If you use French Prep 1, how is it working for you?

[Kfamily]

Hi!

We are still stalling out with First Start French. We need more practice with the grammar and since I don't speak French I am just not comfortable making it up on my own yet. So I am thinking about French Prep. Dd is in 6th so is this the right age for this? How easy is it to purchase? Is the audio helpful with the lessons? and most importantly is there enough practice?

Any advice or thoughts are most welcome!:001_smile:

Thanks so much!

P.S. We really wanted to learn the prayers included in FSF but they weren't on the audio. Does anyone know where we might find audio of this? I was pretty sure French Prep would not have that.

[Kfamily]

:001_smile:

[Jen3boys]

I'd like to hear opinions on French Prep too. I just ordered some items from the book depository.

[Peela]

Well, for us it has been a flop, but so has every French program and approach we have tried. I did 4 years of French in highschool so am pretty familiar with the language, although by no means fluent. We absolutely love Latin Prep. But French Prep just hasn't worked here.Yes the audio is good, and I think there is enough practice. I think the only approach that is going to work for my kids is either Rosetta Stone, which I don't want to spend the money on especially with the exchange rate being so bad presently, or a class/teacher. We jsut cant seem to find any enthusiasm/discipline for learning French from a book.

[nmoira]

I think the only approach that is going to work for my kids is either Rosetta Stone, which I don't want to spend the money on especially with the exchange rate being so bad presently, or a class/teacher. We jsut cant seem to find any enthusiasm/discipline for learning French from a book.Have you looked at The Learnables (http://www.learnables.com)?

[Lorna]

Hi!

We are still stalling out with First Start French. We need more practice with the grammar and since I don't speak French I am just not comfortable making it up on my own yet. So I am thinking about French Prep. Dd is in 6th so is this the right age for this? How easy is it to purchase? Is the audio helpful with the lessons? and most importantly is there enough practice?

Any advice or thoughts are most welcome!:001_smile:

Thanks so much!

P.S. We really wanted to learn the prayers included in FSF but they weren't on the audio. Does anyone know where we might find audio of this? I was pretty sure French Prep would not have that.

We really love French Prep and are now on book 2. We do all the exercises together and mostly out loud. The exercises are varied and interesting with plenty of review without repeating the same phrases. The cd is fantastic, although with book 2 I would have liked as much audio as book 1. It is still plenty though. I really recommend you, the teacher, doing the Michel Thomas courses to get a good grasp of how the brain learns a language, a thorough understanding of the grammar and give you confidence in building sentences. Michel Thomas requires self-motivation (and I have found it doesn't really work for children to do it alone). The only way to really learn French well IMO is if you do it all together. Our daughter is self-learning with Latin Prep and this is fine but French is different.
I must add, we have a lot of fun doing French Prep. It is great to sit together and chat in French and makes a nice chance from the usual seat work.
Add in a few 'real' French books, magazines, films and audio from time to time too. This is how I have seen Danish children learn English and it is highly successful.

[Kfamily]

I am still weighing this out... but thanks everyone for your advice and opinions!


I have been thinking it would be better if I (as I do with Latin) get ahead of her in our lessons and stay ahead. This would hopefully make me a better teacher. I do need to make use of some audio books and dvds to round this out better.

Thanks again!:001_smile:

[Peela]

Have you looked at The Learnables (http://www.learnables.com)?

Yep, tried that too....dead boring.
My feeling is we need to learn a modern language orally, through conversation and context.