Can you recommend any good book to teach French to children and adults?

[Cricri62164]

Hi everyone, I am new to this site and to forums, so I hope I am doing this right.

I am a French native and have started teaching French to my friends children recently. They are all YR to Y2 and have had to start from scratch and prepare lessons, use lots of toys, etc. It's been hard work but so much fun.

Another friend of mine has now asked me to teach French to her 9 years old and to an adult, but I am not sure which books I should be using to support their learning.

The girl is 9 years old and is already doing a bit of French at school, the adult is a complete beginner.

I have done some research online but so far have checked the BBC books and Voila for adults, but not convinced they are the best.

Really struggling to find anything for a 9 years old, books for kids seem far too basic or go into GCSE preparation.

Any advice/recommendations from French tutors or customers of French tutors would be very much appreciated!

Merci beaucoup!!!

[TuttiFrutti]

Have you tried the Skoldo books? They should be about right for a 9 year old.

[StickEmWithThePointyEnd]

I can't help unfortunately as I'm trying to learn French myself, but I would be interested to hear any replies.

I was also wondering, do you know of any French reading schemes (similar to Oxford Reading Tree for example) and a phonics guide that I could use to practice?

[Cricri62164]

Thanks TuttiFrutti for the recommendation of Skoldo books, I had never heard of them before, so will have a look at them.

StickEmWithThePointyEnd, I am noe sure about similar books to Oxford Reading, will ask my family in France. My cousin has a 6 years old that has just started reading (Year R start at 6 years old in France, not 4 like here), I will ask her if she can recommend anything for you.

[housepiglet]

Hi there,

This isn't a book, but I found the Michel Thomas audio course absolutely fantastic. I started with the Basic course and then went on to the Advanced. My aim was to be able to communicate when walking in the Pyrenees, and I achieved everything I'd hoped for with virtually no effort at all!

I'm sure it would be a great tool for your adult student: possibly not for the child. I think you can listen to a sample on the Michel Thomas webpage, though, so perhaps you could have a listen and see what you think.

I hope you find what you're looking for :)

[basildonbond]

Hi

I've not used it myself but have seen the Galore Park books recommended on here before

[notamomtokids]

I've got to second housepiglet

I used Michel Thomas and I thought it was fantastic approach. I used it for Spanish, French and Italian and definitely agree that it is a great tool for adult language learning. The key is that it really does feel like very little effort, but huge results.

Maybe not ideal for a 9yr old, but I wonder what results you would get if you were to try it with her. I think it could be quite interesting.

Good luck with your search.

[Fairygen]

BBC bitesize on line has lots of games etc to help with learning/ teaching.

[Cricri62164]

Thank you everyone for sending me your recommendations, I will have a look at these this week!

StickEmWithThePointyEnd, my cousin will ask her son's teacher for any recommendation of French books like the Oxford tree series when the kids go back to school (they are now on Easter holiday for 2 weeks). I will post when I get the info :-)

[StickEmWithThePointyEnd]

Thank you, that's so kind

[Cricri62164]

Dear StickEmWithThePointyEnd, I am so sorry I never came back to you about books to learn reading in French.

My cousin told me that me that her son doesn't use a book as such in France, they give me photocopies that they prepare themselves.

However, my mum bought my 6 years old daughter a book to encourage her to start reading in French only a few months ago, as she is now a good reader in English. She did a bit of research and book a book called "RATUS a l'ecole", there is a whole series of it, they seem really nice and quite cheap. You might want to check them.

Here is the Amazon link:

www.amazon.fr/Ratus-%C3%A0-l%C3%A9cole-Jeanine-Guion/dp/2218753081/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1370366273&sr=8-2&keywords=ratus

I have just come back from France where I went to a book shop with my daughter. We asked advice there and were recommended a different series: JE SUIS EN CP (CP means Cours Primaire, equivalent to YR/Y1 in England). We bought one of the level 1 books and it seems really nice.

Here is the Amazon link:
www.amazon.fr/Je-suis-CP-Tome-Dispute/dp/208124800X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1370366418&sr=8-5&keywords=je+suis+en+cp

I really hope this helps, it's difficult to transfer the learning of a child to an adult.

All the best with your learning of French, amusez-vous bien!

[vixsatis]

Another vote for Galore Park "So you really want to learn French". Very clear and easy to understand

[Tinuviel]

Skoldo Elementary and book 1 are both fine but book 2 isn't as good. It's very muddled and there seems to be no logical progression. However, I wouldn't use Skoldo for a 9 year old - they are designed for 4-7 really.

Galore Park are good and aimed at years 6-8 but no reason why a younger child couldn't use them.

Usborne do a nice book called "Easy French". It's a comic strip type story interspersed with grammar pages. It doesn't have any questions/exercises/activities but it would be easy enough to put some together.

[agreenmouse]

If you are giving them prep between lessons how about some free listening practice with pictures and subtitles - e.g. French audio stories
A Green Mouse is my blog in the Education section

[herewearethen]

Hi, i was in the same boat and so came up with this book The Fabulous Lost and Found and the little french mouse. It uses the Story-powered language learning method to introduce 40 french words, as part of a story - people seem to really like it, and it's pretty funny too!
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/191608012X?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21