Help me think through the idea of DD doing French at CC ...

[aggieamy]

DD is about to be 10 yo and has expressed interest in learning French.  I speak no French and know nothing about it.  We do have a good local CC just a few miles away that offers French along with a dozen other languages.  I'm thinking about enrolling her and myself in a class possibly in the fall.  I don't have any interest in learning it myself but I wouldn't feel comfortable just dropping her off and letting her take the class by herself.  I could help with note taking and studying and all that.  Has anyone done anything like this?  What are the downsides that I'm not seeing?  

[8filltheheart]

DD is about to be 10 yo and has expressed interest in learning French.  I speak no French and know nothing about it.  We do have a good local CC just a few miles away that offers French along with a dozen other languages.  I'm thinking about enrolling her and myself in a class possibly in the fall.  I don't have any interest in learning it myself but I wouldn't feel comfortable just dropping her off and letting her take the class by herself.  I could help with note taking and studying and all that.  Has anyone done anything like this?  What are the downsides that I'm not seeing?  

 

Have you asked the CC if they would even let her enroll?   Many CC's have rigid age requirements.   Other than that, college grades are permanent and follow them around forever.  So, if she takes the class and does not make an A, every college she applies to will have to receive a copy of that transcript and the grade.   Some schools, not all, factor dual enrolled grades into GPA (all of the schools my kids have gone to post high school do.)

 

ETA:  I would also hesitate unless you are positive that she can keep up with the output pace of a college class. 

[8filltheheart]

Check the pacing to see if it would work for you, and your schedule to make sure you allow sufficient study time.

 

I must have been editing my post at the same time you were posting.   She will have to be able to take the exams in the allotted time, etc. as well even if her mom can take notes in class.  

[maize]

Have you looked into adult continuing education type classes in your community? I have lived in several areas where foreign languages were offered as community type classes, without the pressure of a college class.

[MinivanMom]

Would it be possible to audit the class? That would avoid the issue of grades, and it might make it possible to skirt around age requirements as long as the professor is willing to allow her to enroll.

[slackermom]

My dd9 has mainly gone the route of self-study CDs and DVDs.  I would only consider a CC class for her if the schedule was conducive to her learning style.

 

One of our local CCs offers Intro to French with the following choices: MWF for 50 minutes per class, TT for 75 minutes per class, or Sat for 3 hours per class.  Things work better for us in 20-30 minute increments 4-5 times a week. 

 

In my experience, in a classroom there really isn't much in the way of note taking.  It's discussion, imitation, repetition, and homework, which will probably involve listening to language CDs.  Plus, most language teachers I've had do not speak in English at all after the first few minutes of the first day.

 

Also, would your dd feel comfortable spending much of the class time speaking with her classmates in French? My dd would probably freak, due to her perfectionist tendencies and her reluctance to engage with strangers.

 

 

[kiana]

The pace is FAST in a college course and as previously stated, the grade will follow her for the rest of her life. I would strongly consider putting it off for a year and getting her feet wet with something fun/free like Duolingo.

[regentrude]

My DD took French at the university beginning at age 14, but by that time she had already studied French for several years at home, with text, workbooks, CDs and the help of a tutor for composition and conversation. After three years of home learning, she began with French 2 at the college. The four hours of class time per week easily required another 8 hours outside of class; it was very intense, very fast paced, and time consuming.

I would be worried whether a young student would be willing to spend such a large amount of time on French and be able to keep up with the pace of a college class.

If you could audit, that would be a preferable option. Ideally, I think, however, the student would benefit from some prior studies, even though a college class presumably starts at the beginning - the pace is too fast for even an accelerated 10 year old, unless she is exceptionally gifted in languages.

[Donna]

My dd10 expressed an interest in learning French this year after a trip to Quebec. I took Spanish all through school and have no knowledge of French.

