sweetpea3829 Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 If I would like to teach DS8, French...what is out there? I've heard of Duolingo, but have heard that it requires a lot of writing. DS is a decent writer, but probably will not appreciate having to do excessive amounts of it at this age. Another concern I have with starting language acquisition this young is....he has yet to learn much formal grammar. We have not done verb conjugations. We haven't done much in the way of verb tenses, either. I remember when I studied French in middle school and again in college...knowing how to conjugate verbs was an important aspect of learning the language. Yet folks say kids learn a 2nd language more easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 The best way to learn a language is immersion. A month or two in France speaking only French will give you more fluency than a few years of high school french. As for kids vs adults, young kids immersed in the language definitely learn pronunciation better than adults, but they don't necessarily learn syntax any better or more quickly. In a classroom or homeschool setting, younger isn't necessarily better. I'd keep pretty low expectations. But if he's motivated and you're motivated... Give it a try! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wabi Sabi Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 We opted for going with semi-private tutoring from a native speaker supplemented with a traditional textbook, DuoLingo, daily homework assigned by the tutor, and a variety of other books, videos and cultural resources that I find on my own. My son had several friends also interested in the studying the language, so the tutor was willing to split her hourly fee amongst all involved families in order to make it affordable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Concordia Villages in Minnesota. Remarkably effective, according to my friends who have used it. Residential immersion language instruction. Family or 'kids' camp' type programs. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Since immersion or a tutor haven't been options for us, we've opted for Mango through our library, and DuoLingo. There's a little typing in DuoLingo, but it isn't too bad. For French, there is also Nallenart. And the Getting Started with Latin guy has a GSWSpanish book, and he is working on Getting Started With French. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Concordia Villages in Minnesota. Remarkably effective, according to my friends who have used it. Residential immersion language instruction. Family or 'kids' camp' type programs. That. Looks. Amazing! I want to do all of the camps! DD and I could have so much fun learning Spanish together. Or I could take DS1 and brush up on my college Italian (which DS1 has been learning via Mango). The food! Wow, that place looks incredible! (The only thing it's missing is a Latin immersion camp, LOL!). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Duolingo does not require writing. Get GSWF which is either out or will be soon and use Duolingo. Get children't picture books in French, particularly ones he knows, and find some French music. You can also get Pimslur, French in 10 Minutes a Day, First Start French (MP), The Learnables... Here. Get your feet wet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wabi Sabi Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Concordia Villages in Minnesota. Remarkably effective, according to my friends who have used it. Residential immersion language instruction. Family or 'kids' camp' type programs. Wow! This is the first time I've heard of Concordia Villages and I'm already sold! It's probably too late for me to find a way to save the money for this summer, but one way or the other, I've got to find a way to send my oldest next summer. It looks *perfect* for him! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Man, immersion is probably not much of an option at this point, though we do live in upstate NY pretty near the Canadian border. Hubby is bilingual english/portuguese and I thought perhaps I might start with Portuguese, but...I studied it in college and was terrible at it. I could read it alright, but I could not "hear" it and I pronounced it with a definite "french" accent. I will look into these other options and see what we can come up with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirstenhill Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Duolingo does not require writing. Get GSWF which is either out or will be soon and use Duolingo. Get children't picture books in French, particularly ones he knows, and find some French music. You can also get Pimslur, French in 10 Minutes a Day, First Start French (MP), The Learnables... Here. Get your feet wet. Duolingo doesn't require "writing" per se but it does require typing with correct spelling. The first time my DD tried it (last summer), she would make spelling mistakes both the German and english words she was supposed to type in, and even though she had the right word in mind it was still marked wrong. Her english typing and spelling has improved and she was trying it again now...but it still frustrates her that she can't remember the spellings of the German words even though she can say it so as to know what word they are looking for. I wish there was Getting Started with German in the "Getting Started" series! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maela Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Duolingo requires a bit of typing, less if you use an iPad. Since Dd is still learning typing, I do all the typing for her. I even fix her spelling. We practice weak skills often. I've been surprised this year at how much she's retained. She's seven. (We do Spanish) We do one Duolingo lesson or review plus one worksheet from the Complete Book of Spanish a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellesmere Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 If I would like to teach DS8, French...what is out there? I've heard of Duolingo, but have heard that it requires a lot of writing. DS is a decent writer, but probably will not appreciate having to do excessive amounts of it at this age. Another concern I have with starting language acquisition this young is....he has yet to learn much formal grammar. We have not done verb conjugations. We haven't done much in the way of verb tenses, either. I remember when I studied French in middle school and again in college...knowing how to conjugate verbs was an important aspect of learning the language. Yet folks say kids learn a 2nd language more easily. I haven't used any these very much (because mine abandoned French in favor of German) and some of them aren't for kids, but here's some other stuff for French: CoffeeBreak French -- there are free podcasts and you can also buy premium lessons High Five French free podcasts and paid lessons Duolingo doesn't require "writing" per se but it does require typing with correct spelling. The first time my DD tried it (last summer), she would make spelling mistakes both the German and english words she was supposed to type in, and even though she had the right word in mind it was still marked wrong. Her english typing and spelling has improved and she was trying it again now...but it still frustrates her that she can't remember the spellings of the German words even though she can say it so as to know what word they are looking for. I wish there was Getting Started with German in the "Getting Started" series! I was just saying today that I wish there was a Getting Started with German book.One of mine has decided German is going to be it and I don't speak it. I have let mine listen to some of the free Radio Lingua German stuff (it's not geared towards kids but so far, it has been ok for them) and we're making do with Duolingo while I wait and see how committed they will be to German. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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