What after MP First Start French?

[Flowergirl159]

My DD11 is a motivated learner and keen to learn French. I have basically exposed her to French over the past couple of years, but not really followed a set path. She has been using DuoLingo each day and will continue.

 

I am thinking of getting her MP's First Start French for her to work on independently, perhaps with Paul Noble's French CD's.

 

My question though, is because MP only offer levels 1 and 2 for French, what options are available to her after that if is wanting to go further?

[MamaSprout]

We had First Start French here, and I would consider it a good supplement.  It really is mostly vocabulary. The two books together are considered a first year program, so I suppose you could review the first year of any program, then begin the second.

 

 Has she done some Latin? (I think FSF is written with that assumption.)

 

Maybe start with something like http://gettingstartedwithfrench.com/before FSF?

 

and the the iBook for Breaking the French Barrier 1 along side FSF: http://www.tobreak.com/french/

 

After that you could go into the Breaking the French Barrier 2 book?

 

Duolingo is good too.

[Roadrunner]

You posted in the high school forum, so are you looking for a high school level text? We used Galore Park French books 1-3, and I think for an 11 year old, it's a great program. I own and highly dislike MP French 1. I have no idea what level 2 teaches, but you could potentially start with Galore book 2. However these books aren't high school level. They are solidly middle school. So if you want high school level texts, I would look elsewhere. 

[Reefgazer]

I think you could use DuoLingo for a start, but really, at much higher levels, you're going to need a tutor who speaks the language and can teach conjugation of verbs and have a genuine conversation in French.

[katilac]

My dd thoroughly disliked MP French when it first came out, I don't know if it's changed since then. She liked the Latin books just fine. 

 

She did some of Galore Park's SYRWTLF and liked it pretty well. I think the biggest complaint was that the pages are rather crowded and busy. 

 

Both of my dds used Breaking the Barrier French in high school and like it. Lots of grammar! I would suggest using it at a much slower pace, interspersed with other resources, if you start it in middle school. And note that there are only 3 books meant to get the student to the advanced level, so even a high school student could definitely spread them out. 

 

Oh, and one of our favorite resources was Les Portes Tordues/The Twisted Doors: The Scariest Way in the World to Learn French!  It's a mystery with French and English text and an accompanying CD. 

 

She's so young that I would definitely take the time to do lots of fun, immersive stuff like Twisted Doors and watching TV and movies in French. When my kids started out, they would watch shows that they were already very familiar with in English so they could follow. My multilingual friend says that the best way to start is with English audio and foreign language subtitles, but my stubborn kids never liked to do that. 

 

It's a great way to get a feel for the living language, and it's easier to fit in lots of it before high school starts. 

 

My oldest then started dual enrollment French at the local university in 11th-grade, and my youngest will do the same next year. They chose to start over at the beginning, because they did not have much speaking experience, but I know some kids go ahead and test out of the first semester.