This Language Will Dominate the World in 2050; No, It's Not Mandarin

This Language Will Dominate the World in 2050; No, It’s Not Mandarin

Check out this article from May, 2016 on French being a growing leading language!  

http://www.inquisitr.com/3144355/this-language-will-dominate-the-world-in-2050-no-its-not-mandarin/

Last Day of Class, Summer Session Update, and Pics!

Tomorrow is the last day of class for this 6 week session - C'est la vie!  It was a great spring session with a variety of topics, vocabulary, songs, projects, and building on past learning!  There are a couple of things I wanted to quickly mention about tomorrow, next session, and some pictures to share too!

1.  Tomorrow all ages will start class together, then split off for an art project, and then come back together for reviewing.  All students who participate in review actively (or actively try) will get to choose a prize from the prize bin.  There will be an opportunity to have a second prize for students who come in front of the class and rehearse the brief conversation that was taught in class (from memory),  Looking forward to a fun last class!

2.  We are hoping to offer another session starting in mid to late July.  I will email out the dates soon and see who would be interested in attending.  Next session, I'm hoping to continue to build on what was taught this session (adding higher digit numbers 30s and 40s, adding more to the conversation...), more opportunities for combining the younger and older groups, fun games and activities for learning vocab, perhaps an outdoor day meeting at a park to learn park vocab....  Also, perhaps the older kids could learn a very short play or children's story to perform for or with the younger kids in French!  Lastly, any ideas you have or would like to see incorporated, please let me know.  We are a small group and can most likely add in what you are thinking of.

3.  Below are some class pics!

Chateau Lego!!

Art with pom poms - coccinelle and fleur

Work hard, play hard!

I would say that Arc de Triomphe design is triumphant!

Week 5 Update

The imposing castle of Pierrefonds, located 80 km to the north-east of Paris, sits enchantingly around a bend in the road beside the Compiègne Forest.

Dear Parents,

I wanted to send a quick reminder that next week is Week 5, and we will be learning about Chateaus in French!  (Castles)

We invite the younger students to come in prince or princess dress up!

And, the older kids to bring their lego A-Game to build some awesome chateaus!

See you Tuesday!

A bientot!
Ah bee-n-toe. It means see you later!

Marianne

French Resources

Bonjour Mes Amis!

Recently, I've come across 2 French resources I've really liked that I thought I'd share with the group!  If you have resources you recommend too, please email me and I'll update the blog with those.  :)

First, Blandine has shared with me this fun workbook she owns, and I liked it so much I bought my own copy. Only $5 - super affordable!  (on Amazon)  It is a nice little workbook for little kids aged K-5, and has the phonetic spelling provided too, which is a huge help for me!

Secondly, a friend teaching her child Spanish introduced me to this foreign language series, and it is offered in French too.  So far, the kids and I like this the best of previous children french movies I've bought.  The series is called Whistlefritz, and they are sold on Amazon too.

Week 4 Update

Bonjour Les Amis Families!

Just a few quick updates.....

Tomorrow we will be studying animals!  You are welcome to come early for some extra play time for the little ones or lego building for the older group.  If you plan to come to legos, please bring a small bin of legos to share with the class if you have extra.

Keep up the great work studying French conversation, the weather song, 1-20, vocab, and Danson la Capucine!

Here are some fun pics from last week!

Lego Creations!

The older group spent a little time prior to class to learn some neat facts about Le Louvre, and to build with legos!  Here are some pics!

EYE see something in the Eiffel Tower!

Le Louvre Pyramid!

The doorway to a new lego creation!

Week 3!

Week 3 Les Amis French Class Updates!

Next week, the new vocab introduced will be veggies!  The younger kids will be having a veggie treat too, so if you have any food allergies, please let the teacher know or bring an alternative snack for your child.

Class for the younger kids begins at 3:30, but you are welcome to come up to 15 minutes early for extra play time!  And, for the older kids, legos begins at 3:15 and goes until 3:40.  This week we will be building the Arc De Triomphe!

Lastly, no need to bring your practice folder to class.  I will be keeping extra copies there each week to follow along with.

See you soon!

Marianne

French Funnies!!! :)

Week 2 Updates

Awesome class last week!  Special thanks to our teachers and volunteer French family visiting with us!  Blandine wanted me to share with the class parents that she was VERY, very impressed with the amount of retention the younger kids had from previous sessions!  I wanted to quickly provide some updates for next week....

*  Everyone should have taken home a French folder full of handouts to aid with at home practice.  Please bring the folder with you to class if you attend the older class / parent session to follow along each class.  Otherwise, if you have a child in only the younger session, you can keep it at home.  The main things to practice this 6 week session include the:  Weather song, Danson song, 1-20, the French conversation piece, and the new weekly vocab.  On Week 6, we'll rehearse for prizes (mostly in a group, no worries!)

