Bluegoat Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 I posted in the General board, someone suggested I post here as well. My dd almost 14 is coming home to school with us after a few years in public school. She's in grade 8. She has been in a French immersion program the last year and a half. I'm looking for something for her in terms of her French learning at home - I don't want her to lose what she has gained, her French has become really quite good. There are a few things I have planned: The library near us has an excellent French collection, so she should be able to find lots of appropriate books for reading, as well as newspapers. We also have access to a good amount of French tv and film, so she can watch that once or twice a week. I may possibly have someone to do some tutoring, and I may possibly have a chance for her to do some group conversation, though that would be mostly with younger kids and a leader. What I would like is something in terms of a more grammatical program, or written work, that doesn't need much from me, ideally. Her French is much better than mine at this point. I might be able to have the tutor help with this, I am not sure. Any advice or thoughts about a program, or some other approach that might help, would be great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagingpeace Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 My daughter did French immersion in Canada before we moved overseas for her grade 8 year. She is now studying at an international school in English, and the French class for her year is using Coquelicot CM2 Fraincais by Hachette (ISBN 978-2-7531-0871-4), which is the equivalent of about grade 5 for a native speaker. It has a nice layout, and includes texts, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, conjugation. It is the right amount of challenge for her, and is not babyish, as it might be if she went down another level. There is also a workbook to go with the student book. I'm not sure how easy it would be to get ahold of the teacher materials, or if your own French is at a level where you could do without the answers. Before we left Canada, we had explored with a few Francophone families having my daughter babysit their kids (speaking French), while I helped the mom with English. They were from Francophone Africa, so the adults were interested in learning English. That's how I met them, because I was volunteering at the library's English conversation group. We never got around to it before we left, but something like that could be a neat possibility for your daughter. I'm also interested in hearing if anyone else has ideas, both for this daughter, and for my other daughter whom I'm homeschooling, but who was not in Immersion. She needs more of the second language type materials. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted December 5, 2018 Author Share Posted December 5, 2018 THanks, that is really useful, I'll have a look for that program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 While I love love love french language arts textbooks, and have several, I have found my own limitations in the language really prevent me from fully using them. I only mention this because you said your DD's French surpasses yours. If you have the bandwidth, pick up one and the correspondent teacher book (often harder to find than the text itself), but check it out in person before spending too much $$. (I order mine from France, but in Canada you should have more access. It's the same publishers...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted December 6, 2018 Author Share Posted December 6, 2018 On 12/5/2018 at 3:04 PM, madteaparty said: While I love love love french language arts textbooks, and have several, I have found my own limitations in the language really prevent me from fully using them. I only mention this because you said your DD's French surpasses yours. If you have the bandwidth, pick up one and the correspondent teacher book (often harder to find than the text itself), but check it out in person before spending too much $$. (I order mine from France, but in Canada you should have more access. It's the same publishers...) I'm hoping I'll have a tutor, but a correspondence course is not a bad idea - I might actually be able to get one through the school system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 (edited) We like the cle progressive series: https://www.cle-international.com/adolescents/grammaire-progressive-du-francais-niveau-intermediaire-4eme-edition-livre-cd-livre-web-9782090381030.html Amazon has most of the titles. The are all in French, but assume the user is a learner. Answer keys are sold separately "corriges". Edited December 14, 2018 by MamaSprout 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 Breaking the Barrier is solid on grammar. Extremely solid on grammar! Both of my kids went partially through the second book (self-study in high school) and hit on maybe one new thing in the first two semesters at university, and knew quite a lot in the third semester. Look for a French Alliance in your area, and also for any meetups for French conversation via Meetup.com The meetups are mostly going to be adults, so it's best if she's not terribly shy, but it will be helpful even if she just goes and listens. Around here, both groups also do film showings, book clubs, and so on. We did a bit of online tutoring through Verbal Planet and the rates were quite low. Like fifteen bucks per session or something. That was several years ago, so I don't know if VP is still a good choice. There was another site that focused on native speakers helping each other, like she might correct a paragraph in English or answer questions, and someone else would correct her paragraph in French, answer her questions, and so on. I can't recall the name but surely something like it still exists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 (edited) To add to what katilac said, you might have to rummage around a bit for a French Alliance. When I looked at the official site, it looked like my closest was three hours away. After googling different ways and asking on Facebook, I found less formal ones (who don't do the official testing), based at universities much closer to us. Edited December 15, 2018 by MamaSprout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 Dd is interested in Skype tutoring French and Russian next semester. She will work with students on conversational skills and grammar and will correct compositions. She says if anyone is interested, she would be happy to meet after Christmas for 15 min introduction/trial sessions. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 Our local Alliance Francaise specifically states that only native speakers are welcome. 😤 hopefully you have better luck in your area since I believe somenofder really good classes. That would be my first choice. CLE books are the next best thing. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 1 minute ago, Roadrunner said: Our local Alliance Francaise specifically states that only native speakers are welcome. 😤 Really? That's so weird. Isn't half the purpose of the AF to spread French? I know someone who is a native speaker and she dreads going to AF things that she gets roped into because she feels mobbed by all the people keen to practice with a native. Ours definitely has classes for natives (especially classes for French kids living abroad to become more literate) and classes for the general non-Francophone public. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 52 minutes ago, Farrar said: Really? That's so weird. Isn't half the purpose of the AF to spread French? I know someone who is a native speaker and she dreads going to AF things that she gets roped into because she feels mobbed by all the people keen to practice with a native. Ours definitely has classes for natives (especially classes for French kids living abroad to become more literate) and classes for the general non-Francophone public. This is the reason they made it exclusive for native speakers. They sit around eat and drink wine in our local one. They want to be left alone to build their community. Very unapproachable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 3 minutes ago, Roadrunner said: This is the reason they made it exclusive for native speakers. They sit around eat and drink wine in our local one. They want to be left alone to build their community. Very unapproachable. It would seem that having different types of events would be a better way to address this. That's too bad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 On 12/14/2018 at 1:18 PM, MamaSprout said: We like the cle progressive series: https://www.cle-international.com/adolescents/grammaire-progressive-du-francais-niveau-intermediaire-4eme-edition-livre-cd-livre-web-9782090381030.html Amazon has most of the titles. The are all in French, but assume the user is a learner. Answer keys are sold separately "corriges". I like this so much we did the same book twice. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted December 17, 2018 Author Share Posted December 17, 2018 Oh, thanks, guys, those are some good resources. We do have a French Alliance, and we may do that. In fact they have a teen group. Unfortunately they aren't in a very great location for us. I'd not thought about MeetUps though, I will look into that. 8Fill, I will keep the Skype tutoring idea in mind, that would be great if I can fit it into our plans - I'll have a better idea after Christmas. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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