High School Foreign Language HELP!!

[roxyintn]

I am new here. Haven't posted much, mainly because I am still learning about our new journey into classical education. I have been working on planning my ds 10th grade curriculum that will include French for foreign language. I thought I would just do Rosette Stone and that would be it. But I read such conflicting reviews about it I don't know what to do. I want him to have a strong foundation both in grammar and speaking the language. Any suggestions would be greatly, greatly appreciated!!:bigear:

[Pegasus]

We've been using Rosetta Stone for Spanish for exposure to the language but I won't be giving any high school credit for it. We've decided to use an outside class through dual enrollment at a community college.

 

Best of luck in finding something that works for your family.

 

Pegasus

[Musicmom]

Hi Roxy,

 

I've tried a number of French programs over the years, and the best one (by far) that I've found is Breaking the Barrier, which is what I'm using now. It is streamlined, very easy to use, and grammar oriented, so if you're looking for a strong foundation in grammar, you will get that with BTB. BTB also has a listening (native speakers) and conversational component. (It is also MUCH less expensive than Rosetta Stone!)

 

I'm also supplementing with Carnegie Mellon's OLI online French courses. These are completely free and have lots of interactive videos where you see/hear native French speakers conversing. Here's the link:

http://oli.web.cmu.edu/openlearning/forstudents/freecourses/french

 

As far as a strong foundation in speaking goes, I think the combination of BTB and CMU OLI is about as close as you'll be able to come in the home environment. (It will be a "foundation"--to truly gain proficiency at speaking requires spending very large amounts of time with native/fluent speakers.)

 

Hope this helps!

[roxyintn]

 

I've tried a number of French programs over the years, and the best one (by far) that I've found is Breaking the Barrier, which is what I'm using now. It is streamlined, very easy to use, and grammar oriented, so if you're looking for a strong foundation in grammar, you will get that with BTB. BTB also has a listening (native speakers) and conversational component. (It is also MUCH less expensive than Rosetta Stone!)

 

I'm also supplementing with Carnegie Mellon's OLI online French courses. These are completely free and have lots of interactive videos where you see/hear native French speakers conversing. Here's the link:

http://oli.web.cmu.edu/openlearning/forstudents/freecourses/french

 

As far as a strong foundation in speaking goes, I think the combination of BTB and CMU OLI is about as close as you'll be able to come in the home environment. (It will be a "foundation"--to truly gain proficiency at speaking requires spending very large amounts of time with native/fluent speakers.)

 

Hope this helps!

 

I have been looking into BTB and liked it very much. But I've found that I like to get a review from someone who uses the curric. before I shell out the money, lol. I'm going to check out the Carnegie Mellon online course too! This is just what I was looking for!

[Julie in MN]

My son is finishing his second year with Rosetta Stone French.

 

I also have an older dd who only did French 2 at home, but did 4 years of French and isn't fluent but can still talk in French to her friend if she doesn't want anyone to hear what they're saying LOL.

 

To me, the first year of French is building some vocabulary, and adding a little exposure to the culture. My dd's public school used a textbook of course, but they didn't finish. My son used MFW's lesson plans for Rosetta, which added the culture, and there was plenty of vocab in Rosetta. The first year, students will also see the vocab strung together into sentences, when they will notice some of the differences between their language and English. The male/female thing is definitely different, and sometimes the order of words. I think kids pick most of this up as obvious, but we occasionally looked something up online.

 

To me, the second year of a language is usually getting down all the different "forms" of words, especially verbs, and the "unusual" forms (like in English, learning that "went" is the past tense of "go") and the older the student is, the more grammar work this will likely need. Rosetta Stone includes some printable grammar work, but we used Barron's E-Z French, because I had used that with my older dd. And typically, 2nd year expects the student to be able to communicate a little in the language.

 

So in year 2, my older dd just used a mishmash of things (after I realized I couldn't read the instructions in the textbooks because they were in... French!). She used some Pimsleur audios, French In Action videos, maybe some Learnables, I can't remember. And the workbook (maybe 2/3 or less of it). Then at the end of the year, I had a French teacher talk with her/evaluate her for a few weeks and she said my dd was equivalent to typical French 2 graduates.

 

And my younger ds in year 2 has used Rosetta, the workbook, and he will be speaking with a teacher soon, as well (I received some good recommendations on this board about skyping conversation).

 

Typically in year 3, the other things continue, just as a native speaker is continually expanding vocabulary and such, but students start reading/translating (in French, it's usually The Little Prince).

