Foreign Language in high school (specifically French)

[DawnL]

My daughter will officially be a 9th grader this fall. She has chosen French for her foreign language. I did start her on some French learning for 8th grade, including a French Immersion computer program from Costco, a DK Learning program that included an audio CD (because if she has to rely on MY pronunciation of French, she will be a lost cause), and a couple of books like Barron's EZ French.

 

Well, she hates the book. It doesn't explain things enough and she keeps finding things that annoy her.

 

When it comes down to it, I really don't feel she has done enough to count as a high school credit. This is fine for her 8th grade year, but she really needs to have everything beefed up for next year.

 

In my preparations for high school, I'm using the book, Setting The Records Straight, by Lee Binz, (www.thehomescholar.com ) as a guide to make certain I get all of her proper credits lined up for the next four years. I want her to be able to do anything she wishes when she completes high school.

 

In the book, Ms. Binz lists sample course descriptions for her two sons, who she has already taught through high school. She lists Power-Glide Foreign Language Course as one of the main curriculum used for French. Does anyone have any experience using this program? Does anyone have any other recommendations?

[Loesje22000]

My SIL used Powerglide for Highschool German, I used it for Early Elementary Spanish.

I don't think it is the most efficient way to learn a Language imo.

 

we use a mix of books for French:

Breaking the French Barrier ( we have the app only, but one can use also books)

Easy readers with Audio CD spoken by native speaker (Lire et s'entrainer is available at Black Cat, A1 is beginners level)

Rory's story cubes for Speech

Duolingo

 

Good luck!

[mumto2]

We have used Duolingo and the Practice Make Perfect French books very successfully.

[8filltheheart]

My dd used Breaking the Barrier (books) and French in Action together rather successfully.

[regentrude]

We used

French in Action (the free videos through Annenberg)

a Langenscheidt self study course with book, workbook and CD

grammar workbooks from the Practice Makes Perfect series

Easy Reader

private tutor once a week after a few years

 

the real breakthrough came when we outsourced and had her take classes at the university form a fluent teacher

[madteaparty]

I don't know about high school credit but to learn French we used Galore Park's "So you really want to learn French" combined with Practice makes perfect worksheets combined with a weekly native tutor.

My son's high school level french class used the Glencoe Bon Voyage text.

[Reefgazer]

DD uses a tutor and just completed French I, doing Duolingo as a daily supplement. I agree at the high school level, a tutor will give you the most bang for your buck.

 

We used

French in Action (the free videos through Annenberg)

a Langenscheidt self study course with book, workbook and CD

grammar workbooks from the Practice Makes Perfect series

Easy Reader

private tutor once a week after a few years

 

the real breakthrough came when we outsourced and had her take classes at the university form a fluent teacher

[MtnTeaching]

We tried Breaking the Barrier (which Ds and I liked a lot, but just did not feel that it was quite enough) and 2 years of Rosetta Stone with a public school enrichment teacher (definitely missing the grammar component which is key - but it did help with his accent).  Ds' breakthrough came when I signed him up for classes with The Potter's School and Mrs. Starosciak.  He just finished three years with her and he is doing very well with his French  (a final total of 5 years of French on his transcript).  The outsourcing was huge for him.

 

He will be starting college in the fall and has decided to major in International Business with a minor in French.  

[elegantlion]

I'm using this text for my college class. I have no idea how difficult it is to gain teacher access, however. 

 

The audio is good and exercises include some native speakers and students. The grammar is sound, but I don't like the way it's formatted (mostly online). My professor suggested Schaum's French Grammar as a supplement. 

[DawnL]

_{Thanks so much for sharing all your experiences. I really appreciate it.}

_{I have The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears A Who, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, all in French, but we haven't used them much. I think having a native speaker audio CD component would help her. I just don't know if that's available. I was intending to get Madeleine, too, as that was originally in French, wasn't it?}

 

_{I will be looking into these suggestions. I don't think a French tutor is in our budget right now, but perhaps in the future.}

[JanetC]

Older DD used French In Action with great success, but you can't just do the videos if you really want to learn. The textbook, CD's and and workbook are very necessary. The textbook is mostly to help you understand the videos and workbook.

 

Younger DD is very resistant to every curriculum I've tried, but still says she wants to learn French. Not sure what to do about that, but we are trying PowerGlide next. I have an older, OOP, "ultimate" edition. My take is: there is a goofy story, and a combination of story, instruction, and drills. The drills are a bit silly, so they attempt to be entertaining. What I like: Written for homeschoolers!!  Lesson plans and tests laid out for you, etc. Breaks things down into small bites well. Definitely gentler than French In Action.

 

We'll see if it works (waiting until after spring dance recital to try).

 

 

[Donna]

 

I will be looking into these suggestions. I don't think a French tutor is in our budget right now, but perhaps in the future.

 

A French tutor was not in our budget but I did find a young person with 6 years French experience who is tutoring dd inexpensively once a week. She is also using French in Action, Duolingo, and "So You Really Want to Learn French." French was dd's choice for a language and she has been dabbling a bit with it until the past few months when we added the tutor who has helped her with pronunciation and helped her focus her study a bit more. Not sure how it will all work out.

[8filltheheart]

Our dd also used all the components to FiA.

