Looking for French resources

[Handsomesmomma]

Early Happy New Year everyone!

I was wondering if anyone has any resources for teaching beginner french to an 8 and 6 yo?  My sons are expressing interest and my three years of french in hs are dwindling, lol!

Many thanks and best wishes for a peaceful and healthy new year!

Ann-Marie

[cappuccinosmom]

Don't know of curriculum but poissonrouge.com has a section on their site with french vocabulary.  The pink castle on the front page has the vocab resources in various languages, and I know French is one of them. Might be something fun to help keep things interesting.

[Lisa1970]

I used Calvert French in the past. In my opinion, it is way over priced. But I did sell mine off, back then so I do not have it anymore. But if you can find it used, it would probably by worth it. I really liked it. But it should cost half as much.

[tankgirl73]

We use Nallenart's resources.  L'art de lire is for older kids (I think 8 and up?) who are already literate, so it's a more phonics-based french program which includes writing as well as oral comprehension.  L'art de dire is for younger kids, and is an oral-only program.  

L'art de lire is a workbook-based course with CD's or MP3's of audio content.  There are 6 courses.  L'art de dire is much more parent-involved, it's more like a set of instructions on how to do daily lessons with your kid.

Nallenart has a new(ish) subscription system now, where instead of buying the hard copies of all the materials, you subscribe to the website and have access to it all as downloads.  I had bought the full hard copy set years ago, but they upgraded me to the subscription for no charge.  This was great for me... since we've kind of stopped and started a few times, a lot of my flashcards and answer keys have been, um, misplaced.  Now I can just download new ones anytime I need them... or print out an extra page if DS needs a do-over.

It's not a *perfect* program, but I've yet to find one that is.  It does have some typos.  I'm fluent in french so I can catch them.  They're quick to correct them when it's pointed out -- another advantage to using the subscription system, you always get the most up-to-date pages.  ;)  Occasionally, I've found some words in a chapter test that aren't actually introduced until a later chapter!  That's kind of annoying.  

But for the most part, it's a good program.  In terms of the order in which things are introduced, the way things build on each other, the frequency of repetition, etc... it's all pretty solid.  My 12yo son is learning well.  He's in book 3 right now.

Go to nallenart.org for info.  Lots of samples there too.

We're also using alongside Nallenart, "Ecoutez-parlez".  This is another purely oral program -- though it does include reading as well.  Reading along with the CD's anyway.  No writing.  It's just, follow along in the unit while things are said on the CD.  Listen, then repeat.  You do each unit over 9 days, then do the next unit.  Each unit takes about 10-15 minutes to listen to.

He generally does it 2-3 times a week, so each unit takes about a month.  He's on book 4 now, I think.  He actually really, really enjoys this course.  It's easy, it builds well on itself, etc.  

The two approaches combined, I think are working really well for him.