Reading In French With A Non-Fluent Child?

[beaners]

My daughter wants to read in French. She's quite young, but probably 5th grade reading/comprehension in English. She has very low conversational output (songs, asking for things, simple sentences), but she easily understands the plot of movies or books she hasn't heard before. She doesn't get every nuance or exactly what every object is.

 

Is it possible to teach her to read with her current level of understanding? She is asking, but I don't know how to go about it, or if it's a reasonable goal with her current vocabulary. If it is, how do you go about it? Would I just explain what different sounds the consonants, vowels and letter combinations make? If it isn't reasonable, what should I do to get her to the point where she can learn to read? She's too young for any kind of foreign language curriculum and I'm not a native speaker.

[jhschool]

Hi

 

Get her simple, simple books and

a nice FAT dictionary with BIG type and lots

of words (not those thin Scholastic-type

dictionaries). She can go through the books

herself and you can just guide a little.

 

I recommend the Martine books.

 

There are lots of others--translations of simple

picture books, like Bonsoir, Lune (Goodnight Moon) or

Max et Les Maximonstres (Where the Wild Things Are)

 

Go to your library or get them from amazon.

[Ester Maria]

In principle, reading as a skill transfers between alphabetic languages, once the child has mastered the principles of decoding. Regarding telling her about the symbols and the sounds and how they are related - I assume that if she has mastered the English phonics, there is no need for much further elaboration as to how that works, only a need to recognize that French is a separate system with its own logic of correspondence, somewhat different than the English one. She does not even need to be formally taught that if she can pick it up.

 

Get her simple kids' books, preferably with audio, and work with her on what she does not understand lexically (read in French and translate to English or have it translated by her as a diagnostic tool to see how much she really understand). Once she does understand what she is hearing and seeing on the page, it will only take listening to a few books as she follows the text to "get" all the major principles of how French writing works. She already knows how to read, it is only about applying it to a different language. Reading will also allow her to progress further with the language.

[Julie Smith]

What you could do is get French library books that come with CD. Then have her read along with the CD. This could also work if your library has access to tumble books.

 

I found it has helped me with my ability to read French.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

I taught both my kids English using a reading approach. The one that worked best was a Five in a Row approach. We would choose a nice, short, book (like those chosen by Five in a Row) and read it five days (not always in a row, alas). The first day, I would read one sentence and translate it right away. The second day, I would point out specific words. Children books are repetitive so this makes vocabulary acquisition easier. The third day, I would point out expressions - always providing a general translation of the story. Fourth day, I would ask if the child could remember this word, that expression, what's happening in the story, etc.. Last day, we were reading only in English.

 

And as Ester Maria pointed out, the actual reading/decoding of one European language is a skill that transfers between languages, once the child speaks that new target language. I never taught my kids to read in English, they never got any phonics and neither did I

[Joan in GE]

We used phonogram flash cards for learning to read in French...since they'd done it already in English, they were used to the concept and liked that approach...

 

You could just focus on the ones that are the most different if you have already used a phonogram approach...

 

Joan

[beaners]

Thanks everyone! Most of what I think she'd need explicit direction on involves word endings. (What's aspirated, spoken, etc.) I'll try reading with with her and pointing out things here and there. I only have half of a shelf of books in the house, and most of those are intended for about a 3rd grade audience. We are very lucky to have access to an amazing library though, so I should be able to find some books to work with. I'll have to track down that thread listing children's books in French. I have found that many translations of children's books are very clunky.

[Julie Smith]

I'll have to track down that thread listing children's books in French. I have found that many translations of children's books are very clunky.

 

I started, or took part in almost every French children books thread. (at least it feels that way.) what type of child's books are you looking for?