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Marjorie
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| Posted: July 14 2006 at 4:39pm | IP Logged
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Hi, Ladies,
I am looking for ideas for a French Club that I am helping assemble. Luckily most of the moms are native speakers or fairly fluent, but our children are not. Does anyone have any experience in a foreign language club? One note, several families are using Seton and are unused to the CM model. I welcome any advice :-) Merci mille fois.
YIC,
Marjorie
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Kelly
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| Posted: July 24 2006 at 9:52pm | IP Logged
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Marjorie,
How old are the children in your French club? If they're younger, you might start with basic greetings (put them in a circle, have them go around the circle, each one greeting the one next to them and exchanging a few words, that sort of thing). Counting (BINGO in French!), colors, commands (you can play red light/green light in French)-French songs are great for learning pronounciation. Besides the Old Dependables like Frere Jacque and Alouette, you could also use some of the songs from the "Teach me French" and "Teach me MORE French" cds---they take songs that most kids already know in English, and render them (loosely) into French-then the kids can concentrate on the words, already knowing the meaning AND melody.
The French school outside of San Francisco has the kids grow a little kitchen garden, a la Francais-learning the garden vocabulary as they garden. I love this idea! You really could apply this concept to any project or subject that would excite the students (wine studies, anyone?  ).
If your students are older, (and actually, even for the younger ones kids) I'd jump right in and insist on speaking French only during the sessions. Hard at first, but they soon get it! For older students, you could also start slowly by showing a French movie (many dvds have a French option---eg, did you ever notice that all Lego movies have a French option???). Even with subtitles, they're hearing the language and it's good training for the ear. You can also do the music thing with older students, but you'll have to look for something a little "groovier" than "Twinkle" in French! My dd is taking up French this year by memorizing the lyrics of "Phantom of the Opera" in French! Go figure, but it works. The cd of the "Singing Nun" has some nice pieces (groovy, they're not  , but definitely better than "Twinkle")
Another easy tactic is to start teaching some basic prayers in French. This is a good exercise for all ages. The older kids can write them out, too, so they can start to get a feel for the spelling. I'd be sure everyone has a notebook right at the outset, too (Spiral Bound notebooks are 15 cents at Walmart this week!) and a folder---but beyond those scholarly attributes, I'd try to keep it fun.
Kelly in FL
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MacBeth
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| Posted: July 25 2006 at 8:28am | IP Logged
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Kelly wrote:
| You can also do the music thing with older students, but you'll have to look for something a little "groovier" than "Twinkle" in French! My dd is taking up French this year by memorizing the lyrics of "Phantom of the Opera" in French! Go figure, but it works. The cd of the "Singing Nun" has some nice pieces (groovy, they're not , but definitely better than "Twinkle") |
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Good point! We always add the music thing to whatever we do. My kids, who do not speak French, sing Edith Piaf songs for fun...
I always like to include meals in the language, and maybe a movie night, though French films, even French films for children, can be French  . But many DVDs have a French option, so you could rent Madeline, for example, and just play the French soundtrack, or even the subtitles. And there's always The Red Balloon.
Another idea might be a French story time. My French teacher in 5th grade read Les Miserables to us, translating as he went at first, but as we understood more, he just read. It was wonderful to begin to understand as he read aloud.
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MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
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marihalojen
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| Posted: July 25 2006 at 3:07pm | IP Logged
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We adore Ice Age in French! It is the funniest thing ever.
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The Mari Hal-O-Jen
SSR = Sailing, Snorkling, Reading
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Ideas for Foreign Language Club?