 

There are a lot of folks who will tell you that you must do this or that, but I have yet to meet the student with 2 or 3 years of high school foreign language who is extremely fluent. 2 years of high school is only equivalent to 1 year of college, and it's not going to make a student fluent -- unless they are extremely passionate in figuring everything out on their own. We had a French foreign exchange student stay with us for a while, and none of her compatriots could communicate much at all with their host families -- after like 8 years of English. Our student, though, was quite fluent -- not because she used some magical program, but because she adored American movies and watched them as often as she could!

 

What it takes, I think, is working at it every-single-day, and using a variety of methods (listening, reading, speaking, Rosetta has all of those, and so do other programs), and getting those grammar-type questions figured out in one way or another (google search can sometimes solve them, or maybe the Rosetta workbook...). Maybe the biggest problem with using Rosetta is that students get complacent and think it's all done for them? Or maybe that's just my son :)

 

HTH you think this thru,

Julie

Edited April 15, 2012 by Julie in MN

[Elinor Everywhere]

Hi Roxy,

 

I've tried a number of French programs over the years, and the best one (by far) that I've found is Breaking the Barrier, which is what I'm using now. It is streamlined, very easy to use, and grammar oriented, so if you're looking for a strong foundation in grammar, you will get that with BTB. BTB also has a listening (native speakers) and conversational component. (It is also MUCH less expensive than Rosetta Stone!)

 

I'm also supplementing with Carnegie Mellon's OLI online French courses. These are completely free and have lots of interactive videos where you see/hear native French speakers conversing. Here's the link:

http://oli.web.cmu.edu/openlearning/forstudents/freecourses/french

 

As far as a strong foundation in speaking goes, I think the combination of BTB and CMU OLI is about as close as you'll be able to come in the home environment. (It will be a "foundation"--to truly gain proficiency at speaking requires spending very large amounts of time with native/fluent speakers.)

 

Hope this helps!

 

I am using the same 2 programs, with success. We will be finishing French 1 in a few weeks, and I'm pleased with how the year has gone.

 

One extra thing I did is have my dd Skype with a tutor living in France. She does this twice a week, and her conversational French has skyrocketed.

 

Next year, for French 2, we're using BTB 2 and part of French in Action, along with her tutor. Her goal is to switch to online French after that, and then take AP French as a finale. We'll see!

[SS in MD]

I am using the same 2 programs, with success. We will be finishing French 1 in a few weeks, and I'm pleased with how the year has gone.

 

One extra thing I did is have my dd Skype with a tutor living in France. She does this twice a week, and her conversational French has skyrocketed.

 

Next year, for French 2, we're using BTB 2 and part of French in Action, along with her tutor. Her goal is to switch to online French after that, and then take AP French as a finale. We'll see!

 

Hi Elinor,

I've been reading these posts as our young son is very interested in learning French ever since we visited Montreal, Canada last year.

 

How did you locate a tutor living in France? Is there a website for this? I'm very interested in doing something similar with my son.

 

I know BTB is for older students (my son is going into 3rd grade). Are there any programs you would recommend for elementary age? (and then progress to BTB & Carnegie's open courseware)

 

Thanks so much for your help,

Sangita

[Lizzie in Ma]

I am using the free French in Action videos on the Annenberg media website and an old text for it I picked up at a book sale.

Found a couple helpful website to go with it too.

http://www.bonjour.com/

http://www.openculture.com/free_french_lessons

[Elinor Everywhere]

Hi Elinor,

I've been reading these posts as our young son is very interested in learning French ever since we visited Montreal, Canada last year.

 

How did you locate a tutor living in France? Is there a website for this? I'm very interested in doing something similar with my son.

 

I know BTB is for older students (my son is going into 3rd grade). Are there any programs you would recommend for elementary age? (and then progress to BTB & Carnegie's open courseware)

 

Thanks so much for your help,

Sangita

 

Hi Sangita,

 

We found our tutor on Verbal Planet:

http://www.verbalplanet.com/

 

There are plenty to choose from, both in this country and abroad. You can take a free trial lesson with a tutor to see if you like his/her style. My dd & her tutor talk about all kinds of things, but if we want something specific discussed he will do whatever we want. For example, before we visited France last September, my dd wanted to simulate conversations she would have there. This year, we are having the son of a family friend (French) come from Paris to stay with us for 2 weeks, so right now she is learning all kinds of things for talking to a 15yo boy (she knows him - we stayed with them last year).

 

We work directly with the tutor now, instead of going through VP.

 

For beginning French, we used L'Art de Lire:

http://nallenart.com/

 

It was a little young for my dd, but I think it would be perfect for your son's age, especially if he likes to draw (my dd doesn't).

 

Hope that helps!

Edited April 16, 2012 by Elinor Everywhere