French Teaching at Home

This page will collect resources and posts specifically for anglophones using French with their children, including parents who are learning the language along with their children.

ACTIVITIES

Flashcards (what to do, what not to do)

Family, Friends, and Francais, Part I: Introduction
Family, Friends, and Francais, Part II: Art and Drama
Family, Friends, and Francais, Part III: Recommended Reading
Family, Friends, and Francais, Part IV: Literacy Activities
Family, Friends, and Francais, Part V: Kinesthetic Activities

Learning French Around the Maison, Introduction: Vocabulary 

Learning French Around the Maison, Part I: Music, Rhythm, and Rhyme

Learning French Around the Maison, Part II: Art and Drama
Learning French Around the Maison, Part III: Literacy Activities

Learning French Around the Maison, Part IV: Kinesthetic Activities

Learning French In and Around the Garden, Part I: Music, Rhythm, and Rhyme

Learning French In and Around the Garden, Part II: Art and Drama

Learning French In and Around the Garden, Part III: Literacy Activities

Learning French In and Around the Garden, Part IV: Kinesthetic Activities

Preschool-age language-reinforcing activities (descriptions with my suggestions)

Other ideas coming soon eventually...

GAMES

Apps: My favorite iPad applications in French are collected on my Pinterest apps board and described in greater detail here.

LeapPad

Mon Premier Dokéo: My French friend Delphine loaned me this very cool electronic game until her five-year-old missed it so much we had to return it, so we're going to buy it for Griffin as a present from the new baby (even though it costs about 60 euros and we'll have to have it shipped internationally).  It's that fantastic!  It features sturdy interchangeable pages with scenes from daily life and topics that interest children (animals, ocean, etc.)  You can use each page as an imagier (touch the picture and the game names what it is) or play games of varying difficulty.  For example, with the "dining room" page, the game can tell the child to find specific objects (the salad, the mother), play a song about eating, or ask harder questions, like "where is something that you eat raw?" or "who is sitting across from the baby?" Amazing!

Tag reader

MOVIES/DVDS/VIDEOS FOR CHILDREN

Ana Lomba
Annie Brocoli
Brain Baby: French (my review of this bland, mediocre DVD)
Carmen Champagne's children's music videos in French: http://www.mastermindtoys.com/
Charlotte Diamond
French for Kids, Beginning Level, Vol. 1 (my review of what seemed like a very promising educational DVD)
Globe-Toddlers Adventures in French (my review of this French culture-oriented DVD)
List of recommended kids' movies from LinguistKids
Tralala children's music videos, with online study guides: http://www.lpb.org/education/classroom/itv/serdesc.cfm?SerID=228

More specific titles and/or reviews coming soon....in the meantime, see Bonne Maman's recommendations and the YouTube playlist complied by the AATF (American Association of Teachers of French)

MUSIC FOR CHILDREN

Alain Le Lait:  This Frenchman who lives in Colorado may be a grown-up, but he is clearly in touch with his inner child!  His three albums of silly songs in French (which also exist in English and in Spanish) really appeal to kids with their upbeat, catchy, rhyming music and lyrics.  He writes about everything from a chocolat-chaud-drinking multicolored mystical creature ("Arc-en-ciel") to household appliances ("J'ai un réfrigérateur").  And some of his French songs have been produced as YouTube videos, which Griffin loves.  (See titles below in the "YouTube" category.)

Annie Brocoli

Baby's First Steps in French: A CD that features parentese and recited comptines (nursery rhymes) along with traditional songs for children, most of which have been slightly altered to expose babies and toddlers to a rich variety of sounds in French.  Read my review of the book that accompanies it.

Joyeux Noel: Sing Along and Learn Carols in French from Teach Me Tapes. Some of these are traditional French holiday songs, like "Un flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle," "Il est né, le divin enfant," and "Petit Papa Noel," while others seem to be translations of songs in English ("Boules de gui" is "Deck the Halls,"L'enfant au tambour" is "The Little Drummer Boy"), although for all I know they've existed or even originated in French.

Cha Cha Cha

Kidzup:  This Canadian company published albums of children's songs and comptines (nursery rhymes) in French.  Most of the songs are traditional and/or well-known, while many of their comptines are their originals.  They also sell books to accompany their CDs.  I have learned so many songs from their two-disk collections Les plus belles chansons pour enfants and Mes chansons préférées!  But here's the bad news: they no longer exist.  Their website, kidzup.com, is gone, and neither amazon.com nor amazon.ca (Canada) offers many of their French albums.  Perhaps you can check eBay or other second-hand CD sellers?  Please let me know if you can find a source for more of their music, because I really do recommend it highly!