 

I thought about CC then decided a better option for her/us (schedule and pacing-wise) would be to have her do Rosetta Stone, Duolingo, and  French in Action (linked) so she can begin to learn it on her own. This is working well for her and she sets her own pace. Right now our schedule is too variable for CC and I was worried about the quick pace of a college class/permanence of the grade on her record if it wasn't a good fit. She does well taking notes from video lecture DVDs so I wasn't worried about that as much as remembering my college Spanish class where the teacher only spoke Spanish (and it was Intro level).

 

If she moves beyond what she's doing now, my options are to re-think CC or find someone who speaks French to tutor her. 

[chiguirre]

How about enrolling in an online high school class? Here are some possibilities to get you started:

Debra Bell's Aim Academy
http://debrabell.com/online-classes/course-schedule/

Landry Academy
http://landryacademy.com/live-classes/course-catalog/

The Potter's School also has French and if you have an online state high school like FLVS they might have it for free.

Bonne chance!

[WinsomeCreek]

Amy,
I will echo advice to think very carefully about cc. There are good reasons to go that route with a young child, but there are serious challenges as well. Assuming the pace, homework load, testing style and content are appropriate, keep in mind some very real downsides. There are sex offenders on campus. You and kid will need to go through a process of paperwork and interviews most likely. Mom signatures may not suffice. Liability concerns are huge. Teacher and department support can make or break it. Whatever your comfort level, you may not be allowed to leave your kid based on school policy and may find yourself reading on the floor outside of a classroom or language lab. It is likely as well that policy will prohibit you from bringing your littler one. The cost will be there whether taken for a grade or audited. It is a permanent record.

My 9 yo is self teaching a language using Mango for free through the library. Even though we don't have any local classes or resources available for the language study, there are online options including tutors. I see many great resources for French. It is definitely worth looking into what folks have suggested before looking at cc.

[aggieamy]

Thank you so much for such good advice.  It seemed so good on paper that you guys really helped me see a lot of the downsides that I hadn't thought of yet.  Thank you thank you!  I'm going to attempt to teach myself for three months using some of the above listed resources (Mango, Duolingo, ect) and then attempt to teach her.  There's also a community learning class available online through our community college that I think we'll attempt after she has some french learned at home.  

 

 

[mumto2]

Amy-- Duolingo is actually fun.  This is coming from someone who is not an enthusiastic linguist.  Recently I have started an account there to keep an eye on Ds and provide a bit of competition for him because there is a game playing element -- small but hopefully enough to keep Ds going with it.  It is easier with the app I think.  I am doing French and Ds German.  It is actually going well enough that I might add German.  Dd has been doing both for a few months and is almost done.  She loves it.

[8filltheheart]

Just wanted to share that my 9th grade dd has been studying French since 3rd grade and I do not know any French. It is far from ideal, but it is possible. For a beginning speaker, you might want to look into Concordia Village language camps. My dd went last yr. It helped her fluency and she started thinking in French. I wouldn't really recommend it for someone that is as far along as our dd, though, bc they speak in English too often and that frustrated her bc she really wanted total immersion. But for a younger child starting out, I think it would be an awesome experience.

Dd started out with Galore Park French Prep, but it was not a good fit bc it really should have a teacher. She then used Tell Me More (which is probably similar to Mango or Duolingo). She then moved to a combo of French in Action and Breaking the Barrier. She has finished all levels of Breaking the Barrier and will finish FiA probably next yr combined with reading novels in French. She is planning on starting with children's novels that she is familiar with in English (Le Monde de Narnia) and progressing to French literature. (She is juggling multiple languages and it has slowed down her progress). By 11th she will be taking classes DE, but not before then. DE is a last resort for us. We only go there when we run out of options we can do at home.

Good luck!

[lmrich]

Call the cc and see if a student would be willing to come over and tutor or at least converse with your dd in French.

[regentrude]

Call the cc and see if a student would be willing to come over and tutor or at least converse with your dd in French.

 

I would not use a student as a language tutor if he is not already fluent or, preferably, a native speaker. Definitely not a student who is simply taking French, even if he is in French 2 or 3.