HappyGrace Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 This is for dd12. I think I remember reading that Rosetta Stone was not that good? I have no idea what's out there and what's good! She really wants to learn French though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mystika1 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyforlatin Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I really like Breaking the Barrier and if you look at either the Logic or High School Board, I believe there will be more information there. It's an approach that I like and it works well for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Do you speak French yourself? I think that So You Really Want to Learn French from Galore Park is a really good programme: clear, thorough and reasonably fun, with good coverage of grammar. I do think that it needs more oral work, however - the CD content is limited - so it only really works if you can fill in with some extra speaking. Both Calvin's French teachers at school have sung his praises based on the preparation he had with SY French. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Thank you so much; I just looked at both of these, and they look great, but I think we will need something with more oral work-both speaking and listening. Maybe something with a DVD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I have my eye on Contacts. It looks like it will be good for self-study. I haven't actually seen it yet though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah CB Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Thank you so much; I just looked at both of these, and they look great, but I think we will need something with more oral work-both speaking and listening. Maybe something with a DVD? The Easy French http://www.theeasyfrench.com/ has worked really well for us. We used the original level 1 as a family and then when dd reached grade 6 she moved into level 1A independently. She completed the next few levels. It's an approach that has a very strong oral componenet - similar to the Suzuki approach in that the more you listen to the CD the easier the French will come. Dd (16 now) did The Easy French, then had one year where she took a 6 week conversational class at the rec center and did some bookwork in the Ultimate French Review (or something like that), then she went straight into French 11 in public high school. Most students here start French in grade 5, so most French 11 students would have been in French for years. Dd ended up with an A in the course and her teacher remarked on how strong she was with both the oral component and the written component. I think The Easy French gave her a strong foundation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymilkies Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I've pretty much tried them all. I say tpr French and my next buy will be Breaking the Barrier for more grammar. If you have a French background, at least, tpr is great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Sarah, The Easy French looks great!! I am still looking it over, but would you recommend getting the new format or old? And for a rising 7th grader, if you do the new format, would you cover 1a and 1b in a year to make a full year course? Or does it not compare? Because you said your dd did a few of the years and it added up to more than three grade levels. (how many levels did your dd do per year?) Do you think the advantages of the new format are worth the extra price? Also, can it be totally independent at that age? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymilkies Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 IMHO, The Easy French is too easy and childish for a 12 year old. YMMV, but what about something like Les Portes Tordues for her age as an introduction? ETA: I think my copy was much older or something. It was very childish. 1A looks like a good place to start if you choose that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 I don't know, I looked thru the samples of The Easy French and it is worrisome that they do not spend much time on the conjugations. It is almost like a whole-to-parts approach rather than parts-to-whole, and I know from our Latin experience that she does better with parts-to-whole. I think I may have to keep looking, unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 This is for dd12. I think I remember reading that Rosetta Stone was not that good? I have no idea what's out there and what's good! She really wants to learn French though. My 7th grader has been taking French for a few yrs now. She had been using a combination of Tell Me More, Breaking the Barrier, and French in Action. Her father took her on a trip to Quebec in the fall and she came home wanting to drop everything but French in Action (which is basically an immersion style program.) Her French has really improved the last couple of months. And she is loving the straight French in Action approach. The videos are free via the Annenberg Foundation: http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html If you search the high school board, someone recently posted the audio files for free. (we already own the cds, so I didn't pay that much attention to the thread) Breaking the Barrier is good for grammar understanding. Tell Me More is fine for basic audio. Any of them are fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyforlatin Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 IMHO, The Easy French is too easy and childish for a 12 year old. YMMV, but what about something like Les Portes Tordues for her age as an introduction? ETA: I think my copy was much older or something. It was very childish. 1A looks like a good place to start if you choose that. I have Les Portes, but the CD doesn't contain the pronunciation of the vocabulary words, just the story, which is fine, but for a beginner, I think it would be better to combine it with something else, unless someone in the household speaks French. I do like the combo of BtB and Les Portes. I considered Easy French, but the price kept me back. I know it's supposed to be for several years, but I rather just pay a lower upfront cost. BtB is not cheap either, but the first level will last us about 2 years since I'm using it with a younger child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah CB Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I don't know, I looked thru the samples of The Easy French and it is worrisome that they do not spend much time on the conjugations. It is almost like a whole-to-parts approach rather than parts-to-whole, and I know from our Latin experience that she does better with parts-to-whole. I think I may have to keep looking, unfortunately. The new format was written for grades 7 and up and definitely can be done independently. There is quite a lot of work on conjugations - especially if you look at what they'll know by the end of 2B. The original level 1 (which is more suitable for younger kids) doesn't contain much (if any) grammar, but the levels 1A, etc. have grammar and conjugation built right in. Did you take a look at the 2B sample? It's a fairly multi-faceted approach. The oral side is very strong and yet in the levels for grade 7 and up there is much more of a written/grammatical/translation focus. One thing I appreciated was the emphasis on learning the French phonograms. If you do all parts of the program, I think it provides pretty comprehensive instruction and (for my dd, anyway) it was the kind of learning that sticks. It's meant to be used over an entire year - you go through the whole book during one semester, and then go over it again the second semester with a different focus (and different exercises). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 I do think it looks good-thank you for the extra information! I am going to look it over again today-somehow I missed that info about going over the book again in the 2nd half of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveBaby Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Check your local library. Our library system has recently contracted with http://www.mangolanguages.com/ for free foreign language instruction for library members. If you find a program you like, but need more oral/speaking practice then this would fill that gap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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