Tips for Parents

More and more parents today are asking "What can I do to help my son / daughter in French?"

These parents either never had French available to them in school, or they haven't used French since graduating from grade 9 or 10.

However, as a parent, there are still things that you and your child can do at home in order to improve his / her French, and you may even pick some up yourself.

To find out what you can do to help your son / daughter in each of the French strands, click on the appropriate link and you're on your way:

How To Improve Your French Listening Comprehension

The following excerpt is from How to improve your French listening comprehension by Laura K. Lawless. For the complete article, please visit http://french.about.com/od/listening/a/listeningtips.htm.

1) Listen first

If you want to test your aural comprehension and / or you feel comfortable with your listening skills, listen to the sound file one or more times, to see how much you understand. Then read through the transcript and / or translation, either before or while listening to the sound file again, to fill in any gaps.

2) Read first

Students who don't feel up to the challenge of listening first might be better off doing just the opposite: read or skim the transcript first to get an idea of what it's about, and then listen to the sound file. You can listen while reading along with the transcript and / or translation, or just listen and then go back to the transcript, to see how much you were able to pick up.

3) Listen and read

This third option is the best for students with very weak listening skills. Open up the transcript or translation in a new window, and then start the sound file so that you can follow the script as you listen. This will help to make the connection between what you are hearing and what it means. (This is similar to watching a French movie while reading the English subtitles.)

The "listen first" technique is the most challenging. If you feel confident in your listening skills or you'd like to get an idea of how good they are, that method is the best. Less advanced students, however, may find that listening first is too difficult and even frustrating. If your listening skills are weak, you will likely find it helpful to see the transcript and / or translation before or while listening. It doesn't matter which method you choose - your goal here is to improve your listening comprehension. Just keep listening and checking the transcript as many times as it takes until finally you can understand the sound file without looking at the transcript. If you do these kinds of exercises regularly, I guarantee that your listening comprehension will improve.

Other Strategies Include:

1) Sitting with them at the computer and practicing the unit vocabulary. This not only allows you to become more involved in your child's learning, but can also improve their self-confidence as many students will be correcting parents.

2) (DVD player required) Pick a fun movie your child knows well. Change either the language to French or add French subtitles. Then pick a favourite scene for your child to watch. Only do this for 10 - 20 minutes a day (...you don't want an overload!).

3) Go to your local library and pick up some BASIC French readers. To start off, the easier the better and with lots of pictures. Have them read the stories while keeping a dictionary nearby so they can look up unfamiliar words.

4) Visit the Helpful Links section. There are many links ranging from beginner to advanced to assist your child in Listening and Reading Comprehension.