"Reaching Our Connecticut Kids" Homeschool Support     Foreign Language Resources Tips from Local Homeschoolers From Sarah Schinis: I strongly recommend the World Language Center at the Yale Bookstore at 77 Broadway Street in New Haven for late elementary schoolers and up. Cecile Detre-Cohen is the Director, but the whole staff is generally very helpful. They have a wealth of tapes, workbooks, textbooks of all kinds and of a huge number of languages, from Latin to Swahili. Their e-mail is worldlanguagecenter@snet.net. Phone is (203)776-3431. I also recommend the Barron's Mastering series. It is geared for those who wish to do intense, total immersion (several hours a day), and is definitely effective in learning to communicate in the language. The only negative is that it lacks written exercises (at least the versions I have), but that can be easily provided from other sources. From Amanda Hale: For any language, I second the Barnes and Noble run Yale Bookstore recommendation above. Also note that you will receive a teacher discount IF you present a Barnes & Noble Teacher card, available at other, normal B&N stores, but NOT available at this University B&N store. We attend French classes arranged by Alliance Francaise, a Francophile non-profit organization. The children's classes are limited to 4 students maximum, one of the prime attractions IMHO. Our classes are offered in Southbury. I understand the Alliance is also active in New Haven (a large chapter), Greenwich and Fairfield, but have no contacts in those areas. Contact for the Southbury area is Marcy Jackson  marcyjackson@snet.net Here are some websites I have found useful: Amazon in Canada www.amazon.ca Amazon in Canada has many French offerings, but you have to search. Remember that the prices you see are Canadian $. Currently $1 Canadian dollar costs about $0.83 US dollars--so a $10 Canadian book is $8.30 US. Videos, CD's, literature, instructional materials are all available here. BBC Primary French This fun-to-use website is written to support non-specialist teachers. It is free of charge, and children can navigate through its graded content freely. Site is at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryfrench/ Chex Merlin A Website for 6 - 11 year olds. Sections are divided according to ages and include working with numbers and general knowledge. There are a number of games which involve restricted language and could be used to teach concepts as well as French. For example - thermometre - which teaches the basics of temperature. There's also a good set about seasons and months of the year. The numbers games for each age group are well worth a look. A simple click on "corps humain" gives a basic vocabulary by clicking on different parts of the body. Site is at: http://chez-merlin.com/ Libraire de France This is an actual store located in Rockefeller Center NYC for French resources, as well as German and Spanish resources. Things are expensive, but this 3 story store offers quite a variety. They also have a website (address below). Site is at http://Frencheuropean.com/ European Book Company Another new site I was just told about is www.europeanbook.com. It seems to have a wealth of materials in French and other European languages, and they note that their web-site forms just a portion of their offerings. Their bricks and mortar store has been in business since 1963 in San Francisco. More into from Amanda Hale: To the folks I know have some interest in French, here is a list of (1) places, (2) information web-sites, (3) buying web-sites and (4) curriculum sources. Regards, Amanda French (and other) Foreign Language Resources: (1) Local Places with a good selection of various materials Barnes and Noble Yale University Book Store--New Haven. Wonderful to get your hands on the materials before you buy! 20% discount IF you already have a B&N teacher card (warning: you can't get one there--have to go to a 'regular' B&N first). Covers many languages! Libraire de France Website: http://www.frencheuropean.com/ Store in Rockefeller Center, NYC. Expensive, but consider the real-estate. Again, it can be great to get your hands on some of these things. Web-site too. (2) Web Sites for Information, Ideas & Support: http://french.about.com/index.htm?terms=french(1) The About.Com French Language Site run by Laura K Lawless. This is a helpful site about French. Features Learning ideas, a newsletter, a new word a day, French Hangman, a forum for asking questions, links and reviews to French Teaching Products, topical helps. http://www.nacell.org.uk/resources/online_res_fr.htm English list and description, links and description of numerous web resources for teaching French (also German and Spanish) http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html Enchanted Learning. Offers materials to support learning--including French. Good site for coloring pages labeled with words in French and available to print as fill-in-the-blanks too. Amazon.uk British Amazon--more money for shipping, but some unusual offerings. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryfrench/ BBC Primary French "This fun-to-use website is written to support non-specialist teachers." It is free of charge, and children can navigate through its graded content freely. Other languages can also be found at the BBC site. http://chez-merlin.com/ Chez Merlin A Website for 6 - 11 year olds. Sections are divided according to ages and include working with numbers and general knowledge. There are a number of games which involve restricted language and could be used to teach concepts as well as French. For example - thermometre - which teaches the basics of temperature. There's also a good set about seasons and months of the year. The numbers games for each age group are well worth a look. A simple click on "corps humain" gives a basic vocabulary by clicking on different parts of the body. http://or.essortment.com/frenchpronunc_rsih.htm Pronunciation guide #1: Has references to comparable sounds in English, which helps when you have had little or no exposure to French pronunciation. There is no substitute for actually hearing the words spoken, but hopefully these will help a bit http://www.ldsmissions.net/fpm/fpg.html guide #2: Has references to comparable sounds in English, which helps when you have had little or no exposure to French pronunciation. There is no substitute for actually hearing the words spoken, but hopefully these will help a bit http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/ARTFL/forms_unrest/inflect.query.html Website for French verb conjugation: Input verb & desired tense and receive list of pronouns with conjugated verbs. (3) Sources for Buying Materials (no particular order): www.ebay.com Ebay--new and used. Watch out for shipping costs. Found unusual range of goods here, new and used. www.carlexonline.com Good Catalog of French/Spanish resources--not a source for your Foreign Language "spine" (e.g. Muzzy nor Rosetta nor Power-Glide offerings) but good for supplements to a program: songs, grammar support, cultural materials, references, short easy books, verb conjugations chants, etc. Catalog is free. http://www.wor.com/shopping/ World of Reading. Despite name, carries a selection French/Spanish/Latin/German/ ("over 100 languages") materials--DVD, CD, Tapes, Programs and, yes, books. Coupled with Carlex Catalog (above), you have a nice idea of what is out there. The support folks have given detailed answers to the questions I have emailed them. http://europeanbook.com/hyper.html Wide selection and does special orders--contact for special items. Other Languages covered. http://www.amazon.ca/ Amazon.com in Canada You can buy French language items from the Amazon Canada website that are not available from Amazon.com (i.e. Stateside). Prices are in Canadian dollars, which are currently worth 70+ cents American. When you use a credit card, the credit card company handles the conversion issues for you. Shipping to US is $7.99 (Canadian) plus about $2(Canadian) per item, but can be well worth it (example Tintin videos range $20-35 (US) here, and are about $12 (Canadian) at Amazon.ca. For Videos, search for Tintin; Caroline et ses amis, Thomas et ses amis; Madeline, Caillou, and Asterix for some ideas of the range of offerings. www.amazon.uk British Amazon--more money for shipping, but some unusual offerings. Amazon.uk British Amazon--more money for shipping, but some unusual offerings. (4) Some Curriculum Companies (google to find the sites): Rosetta Stone Muzzy Power-Glide Don't forget the Homeschooler's "Rainbow Resource Center" Catalog for descriptions of various curriculum, all in one place. www.rainbowresource.com