French curriculum?

[Faithr]

We will have a French speaking guest staying with us this summer.  We've decided collectively to study French because we'll have a great opportunity of speaking it with a native speaker.  Does anyone recommend a French curriculum?  It is likely this study won't continue into the fall (unless we all fall in love with French and decide differently later).  I am thinking something grammar based would be good since the conservational aspect is taken care of.  I was thinking of trying to shoot through Memoria Press's First Start French.  

 

Good idea?  Other suggestions?  Thanks!

[8filltheheart]

Since this is posted on the high school board, I would say an emphatic no to First Start French. (It is more like a 3rd grade level.)

 

How about Breaking the Barrier? French Prep would be superior to FSF.

 

Another option would be this website (online, but free). http://apprendre.tv5monde.com/fr/niveaux/a1-debutant

Edited May 11, 2016 by 8FillTheHeart

[Faithr]

The Mp website said grades 6-8 and since this would be getting through the book in a summer rather than a year, I thought it might work. I hadn't heard of Breaking the Barrier. I will look into it. Thanks.

[Hilltopmom]

Galore Park?- So you Really Want to Learn French.

 

I bought it but our plans changed, so I've got the whole level one if you're interested.

 

I don't mean to just advertise my sale items. But if it looks good to you, lmk. It's an option.

 

I searched a ton of old posts here for info about French curriculums & wound up with the duolingo app, BTB on the iPad, & Galore Park.

Then Ds decided to take it DE at CC instead;)

 

Good luck, Sounds like a great opportunity!

[katilac]

Breaking the Barrier worked very well for both of my girls. 

[Cosmos]

In that situation, I would use DuoLingo.

[8filltheheart]

Galore Park is the same as what I was calling French Prep. It would be a good choice. Fwiw, I can't imagine my middle schoolers being ok with head, shoulders, knees and toes in French, but MP has much different foreign language standards than I do. I own FSF and I started to use it with dd in 3rd grade, but it is so random in what it teaches and with only small isolated snippets that it wasn't worth it. We switched to French Prep which was much logically organized and thorough.

[Faithr]

8Filltheheart, you know I never liked MP's Latina Christiana, so maybe I should learn from that!  The thing is I don't want this to be a heavy duty thing since it is in the summer.  We actually are already going to be doing chemistry, math and Latin through much of the summer to finish up the year, as we've been very slow for various reasons.  But my teens dug up an old workbook type thing called French in 10 MInutes a Day and they've been referring to that.  

 

I checked out Duolingo.  I think workbook plus Duolingo and then the conversational French we can have with our guest will be good for a fun summertime excursion into French.

 

Merci beaucoup!  

[Bluegoat]

I used something called The Easy French with my dd11 this year.  I think it could also work well for high school, you would just up the pace.  It used to come as either a full 2 year program or you could get it in sections.

 

It has a reasonable grammar/vocab focus for a summer thing that doesn't take a ton of time, and also a lot of interesting cultural notes.  It's a Christian program for homeschoolers so Bible verse memorization in French is part of it but could easily be cut out.

 

ETA - I would not say it is a perfect program, but I haven't found any I that I think are really awesome.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Bluegoat

[Carrie12345]

We're going with Breaking the Barrier this summer.  While we haven't studied French at home yet, we've worked with many Spanish programs and BtB is the one that seemed to work best for ds.  With zero native speakers in our family, and ds unwilling to attempt to speak it with friends/neighbors/acquaintances, he still managed to test out of Spanish I, before completing the full BtB level 1, when he transferred to public school.

 

It does include conversation, but not by going light on the grammar!

 

[EppieJ]

I'll second Duolingo for just a working knowledge. My son is teaching himself German using this program and my husband and I are using it to brush up on our Spanish. It's not in-depth, but you'll learn some good skills & vocabulary. You might also check your local library's online resources. I know ours has a language program called "Mango" for learning basics.

[katilac]

We're going with Breaking the Barrier this summer.  While we haven't studied French at home yet, we've worked with many Spanish programs and BtB is the one that seemed to work best for ds.  With zero native speakers in our family, and ds unwilling to attempt to speak it with friends/neighbors/acquaintances, he still managed to test out of Spanish I, before completing the full BtB level 1, when he transferred to public school.

 

It does include conversation, but not by going light on the grammar!

 

It is definitely not light on grammar! 

[madteaparty]

We are galore park fans here but for your purposes I'd do duolingo