3 TO 4 YEARS OLD: TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES

As you know, we are a bilingual family. I am a native French speaker (from France), but my husband does not speak French, so we basically use the 'one person, one language approach', and for the most part, we speak English when we are altogether, except for when I need a 'secret' language to give Joey a stern warning of things to come when he does not behave... So essentially, Joey has received 'immersion instruction' for French, but only from me, until we were able to get him into a weekly class at the French Alliance, which has been wonderful to expose him to other native speakers. This has been a good start, but of course, this is not sufficient for him to become proficient in French to the same level he will be in English. Since birth, I have been getting him reading material in English and French, and when it is my turn to read to him at night, I only read the French books. Interestingly, as I related in a previous post, Joey picked up phonics in French completely on his own, at the same time he was figuring them out in English. 

So what kind of books did I get? As usual, once we were past the basics, I tried to pick educational topics rather than just fiction (not that there is anything wrong with that, but I like to kill two birds with one stone). To start, I got him Mon Bébé Sait Lire and Little Pim (French). Then, I started ordering a lots of books  from Amazon France: Babar; books by Catherine Dolto (which deal with life issues from the point of view of a young child); books from the 'Aïe!' series, which teaches about various dangers and how to avoid them by obeying your parents; 'Ça sert à quoi ?' series ('What is this for?'); La Petite Princesse series (life from the point of view of a three year old); books from La petite encyclopédie and Ma première encyclopédie series; Richard Scarry books in French; and more videos: Le Muppet Show (I remember these episodes from my childhood!); videos from la 'C'Est Pas Sorcier' series, which deals with scientific  concepts at the lay level. It is not cheap to order things from a foreign country... many times the shipping is as much as the books... but the fact that the French Alliance has a great library we can borrow from has alleviated this problem.  But what next?? I have started to look at more structured ways of teaching him French. Someone suggested that I just got him French classroom books, and this certainly seems like a good way to go. So I ordered a few books from France for KD-1st grade, but I am still not sure this is the way to go because it may not be engaging enough at Joey's age outside of a typical classroom environment. 

I looked into the Rosetta Stone Homeschool French program, but first of all, it ticked me off that they do not have direct downloads like they do for other versions of their language programs (so you have to order a CD, and Joey's Peewee PC did not come with a CD drive); and it is an 'immersion' program: in other words, unless you make a special effort to work on word lists and conjugations, it basically does not happen. You might say that Joey is so young, he can still acquire the language by just immersion. To which I will respond, yes, he can, and he already did this.. I was the 'immersion program'. But immersion does not replace the work you still have to do to learn proper grammar. There is just no way around sitting down and memorizing rules to really take language proficiency to the next level. 

SO a possible solution could be to go ahead with the Rosetta Stone program, but supplemented with more conventional instruction. For this purpose, I am thinking about using the Bescherelle Ecole : Regles / Grammaire / Orthographe / Conjugaison / Vocabulaire and the Petit Larousse Illustre 2013, both well-known reference tools for grammar and vocabulary used in France for generations. If this works, we could start using a similar system for Hebrew the following year, with the caveat that we would not be able to use 'native' books for grammar, so we would have to think about some other solutions... 

Update (October 2013): as we are winding down with the math work that involves manipulables (the Learning Palette,  2-3rd grade Folder Game Library from Lakeshore Learning,  and Common Core Math Standards Learning Center,  also from Lakeshore Learning), I am planning to start with French toward the end of December. After much hesitation, I went ahead and ordered the Rosetta Stone Program (level 1 to start) and a CD drive to install it on Joey's computer. I have to say the program is engaging and well organized. Level 1 is divided into four different units: each unit is divided into five lessons, and each lesson is further divided into a core lesson, and then emphasis on different concepts covered (vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, listening, speaking, review). The homeschool version also has worksheets (with translated instructions and solutions for home teachers who do not speak French, quizzes, and tests). So it strikes me as a good product so far, as long as vocabulary and grammar concepts are properly reinforced outside of the program. I also ordered the Bescherelle Ecole and the Petit Larousse Illustre 2013, but after trying to figure out how to translate the grammar lessons for our nanny, I decided to keep the Bescherelle for reference and instead get a French grammar book in English. After looking at the reviews, I decided on Tex's French Grammar, a well-organized web-site that non-native speakers can use, and conjugationfr.com to conjugate specific verbs. This is what the prep and instructions for our nanny look like for Unit 1, Lesson 1 looks like, aiming for 30 minutes of work per day: 

