French Resources for Upper Elementary

[westwoodmom04]

My dd will be starting a new school next year, last year of elementary. The school curriculum includes French, starting in K, so she has missed quite a few years. The early years of instruction are mainly oral, but they did start introducing grammar last year. I want to give her some resources so she can have some familiarity with the language prior to starting school (she will not be graded until the teacher feels she is somewhat caught up). Any suggestions? We did try little Pim, but she thought that was too babyish.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Duolingo maybe?

[westwoodmom04]

Thanks, looks promising. I'll try it out with her this afternoon.

[bisous]

My friend just relocated (military) and her daughter is in middle school. She's just using Rosetta Stone and she likes it.

[AustenFan]

Another vote for Duolingo. DS likes it.

We also do Mango Connect French online through our public library. That's more conversational/travel (at least DS thinks so--an 8 year old doesn't need to know how to order beer, lol!), but it's another easy option. I haven't done Rosetta, but I think it might be along the same lines.

We also occasionally use a video series from the public library to help with accents--Bonjour Les Amis. The first one for sure is too babyish even for my rising third grader, but it's a step up from Pim. You might check the educational dvds section of your library and see what they have. In my experience (I taught elementary French for a year!), unless this is an immersion school, most kids are probably not going to be retaining a ton from year to year. I bet your DD will be able to catch up pretty quickly.

[westwoodmom04]

Thanks all, very helpful. No, not immersion. I should know how frequently but I don't. I'm guessing several times a week, but not every day. And after this year, she will be in the middle school, and can switch to spanish if she wants or continue with french -- she also will be required to take two years of latin in middle school.

[Kindra178]

Rosetta Stone. Our former district bought it for everyone to use and it's really excellent.