Intro to French

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

My 6th grader has been asking to try French.  We've dabbled with Spanish over the years.  I took four years in high school so it seemed like the obvious choice.  I have no experience with French.  For now, I'd just like some fun things for her to play around with, either free websites or books or software that we might borrow from the library.  If she is still interested by next school year we might try something a little more formal, then I'd probably sign her up for a class in 8th or 9th grade.

[maize]

For free, you can always give Duolingo a try.

And there are a variety of beginning French classes on YouTube.

[Hedgehog]

If you are thinking about getting books, have a look for dual language children's stories. They are a great way for you both to get accustomed to the language - you already know the story, and you have the English there as well. 

There's also a programme/app called News In Slow French. You can get it at different levels and it's so much easier to understand what they're saying than, say, watching French films or listening to standard French radio/audio. There's some free content, and a subscription if you want to access all of it. Personally, it's been ideal for us.