PREP WORK FOR ME
1. Make list of ALL words in the lesson
2. Identify the grammar concepts to go over
3. Print relevant grammar sections, including answers to online exercises
4. Add links to grammar on Joey’s computer
5. When you get to conjugation, make sure you go back and ask to conjugate verbs that have been covered in vocabulary

LESSON PLAN

Unit 1, Lesson 1: 
Nouns: homme, femme, garcon, fille
Determiners: un, une, la, le, les,
Pronouns: il, elle, ils, elles
Verbs: lire, boire, manger, courir, nager, cuisiner
Other: Bonjour, Au Revoir

Lesson 1 DAY 1: Core Lesson on Computer (30 min)

Lesson 1 DAY 2: 
a.Pronunciation on Computer (10 min)
b.Nouns: Look up in dictionary; have Joey read definition; practice writing by hand (ask: How do you say: X?)

Lesson 1 DAY 3: 
a.Vocabulary on Computer (5 min)
b.Verbs: Look up in dictionary; have Joey read definition; practice writing by hand (ask: How do you say: X?)

Lesson 1 DAY 4: 
a. Grammar on Computer (10 min)
b.“Introduction to Nouns” (handout). 

Lesson 1 DAY 5: 
a.Reading on Computer (10 min)
b.“Introduction to Determiners” (handout). 

Lesson 1 DAY 6: 
a.Writing on Computer (5 min)
b.“Introduction to Pronouns” (handout)

Lesson 1 DAY 7: 
a. Listening on Computer (10 min)
b.“Introduction to Verbs” (handout)

Lesson 1 DAY 8: 
a.Listening and Reading (15 min)
b.“Numbers (Singular, Plural)” (handout)

Lesson 1 DAY 9: 
a.Speaking (10 min)
b.“Numbers (Singular, Plural)” (online)

Lesson 1 DAY 10: 
a.Review (5 min)
b.“Er- verbs (regular) present tense” (handout)

Lesson 1 Day 11: 
a.Rosetta Workbook 1.1 and 1.2.
b.“Er- verbs (regular) present tense” (online)

Lesson 1 Day 12: 
a.Rosetta Workbook 1.3 and 1.4. 
b.“Er- verbs (regular) present tense” (conjugations: manger, nager, cuisiner)

Lesson 1 Day 13: Rosetta Workbook quiz and test. 
            
_____________________________________________________

Lesson 1 Material Rosetta Review (exercises in Tex’s French Grammar + conjugation of 5 other verbs) to be reviewed after lesson 2, after lesson 5 (the end of unit 1), and at the end of Level 1


Tex’ French Grammar Instructions

Working with handouts
• Read explanations to Joey in English on handout (let him follow along) BUT have Joey read ALL the French words and sentences. In the case of lists of words, make sure you translate for each word after Joey reads it (for instance in ‘Introduction to Pronouns’, have Joey read “Je”, then translate with “I”). 
• Have Joey do the exercise by hand (you will have an answer key, but if he gets it wrong, point to the relevant grammar rule). He needs to write the full sentences, not just the parts missing and make sure he pays attention to accents. 

Working with online version
•Read explanations to Joey in English on handout (let him follow along) BUT have Joey read ALL the French words and sentences. In the case of lists of words, make sure you translate for each word after Joey reads it (for instance in ‘Introduction to Pronouns’, have Joey read “Je”, then translate with “I”). 
•When mp3s are available, have Joey listen to them on computer (no headphones) sequentially. Point the words to him as the lady speaks them
•Have Joey repeat exercises on the screen. He can check his answers by clicking the relevant button

Working with conjugations
•Read explanations to Joey in English on handout (let him follow along) BUT have Joey read ALL the French words and sentences. In the case of lists of words, make sure you translate for each word after Joey reads it (for instance in ‘Introduction to Pronouns’, have Joey read “Je”, then translate with “I”). 
•Have Joey write out conjugations by hand for listed verbs (you will have a key)