eBook French for Children (Book + Audio CD) (Language for Children Series) ePub

Dead Samurai

One of many advantages of this program is that it blends listening/speaking skills with reading/writing skills. For the very youngest child that might be an issue, but I think it's an advantage for kids at the "early reader" level in English (probably age 5-7 and up). It will appeal to older kids, too, although at a certain age they might be better off working at a more rigorous pace than is offered here.

As for the reading part -- sure, words like "monsieur" can be confusing to see in print, since they do not sound the way they look. But that's something you have to get used to sooner or later, if you're going to use the language at all, so why put off learning it? Anyway, for most words that's not an issue. So it is great that the child is getting both parts of the language experience simultaneously.

Some folks believe that it's more important just to get the child accustomed to the spoken language. Whether or not that's really true, it's going to be very hard for most parents unless they are fluent in the new language. This program does not require the parent/teacher to know any more than the child -- and you can learn together for that matter!

For the record, I speak French well enough to know that the text is accurate and that the speakers are mostly native French -- and in fact, speak with a more "natural" cadence than the way we used to learn in school.

I was pleased to see that the "course" is in fact carefully planned to progress logically, and that it is broken down to reasonable 8-12 minute lessons. Working through one unit gives the child a feeling of accomplishment without having to struggle for a long time. It also allows the parent/teacher to replay specific segments for review, without making an individual lesson overly long.

The audio program works interactively with the workbook -- but it is not always clear when the book has material that can read along with the narration, as opposed to those segments that are being done purely by ear. Thankfully, from time to time the narrator refers to specific pages, so you find your place eventually. It's not that big a deal, and the book is generally quite wortwhile as an adjunct to the main lesson content.

A very cute component that some children may like (ours does!) is that there is a silly little cartoon storyline that progresses, three frames at a time, at the end of each unit in the book. Each new episode uses a few new vocabulary words from the latest lesson. We have not completed the course yet, so I don't know whether the story will be all that great, but that's not the point. I can see that after each lesson, our child is enjoying the experience of being able to read a bit of this comic strip, out loud, in French! It's a great confidence builder and adds fun to cap off each lesson.

The program comes with a separate CD with instructions for parents/teachers. It's a bit long to listen to (one could just read a manual!) but the disk also contains songs and other items that are compiled from the lesson disks, into one convenient place.

For parents whose school districts do not offer world languages in the early elementary years, this course is a reasonable way to introduce a younger child to French language (and to some extent, French culture) so that they get at least a little foundation while their minds are still growing. It won't be enough all by itself to replace a year's worth of school-based study, but it provides an easy-to-follow, well-planned lesson structure that can get you started.

It's not Rosetta Stone or the like, but since it has a much more modest price, it's probably worth 5 stars in comparitive terms of bang-for-buck.

ᵀᴴᴱ ᴼᴿᴵᴳᴵᴻᴬᴸ

I bought this for myself and two daughters, ages 6 and 3. We play the CD's while doing art or cooking. We don't do the written exercises, but they are great too, probably best for ages 7+. In the first listening, about an hour while doing art, we learned how to say, "What is your name, my name is". The songs are catchy and fun. They are played a few times during the lesson, so they really sink in. We are learning slowly and playfully, but a dedicated student could move fast with these. Highly recommended!

Jek

I love this book with the 3 CD's, great way to learn French, lots of audio including songs, lots of fun games and activities. This is the best French book I have gotten so far. The workbook that goes with it, is not much, I probably wont use it, it has around 16 pages, but the book that goes with it has around 73 pages, the book is nice, all the pages are in color and has a lot of fun learning inside.

I am an adult learning French and I wanted to do it in a fun easy way.

I also purchased the book I can read & Speak in Frency by Maurice Hazan this book is really good too. Each word in the book is a picture and you use the pictures to speak your sentences. Im glad I purchased both of these items!

These books would also be great for young children who want to learn French.

Ferne

my son spoke with the sender and found out that the DVD can't be played on the new computers. He decided to keep the book for his daughter as the postage would be as much as returning the DVD's.

Kanrad

This French language for children course is excellent. It is very entertaining for my kids (7 and 9 years old) and really holds their attention, which is what I look for with any educational aids. The songs are catchy, the pictures and colors that the book uses are captivating, and the amount of vocabulary is considerable. I highly recommend it!

Ballagar

I was extremely impressed with this program for teaching young children French. When I began homeschooling my granddaughter, I decided to include a foreign language. Since I had taken French in college, I thought it would be a wonderful experience for her. The lessons are straight forward and the CD's are absolutely wonderful. All of the activities are fun for her to do and learning French is not a difficult task. She loves her French lessons and enjoys practicing it while listening to the lesson. I strongly urge anyone who want to expand their children's learning experience to include a foreign language to definitely purchase this product. I love teaching it and she loves learning it.

Moonworm

Native speakers- children and adults- make this kit really effective. Simple, interesting, repetitive in a very clear and easy to follow way. Fun workbook and good subject treatment make the discs a pleasant take-along on errands and trips in the car. And the others in the car can join in to the enjoyable games. Some language programs are dry and hard to follow- this one is really a comfortable progression through all the basics.

We have been working with this two weeks. It allows the kids to self teach and it not demanding. I enjoy it with them. we wanted something to see if we should pursue French at all. This is certainly allowed them to see if they like French