Innisfree Posted May 15, 2021 Share Posted May 15, 2021 Dd18 needs to refresh and strengthen her French skills after about a year away. She's taken college-level French through 201, and plans to resume in the fall with 202. She's comfortable doing a lot of independent study, but it would be very helpful to find a class or teacher who could help with speaking skills in particular, including impromptu conversation, which is very important to the professor she'll have in the fall. Any ideas? We're looking at an Alliance Francaise class. I've also pointed her to the Carnegie Open Learning Initiative, but that wouldn't include much speaking. I'm assuming that online high school providers probably won't want a high school graduate in any classes they might still have open. We've also talked about getting a tutor, but that could get pretty expensive. If anyone has other ideas, we'd be interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted May 15, 2021 Share Posted May 15, 2021 (edited) This may be a time when a tutor is helpful, or if she can find a conversation group. I have definitely seen this at Alliance Francaise. The University of Toronto has online classes that seem to be aimed at adults at multiple levels: https://learn.utoronto.ca/programs-courses/languages-and-translation/language-learning/french I would also say, watch movies and listen to radio. It’s not her talking, but it reinforces listening skills and is fun. Edited May 15, 2021 by stripe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innisfree Posted May 15, 2021 Author Share Posted May 15, 2021 1 hour ago, stripe said: This may be a time when a tutor is helpful, or if she can find a conversation group. I have definitely seen this at Alliance Francaise. The University of Toronto has online classes that seem to be aimed at adults at multiple levels: https://learn.utoronto.ca/programs-courses/languages-and-translation/language-learning/french I would also say, watch movies and listen to radio. It’s not her talking, but it reinforces listening skills and is fun. I'll pass this along to her. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted May 15, 2021 Share Posted May 15, 2021 I don't have any suggestions for classes, but we used Savoir Dire for one of my French classes. I found it to be very helpful for fine-tuning pronunciation. The version I linked as website access. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted May 15, 2021 Share Posted May 15, 2021 I saw something from Alliance Française about Gymglish’s Frantastique program, which seemed to be interactive short language activities or lessons that adapt to your level. Might be useful as a supplement? https://www.gymglish.com/en/frantastique 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innisfree Posted May 15, 2021 Author Share Posted May 15, 2021 2 hours ago, elegantlion said: I don't have any suggestions for classes, but we used Savoir Dire for one of my French classes. I found it to be very helpful for fine-tuning pronunciation. The version I linked as website access. Pronunciation is an issue, so this would be very helpful. Thank you! 2 hours ago, stripe said: I saw something from Alliance Française about Gymglish’s Frantastique program, which seemed to be interactive short language activities or lessons that adapt to your level. Might be useful as a supplement? https://www.gymglish.com/en/frantastique Yes, that looks interesting. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Bunny Posted May 15, 2021 Share Posted May 15, 2021 La Cité universitaire francophone at the University of Regina has online offerings for chatting at their Franco-Club and also had classes, etc. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innisfree Posted May 15, 2021 Author Share Posted May 15, 2021 1 hour ago, Arctic Bunny said: La Cité universitaire francophone at the University of Regina has online offerings for chatting at their Franco-Club and also had classes, etc. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 Gymglish, meh. Yes, it seemed appealing to me at first, but after a month trial I am not a fan of their products. The cost is not small, and they throttle annoyingly (they limit how much you can do per week). Alliance Française, regarding quality your mileage may vary, plus a lot of them only offer classes in fall/winter/spring. I was really disappointed with the $$$ class I took with my nearest AF chapter. One serious problem with adult classes is that adults have adult responsibilities and wildly varying background and motivation. IOW your classmates may be an obstacle to progress. But maybe an advanced level class would be more satisfying. If the main goal is to improve speaking skills, MeetUp groups (free!) might work, along with working through a grammar workbook independently. There are tons of French conversation groups on MeetUp, and many are currently virtual-only and welcoming to non-locals. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 (edited) Forgot to mention, the Y in Quebec teaches French via their virtual language school. We don’t have experience with their French instruction for adults, but my older daughter is happy with the Brazilian Portuguese class she is taking from them. Given the exchange rate, the adult classes are very reasonably priced. Note that the daytime and evening course options are quite different. https://athome.ymcaquebec.org/international-language-school/adult-courses/ Edited May 18, 2021 by jplain 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innisfree Posted May 20, 2021 Author Share Posted May 20, 2021 @jplain, thank you! I'll pass these options along to dd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.