As a French speaker (born on the island of Martinique in the West Indies) one of my desire and goal is to have my boys speak French. Unfortunately I find it hard to speak French in an English context (my husband is Filipino and we live in Toronto). So, the next best thing is to teach it to them as a school subject. I have had no liking to the different curriculum I have seen out there except for one I have started using this year (thanks to a friend who gave it to me). So, when I was offered the chance to review Le Francais Facile I jumped on the occasion. I picked the junior level as my boys are in grade 1 and 3 respectively.
The Easy French is a French curriculum put out by Great Commission Languages. It is written by Marie Filipino who possesses a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (Reading), taught French As A Second Language, spent years as a Literacy Specialist and Tutor, and is working on her Masters of Education in Curriculum development as well as gaining certification as a Samonas sound therapist.
From the website:
"Le Français Facile! is:
- A Complete French Curriculum!
- A Scientifically Designed Curriculum!
- Easy to teach, even if you don't know any french at all!
- Fun to learn, with funny stories and interesting activities.
- French Scripture, songs, games and coloring pages
- Great for homeschool co-op groups!
- Digitally mastered enhanced CD for audio and computer
- Printable free activity sheets: no purchasing consumable activity books or photocopying!
- Teaches French language and French grammar through literature based entertaining storylines
- 3 year program for younger students
- 1 year program for older students and Fast track option for teens
- French Culture of France and Québec with optional projects (including idiom projects)
- Use of Tomatis and SAMONAS sound theories to facilitate learning
- Follows Charlotte Mason Method, Bloom’s Taxonomy and higher order theories by Dr. Jeanne Chall
- Certificate of Completion available with submission of two projects
- Written by a francophone mom of 4 in her 10th year of home educating"
Price: $69.65 for the Junior level, $84.95 for level 1A, 1B, 2A, and 2B. You can get Level 1 A and B together or level 2 A and B together for the price of $139.95.
The program works very well for large families as well as small ones as it is non consumable. The junior level is meant to be redone 2 times, so good for 3 years.
Our opinion:
I really like this curriculum. It is simple and attractive. Each lesson is made up of a dialogue and a series of accompanying activities to be done at one's pace. I think the best feature of the program is the accompanying CD which has all the dialogues and vocabulary read to you. On the CD as well are most of the activities suggested ready for print (200 printable pages to be exacts). The dialogues are mixed french and english so that the child can understand what is going on and at the same time be introduced to new vocabulary words.
Zach, my 3rd grader, with whom I am using the program, enjoys it. His dad just asked him recently if it was really easy, as it claims on its title, and he answered "yes". So there you go.
Here you can view a video from the author explaining the program to you, and also sample lessons for you to check out.
Great Commission Languages also puts out an Easy Spanish curriculum with 2 levels (Junior and Level I).
Make sure to check out what my crewmates had to say about Great Commission Languages.
Disclosure: I was offered a copy of one of Great Commission Languages' curriculum for free in exchange for an honest review.
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