Beginning French Lesson 6: Likes & Dislikes Project

February 09, 2015 by Michele Cherie in Education, French Language Learning, Teaching French

One of my favorite activities to do with beginning French students is to help them create a likes and dislikes chart. The chart is fun and colorful, but what I love most about it is what it enables students to do afterwards: it provides a context for learning how to use a bilingual dictionary and helps students grasp basic French sentence construction. Essentially, this activity moves students beyond the early language stage of memorizing basic phrases and towards a solid understanding of how to create their own original sentences in French.

Fascinating Non-Fiction Reads of 2014

January 29, 2015 by Michele Cherie in American Culture, Education, Learning Resources

Now that I'm a homeschooling mama of three, I'm amazed that I manage to read as many books as I do, but a few hours spent reading each week--mostly at night--add up to a lot of joy and learning! Last year I shared my planned reading list for 2014, but not all of the books turned out to be titles I'd recommend. In contrast, this January I'm sharing non-fiction books with you that I've read over the past year and found fascinating. These aren't parenting- or French-related books, but they'll make you a more informed parent and enlarge your understanding of life:

College Ready Kids by Age 12? The Brainy Bunch Book Review

December 08, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Education, Learning Resources, Parenting Books

Last April, I watched a Today show episodefeaturing a family who has had six children start college by age 12. Kip and Mona Lisa Harding homeschooled their children and published a book about their family's educational journey entitled The Brainy Bunch: The Harding Family's Method to College Ready by Age Twelve. I was intrigued by their story and read The Brainy Bunch over the course of a few hours during my flight to Texas a few weeks ago.

Beginning French Lesson 5: Numbers, Likes, & Dislikes

December 04, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Education, French Language Learning, Teaching French

This lesson was the fifth weekly class for beginning French students (ages 8-12) after a two-week break. We focused on reviewing conversational phrases and playing BINGO to reinforce numbers through 79. We also began an activity that helps students learn basic sentence structure and gives them familiarity with using a bilingual dictionary (online and printed versions). This lesson was designed for a 50-minute class.

Our First Autumn Homeschooling: Rhythms & Realities

November 20, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Education, French Resources, Learning Resources, Reflections on Parenting

Winter doesn't officially arrive here in Oregon until next month, but strangely, we've already had our first light snowfall and an ice storm, so it feels as though autumn is already past. In addition, my daughter has started learning a Christmas song on violin, so I've been reflecting on how our first autumn of homeschooling went now that we're transitioning into winter.

Beginning French Lesson Plan 3: Alphabet, Spelling, & Numbers

November 12, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Education, French Language Learning, Teaching French

Here is the third lesson for a beginning French class based on a once-per-week 50-minute course for upper elementary students. If you'd like to see earlier lessons, I posted lesson one and two within the past few weeks.

Lesson 3 Goals:

Review French greetings and introductions
Review and practice French alphabet sounds and corresponding letters
Learn to count from 1-21 in French

Suzuki Violin Lessons at Age Four? One Year Later

October 21, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Education, Learning Resources, Reflections on Parenting

If you've read my blog for a while, you might remember that my daughter started taking Suzuki violin lessons last fall at age four and a half. She had expressed an interest in learning violin after listening repeatedly to a fictional story featuring Vivaldi's music. I was concerned that formal music lessons might require too much rigor for her age, but we took the leap after talking with friends who had started Suzuki lessons at a young age. Now, a year later, I'm thrilled that we started lessons when we did, and my daughter has loved playing! Here's my quick summary of the Suzuki method and what I've learned about music lessons as a parent:

An Encouraging Podcast and Sweet Reading

October 18, 2014 by Michele Cherie in Cultural Reflections, French Language Learning, Reflections on Parenting, Education

Bonjour les amis! It's been quiet on the blog this week, but today I'm glad to share with you two linguistic resources that may delight you:

First is a children's picture book called Little Treasures: Endearments from Around the World. Published in 2011, each page features several terms of endearment that parents use with their children in their own language. From mon petit chou (my little cabbage) in French to docinho de coco (little coconut candy) in Portuguese, it features sweet nicknames along with their translations and pronunciation in each of fourteen languages--German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, etc. We discovered this book at the library, and my daughter has loved choosing the nickname that she would prefer from each language.