[Abeille]

My ds is going to start French this year for 9th grade, and I decided to go with Bien Dit! Level 1. The publisher has just recently changed how they sell to homeschoolers, and now you can buy directly from a list of retailers instead of having to contact one of their homeschool reps (they got rid of the homeschool reps at the end of May, which saddens me because mine was wonderful). I don't have the list handy, but I remember CBD and Rainbow being a couple of their vendors. I don't know if they still offer this package, but I bought a "Homeschool Bundle" which consists of a hardcover student book, online teacher book, and a one-year subscription to the book's website online. The site has audio/video for each chapter, detailed lesson plans, an interactive student workbook and reader, printable worksheets, and tons of other resources. The interface is a bit clunky so expect to spend some time exploring what is out there. I paid $75 for the package, but I think it's a bit more expensive now that the reps don't have 20% off codes to hand out.

 

I'll supplement with French in Action videos, Duolingo, and some review books I got from Amazon. I took years of French in school, but it's definitely rusty. My mom is a native speaker, so I'm hoping to set up weekly Skype sessions with her/

[Sebastian (a lady)]

For language input check any DVDs to see if they have other languages. Many disks sold in the US will have Spanish. Some will have French. You can play around with the subtitles too.

 

We also discovered that you can change the audio on Netflix as well. Daredevil had a bunch of languages available.

[AngieW in Texas]

My 17yo is enjoying Fluenz French. She is only in Level 1. She will be taking French at the cc in fall semester.

 

Fluenz is the first program to actually make sense to her.

[Junie]

For language input check any DVDs to see if they have other languages. Many disks sold in the US will have Spanish. Some will have French. 

 

I am planning to teach ds14 and dd12 Spanish 1 next year, so I went through our dvd collection to see what we had in Spanish.  While I was at it, I made a list of movies that were also in French.  There were quite a few.

 

Dd10 was helping me, and was thrilled to see that she could watch The Wizard of Oz in French.  (She watched it that afternoon.)

 

I walked through my living room the other day while the dc were watching The Magic School Bus.  In French.  At dd4's request. 

[Julie in MN]

My daughter will officially be a 9th grader this fall. She has chosen French for her foreign language. I did start her on some French learning for 8th grade, including a French Immersion computer program from Costco, a DK Learning program that included an audio CD (because if she has to rely on MY pronunciation of French, she will be a lost cause), and a couple of books like Barron's EZ French.

 

Well, she hates the book. It doesn't explain things enough and she keeps finding things that annoy her.

 

Not sure if the book she hates is Barron's, but if she's using that to begin French, I'm not surprised. 

 

Vocabulary is usually the initial focus in a language program.  Like little children, first you learn some nouns, then some basic verbs, and gradually you add in tenses, proper sentence structure, etc.  So it isn't until later in year 1 or maybe even year 2 that a grammar workbook like Barron's starts to be useful.  (Of course, vocab is increasing all the while.)

 

In other words, it isn't an intro to the language.  It starts right out with sentences and adding adjectives, pronouns, etc.  And I wouldn't expect to finish the book until French 3.  (Per the French tutors we have worked with, high school French 2 usually gets through the perfect tense, and I think one of the later chapters on numbers.)

 

If you find another audio/video type program, I might keep the Barron's on hand for later?

Julie

[DawnL]

Thanks everyone!

I have looked at a few of our movies before and I remember Monsters University has a French setting. That has definitely been in our plans.

 

Has anyone had any experience with The Learnables? The Homeschool Buyer's Co-op is having a sale right now on that program. And I know when I spoke with Lee Binz at the homeschool convention, that was another program she suggested. It's writing for learning at home, which makes it easier to use in homeschooling.

 

At the homeschool convention, I did end up getting French In 10 MInutes A Day, along with the 6  Audio CD set to use with it.

 

I also saw a couple of tutor options at the homeschool convention. One woman grew up speaking French and was from the region.  She looked like a great option was $100 per month, for Skyping weekly. Too bad we can't afford that.

 

Anyway, I don't want to overload my daughter with a million French programs, but I do want to make sure she has her bases covered. I would like to add some fun studies of France and the region, such as art and culinary dishes. I think it would make her studies as enjoyable as possible. All grammar and no art or food makes studies and dull task.

[flyingiguana]

French in Action and Pimsleur

 

Pimsleur is at a lot of libraries.

 

The French in Action videos are free here:

http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html

so you could at least see if you liked it

[Grantmom]

For language input check any DVDs to see if they have other languages. Many disks sold in the US will have Spanish. Some will have French. You can play around with the subtitles too.

 

We also discovered that you can change the audio on Netflix as well. Daredevil had a bunch of languages available.

 

Thanks for sharing this!  I remember looking a while ago at this, trying to watch shows or movies on Netflix on French, and either couldn't find any or couldn't figure out how to do it.  Can you share what you have watched on Netflix in French and how you did it?  Or is there a way to look up what is available in French?

 

You can also watch kids' cartoons like Petit Ours Brun and Peppa Pig in French on youtube.  There are a million episodes of both, and I think it is easier to start with a really basic dialogue anyway.  There is a thread on the bilingual board about French cartoons for kids.  (Just sharing as supplemental info as this was ebing discussed.  Not suggesting that is good enough for high school French, but I think it helps a lot.)

 

Also, if you are interested in a class, I highly recommend AIM Academy, the Debra Bell one. (I think there is more than one AIM Academy.)  Reasonably priced, and good for that interaction and conversation.