalbook.com. They have Babar in French; also, they have a few bilingual French/English books. Also, don't underestimate what you can find on amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com.