Muriel Vergnaud:  This French musician-teacher writes and performs original songs for children and teaches French classes for youngsters.  Her music is gentle and simple, dealing with everyday objects and situations and animals.  I bought her three short CDs after watching her present a session at an AATF conference where she demonstrated how she uses art projects, puppets, and more to teach French with her songs.

Putomayo Kids: French Playground, Quebec Playground

Teach Me French, Teach Me More French, and Teach Me Even More French

Other titles coming soon eventually ...

PICTURE BOOKS

Specific titles coming soon...in the meantime, see Bonne Maman's recommendations

SCHOOLS AND LANGUAGE CAMPS

See also my Pinterest board on French schools in the US, including public and private schools for children, teens, and even adults, plus organizations like Concordia Language Villages and the Alliance Francaise.

WHERE TO PURCHASE MATERIALS

eBay

Lectures de France (USA): offers children's books grouped into very helpful categories for browsing.

Les petits livres:  Actually, this is a rent-by-mail service, not unlike Netflix, but for children's books in French.  The owner, a French woman living in Texas, offers a large selection for ages 0-12 and different plans (from two at a time each month to six at a time, as many times a month as you want).  The owner lent me books when my friend Delphine and I were starting up our French storytime at the library.  Once Griffin is ready for chapter books, I plan to start using this service again.

Scholastic Books (Canada): My fellow readers in the US will probably remember fondly the days that our elementary school teachers sent home the Scholastic book order forms each month. The colorful, flimsy newsprint flyers offered four pages of age-appropriate books for cheaper than anything in the bookstore. The teacher would collect the forms and the checks and send them in, then a few weeks later, lo and behold the brand-new books! The website shows their offerings in French. To learn how to place book orders in French through your child's school (and pay no shipping fees!), see Susan's explanation at LinguistKids. I haven't done this myself yet, because Griffin is only in preschool two days per week, and in general his school is too disorganized for me to approach them about the book orders. Maybe someday....

Sosnowski Language Resources (USA): a small business in Colorado run by a former teacher who sells books in French and in Spanish. She has a huge selection of children's books, from board books to picture books to easy readers and beyond, and I appreciate that she makes a concerted effort to represent many different countries in the francophone world. (On the other hand, quite a few of the books I've purchased have turned out to be translated from English.) Every time I visit her stand at the CCFLT conference, I spend much more money than I expect! (And it's always worth it.)

World of Reading (USA): a company that sells books, CDs, DVDs, software, and more in many different languages. I like how they provide categories for browsing online ("classic children's books like Babar and Madeline in French," "French movies dealing with African themes," etc.), but was disappointed when I purchased what I believed were French DVDs (Babar, Rue Sesame) but turned out to be American TV shows dubbed in French.

Other resources coming soon eventually ...

TEXTBOOKS/EDUCATIONAL BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

French for Boys (and other workbooks, like French for Girls): workbooks for young children designed for families without prior knowledge of French, self-published by a language teacher who homeschooled her children bilingually in French

LanguageMom: 24-lesson classes for children delivered weekly via email for parents with no prior knowledge of French; the lessons include access to online videos of a native speaker pronouncing the target vocabulary

Other titles and reviews coming soon eventually ...

VOCABULARY IN FRENCH ABOUT CHILDREN

List 1

List 2

Read a book--any book in French--about pregnancy, childbirth, toddlers, preschoolers, parenting.  Or try Pregnant in France by Carrianne LeBras.  Take notes and learn the French terms in context!

WEBSITES WITH INTERACTIVE GAMES

Links and descriptions coming soon eventually ...

YOUTUBE IN FRENCH FOR CHILDREN

Alain Le Lait

Carmen Champagne

Chantal Goya
Charlotte Diamond

Comptines (karaoke-style)

Four charming live-action videos of children dancing to traditional (but less-common) French songs.

Jean Petit qui danse
L'ane Trotro

Oui-oui

T'choupi
Verbs

Links, plus other videos and descriptions coming soon....in the meantime, consult the YouTube playlist complied by the AATF (American Association of Teachers of French)