Tuesday 12 May 2015

French Lessons, Vocabulary & Folksongs - update


I'm updating this post to include a few more resources so all our French resources are on the same page and have included a mix of vocabulary, stories and folksongs.

"...the child's vocabulary should increase steadily, say, at the rate of half a dozen words a day. Think of fifteen hundred words in a year! The child who has that number of words, and knows how to apply them, can speak French. Of course, his teacher, will take care that, in giving words, she gives idioms also, and that as he learns new words, they are put into sentences and kept in use from day to day. A note-book in which she enters the child's new words and sentences will easily enable the teacher to do this."

Home Education by Charlotte Mason 


We've used this Skoldo book for a while, mostly for the songs which are included on a CD that comes with the book. There are other books in the series but I've been using lots of free resources and hopefully these will be enough until she is ready to start Living French:



















Last year I started keeping a French notebook which has been very helpful. I was inspired by the quote above to make our French language learning more in keeping with the ideas Charlotte Mason had on foreign language acquisition. It had been going ok but nowhere near 1500 words a year! I wasn't keeping up with things and much of the vocabulary that was covered got forgotten. The notebook is to help me keep a record of what is covered and for the purpose of review.




This year Moozle started keeping her own French notebook. She writes phrases and sentences from what she's been learning in her copybook a few times a week. We've been going through a free online book, Petit a Petit by A. Herding, but I only just realised I hadn't included it here as we have it saved on an Ipad. The text starts off with phrases such as un chat & une pomme around page 20, which is where I started Moozle, & by page 24 includes more lengthy phrases eg. Le chat et la souris. English translation isn't included but the book has some illustrations. Between these illustrations and the use of an English/French dictionary, the book has been easy to use so far:





  









The Three Little Pigs - love this!




Conversation








Folksongs







Translation for Sur le pont d'Avignon here.


The Months of the Year




Goldilocks and Three Bears and other stories with audio & translations


Goldilocks & The Three Bears


French numbers and their pronunciation.

A French Primer

This is more advanced than the one I posted above.












English translation here.

French version of 'She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain.'
English translation here.




This is more difficult and we only started it today. The BookBox website has a variety of stories in different languages and they have the story below in English if you would like a translation:






Santiano

It is a fine three-master thin like a bird.
Heave-ho, Santiano !
Eighteen knots, four hundred barrels :
I am proud to be one of her seaman

Hold fast the helm and hold fast the wind.
Heave-ho, Santiano !
By God's will, always straight ahead,
We will sail until San Francisco

I'm going away for long months, leaving Margot.
Heave-ho, Santiano !
To think of it caused me sorrow
While crossing the fires of Saint-Malo

They say that over there money flows.
Heave-ho, Santiano !
You find gold down in the streams
I will bring back several ingots

One day, I'll return with my arms full of gifts.
Heave-ho, Santiano !
In the country, I'll visit Margot
At her finger, I will slip a ring

Hold fast the course and hold fast the waves
Heave-ho, Santiano !
On the sea arching it's back,
We will sail until San Francisco

It is a fine three-master thin like a bird.
Heave-ho, Santiano !
Eighteen knots, four hundred barrels :
I am proud to be one of her seaman

Taken from http://lyricstranslate.com/en/santiano-santiano.html#ixzz3g9A9fWll



The Avion my Uncle Flew by Cyrus Fisher has been a great incentive for my daughter with her French now she's a little older.


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

oooh! Thank you, thank you!
French was the first foreign language I studied, and I felt lucky ever after that my teacher was a crazy folksy woman whom everyone made fun of, who liked to teach folk songs. She taught Spanish classes in my high school, too, and she taught us French students the Spanish songs as well, so I was very happy, and have gone on singing all of them all my life. Then along came Raffi, and I got to learn a few more, like the one your student has written out above.
I can't wait to play all these songs and other audio files you have so generously posted here!

Unknown said...

Oh I love using a variety of mediums to teach a lesson. YouTube has become one of my favorite teaching stops. Thanks for coming by Finishing Strong. Kyle

Unknown said...

Sometimes it is very difficult for the people who lives in distant and remote areas to learn International language. I just got an information from thecoursehouse.com that people are also learning online courses who are especially busy in their work activities.

ChristyH said...

Living in America everyone learns..or should...I think. BUT we don't want to I want us to learn French. This is a great post with great ideas. One son wants to learn Japanese. What I really love are your son's notebooks. What do you do to get him to give such detailed narrations? What if he doesn't give you what you feel is enough information in the science notebooks? How do you handle that?

Carol said...

Hi Christy, it depends on what he's been reading. Some days the content lends itself more to note booking. He covers science in three days a week; he prefers that to spreading it over the week and I expect him to do some sort of narration and/or illustration about what he's read - preferably both. I also get him to give me a short explanation about what he's narrated or drawn so I know he understands it. If he hasn't done as much as I think he should, the oral explanation usually reveals why or it might give me an idea of something else he perhaps should include. Then I get him to add that in. Sometimes it's helpful to find an online resource such as a video, simulation etc if the book is lacking in illustrations or diagrams. Does that answer your question?


ChristyH said...

Sorry I re-asked this question in another comment. No need to reply to that one. Been a little chaotic so I forget sometimes. Sorry. thank you for taking the time to answer.

Amy Maze said...

Thanks for sharing these resource!

Unknown said...

very interesting blog to read.
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Unknown said...

So nice to see your French notebooks :-)
Thanks for sharing. I look forward to when my kids are keeping their own foreign language books.

Celeste said...

I'm glad you linked this old post up because it's really helpful to me as I consider our own foreign language Keeping now that my kids are doing more written Italian work. (Before this year, it has been all oral.) This year they have foreign language notebooks, but they're not really for "keeping"--more for just compiling their copywork, review lessons, etc.for Italian and Latin organized in one place. Maybe next year I'll have them doing something of more "keepable" quality rather than just practical...

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