Helping children (and Americans!) learn French!

[caroline]

Hello, we have just bought a place in the Loire to use as a holiday home for the present with a view to moving permanently to France in a few years.  Meanwhile we will spend as much time there as we can and want to help our children (5 and 9) to learn to speak French gradually.  My husband is American and is finding it hard to get his head around the language too.  Can anyone recommend anything tried and tested, software, cd's. classes, anything which has helped.  There are SO many resources out there, some free, cheap and massively expensive, its hard to decide.  Any help would be appreciated![:D]

[vette]

Hi Caroline.

 

When we first moved here we bought a French language program called 'Muzzy' for my daughter. It's cartoon based and is very good. If I recall, it is produced by the BBC but is not cheap. Try Ebay, you may find a used set on there.

For us adults we bought a CD set by 'Michel Thomas'. Within a short time we had learned a few things and found the CD's to be very good, in fact, the best that we had tried.

To be honest, trying to learn French wasn't easy for us, although my daughter became fully fluent within 3 months to the extent that the French don't realise that she is English.

Also, in my opinion, it is a difficult language to learn from a book.

Good luck with the learning and also with your move to France.

 

Regards. Les.

[vette]

Hi again.

 

I just found this; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfhq5PY6VhA

I hope the link works, it will let you see what Muzzy is all about.

 

Regards. Les.

[idun]

My children were born in France the eldest having very restricted access to hearing french until he started ecole maternelle at 3. But he wasn't fluent in three months. A supply teacher didn't know he wasn't french, as kids 'get' the accent immediately, but fluent like their class mates, eventually, but so quickly, no not at all.

 To add my son turned out to be quite a linguist, he speaks four languages as he has the ear, unlike me.

Maybe it is a little different when children arrive when they are a little older, but a full language and all the accrued french  that their peers have had since birth feels like a long shot in so little time to me.

[Pierre ZFP]

I like the Michel Thomas CDs too as it is easy to use in the car as well.

I also like Duolingo (and it's free !)

https://www.duolingo.com/

It will take you gently through the language from the most basic words using lots of exercises and it includes speaking/reading/writing.

It does a number of languages, I'm teaching myself Portugese now   Bon dia  [geek]

[Sprogster]

Caroline, if he has not already, your husband should think about applying for British citizenship and getting a British passport. This does not necessitate giving up his US citizenship as both countries allow dual nationality. Otherwise, your husband is restricted to a maximum of two 90 day a year tourist visits to France unless your husband applies for a French long stay visa, which can be tricky to get these days unless you are a self sufficient retiree.

Buying a holiday home first is very sensible and gives you time to decide if a permanent move to France is going to be right for your family and economically viable, as the main challenge these days for those of working age moving to France is finding employment, with France as I am sure you are aware in fairly dire ecomonic straights at the moment. Also for some people the language barrier can be unsurmountable, especially if fluency in written and spoken French is needed for employment, so best to find this out before any move.

Most Brits and members of this and other similar forums with property in France tend to be retirees, or second home owners as whilst France is a good place to go on holiday or retire to, it is a very different story if you need to make a living as a foreigner.

[caroline]

Thanks Les,

I will definitely look at the Muzzy programme.  I agree it would be hard to learn from a book, or cd's as well for that matter but we plan to spend as much time as possible there which should help.

[caroline]

The Duolingo web site is great!  and free so thanks for that recommendation.  I have ordered the Michel Thomas CD's as a few people have recommended them.  Thank you so much everyone who replied to my request. xxx

[caroline]

Hi Sprogster

You make a very good point, I had actually forgotten that my husband is not a European!  for now we have no problem with 2 x 90 days in France but if we do decide to live here permanently, that would be something to consider.  We would not be seeking employment in France but thanks for pointing out the difficulties.

[Sprogster]

caroline, another factor to take into account is that from the 1st July this year the UK will cease giving S1's to early retirees, which would mean you have to obtain comprehensive private health insurance in France, because as an inactif you would not be eligible to join the French health care system until you had been French resident for up to five years. Not a problem if you are fit and healthy other than the cost, but potentially an issue if you have a pre-existing health condition that could mean private health insurance would be expensive and difficult to obtain.