Teaching French - Help needed

[xDaisyx]

Hi! I don't speak French much. I love the language though, and have spent quite a bit of time in France and taught it basically to myself during my stay. My pronunciation is quite good based on the feedback from French people - no heavy accent. My husband gave me Rosetta Stone French for Christmas and I've been going through the exercises, with my son (3.5 years) sometimes watching and joining in. He picked up the language quite easily. I would like to read to him some VERY basic French books. Like beginning readers with just a view easy sentences. Like "Ben is going shopping". I was wondering if anybody has done something like that and what material you used. My son is raised bilingual already and we live close to France, and hear French quite often on the train, etc.

Any ideas? Book suggestions? I'm open to good DVDs as well.

Thanks!

[IsaFrench]

look at this thread for inspiration

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1179303/french-reader-books

[Eclipsepearl]

Start with this series;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhcLYqlqyD8

The Petit Ours Brun is actually a book series so try to locate a few. 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Petit+ours+brun

My daughter loves these books but start with the Petit Ours first. There are also Youtube videos you can watch with him;

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=tom+tom+and+nana&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Atom+tom+and+nana

You might be suggested "Babapapa" but I'm not a big fan. They were hard for me to understand. But you know what, do what works! If he likes them, then go for it. 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=babapapa&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Ababapapa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO7l28EzUPM

Also, "Tchoupi" was a favorite of my son's. 

http://www.nathan.fr/tchoupi/

[xDaisyx]

Originally Posted by Eclipsepearl 

Start with this series;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhcLYqlqyD8

The Petit Ours Brun is actually a book series so try to locate a few. 

Also, "Tchoupi" was a favorite of my son's. 

http://www.nathan.fr/tchoupi/

Thank you, Eclipsepearl and IsaFrench! I've watched some of the Petit Ours Brun with my son and he liked it a lot. I'm hoping to incorporate more French into his day. He actually asked me tonight at dinner time what "ice cream" is called in French.

[neonalee]

I started listening to French radio online and reading books from the library that are both French and English on the page. I'm not good at it but my son (2.5 and we started at 2) can tell when the radio is French.

[MamaMunchkin]

I second T'choupi - my 3-yr old loves it.  And likewise, I'm not into Barbapapa - it's too commercialized for my taste, the books with different shapes, the games etc. 

If your DS likes transportations etc, the next series to check out might be P'tit Garcon. 

OP,  you mentioned you live close to France, if you have the chance, I suggest you find the closest hyper-Carrefour in France and check out the book section - they'd probably have most if not all of the above and more.  Online, amazon.fr and www.bookdepository.co.uk would be good bets too.

I also second the radio/audio part -  to pick up the intonation more than anything.

Funny you mentioned 'ice cream',  for us it was 'chocolat' - indispensable words in any language, aren't they?