*  On Week 4, we will be learning about vegetables.  If you would like to volunteer to bring a veggie to share with the class, please let me know.

*  On Week 5, the younger children are having up a dress up day where they can come as a prince or princess to class.  The vocab and activity will match up well with this theme.

* On Week 6, the younger and older kids will join forces to review all that was taught, and to learn all about the Louvre!

*  Lastly, I'm sorry it was tricky to find our room last week!  Good news is that moving forward we will now remain in those classrooms.  The school doors right next to those rooms will now be programmed to remain open from 3:00 to 4:30, and checking in is no longer required.   It should be a fast and easy process to get to and from class now!

OK, I'll stop with updates..... for this week!! haha   Like I always say, there is soooo much to talk about with this French class!  That's a good sign, it means there is so much going on with it, I could talk for hours on end!  haha  Would love to do a French field trip with the kids sometime!  Maybe this summer we could do a meet up at Bastille Days for those interested?  I went last year and checked it out.  It lasts several days, and there is one day that is more child /family friendly morning that would be fun to attend!  Parking was nuts, but the kids still remember the big Eiffel tower, the can can dancers, and the fromage!  Here is a link:  http://www.easttown.com/events/bastille-days/

Have a great week!  Happy practicing!

Marianne

Class Starts Tuesday! Update!

"La vie est pleine de petits bonheurs."

"Life is made of little moments."

Class starts up again on Tuesday, and I'm looking forward to sharing fun memories and moments with Les Amis during our next session!

Madame Blandine has prepared the 6 weeks of lessons that I have now posted on the Les Amis website.  This is particularly useful if you miss a week or for review and practice at home.  Here is the link to check those out!

http://cmfleisner.wix.com/french-class#!2016-session-1/vd4e8

And, the links to a few youtube videos of songs that will be taught in class.

http://cmfleisner.wix.com/french-class#!home-tool-kit/c10cr

Also, our new teacher for the older kids and parents from West Bend high school has created excellent parent guides for at home practice that will be given out in class.

The children are to work on learning the following 4 goals this session.  On the 6th week of class, they will recite these goals together as a class or individually with a teacher and can draw from the prize bin. There is a lot of grace regarding reciting, it is more important that they are showing an interest and enthusiasm for learning French.  :)

1.  Practicing the conversation taught in class
2.  The weather song
3.  11-20
4.  Dansons La Capucine

See everyone on Tuesday at  3:30 at St. John's School in West Bend!

God bless,

Marianne

April Session! Sign up soon!

Bonjour Mes Amis!

We are planning on a 6 week Les Amis class for April and May!  The meeting dates will be April 5, 12, 19, 26, May 3, and May 10.   The class will be held at St. John's in West Bend again, and the time will be 3:30 to 4:30.  And, our instructor will be the excellent Madame Blandine.  More details to come on theme of classes, songs being taught, and a new feature of French conversation!

At this point, the class will be for ages 3 to 6 or 7 only.  I have not had a high school volunteer student contact me to teach the older kids and moms for spring term yet.  That could still change though, and if so, I will let everyone know.  Hoping we'll hear from someone!  So, if you plan on bringing your older children with you, you may want to bring something for them to do during the class.  

The cost for the  6 week session $48 ($8 a class) per family - not per child.  As a reminder, if your child misses a class, the cost is not refunded since we are non profit and all tuition is used towards the class prior to the start of the class.

If you would like to sign up for the upcoming class, please email me as soon as possible at cmfleisner@gmail.com and send a check to my home address (I will provide you by email). 

We hope to run another 6 week session back to back following this session to keep the learning going strong!

Hoping you are all doing well and look forward to seeing many of you soon!

Merci!  

Marianne 

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Les Amis Update!

Bonjour!  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  I'm missing our French class friends!  After speaking to parents at the last class, most people shared that March would be the best time to start the next 6 week session.  The dates are not yet decided on, but will get those dates out in the next few weeks.  I'm thinking that mid March will be excellent.  Also, we will continue to meet on Tuesdays as that day worked out for the majority of participants.

In the meantime, we don't want our kids (or us adult learners!) getting rusty with vocabulary...  So, I encourage you (and myself!) to keep the practice going at home.

I came across this helpful link from the Milwaukee French Immersion school with some great resources you can use....

On-line French games by grade level...

http://www5.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/school/mfis/resources-2/french-educational-games-by-grade-level/

French vocab links for children....
http://www5.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/school/mfis/resources-2/french-vocabulary-resources/

Lastly, you may want to continue working on the songs we have been learning at home!  Here is a link to our website with parent resources....

http://cmfleisner.wix.com/french-class#!home-tool-kit/c10cr

Enjoy this break and not traveling out and about in the cold!

Hope to see you all in March, and more details to come with start date, topics, and other specifics!

God bless,

Marianne