Simon Says

A great way to practice commands is by playing simon says. You can say Simon dit… (Simon says…) then you can add a multitude of commands. Simon dit sautes! (Simon says jump!) Simon dit touches tes chaussures! (Simon says touch your shoes!) Arrêt! (stop!)

There are endless possibilities for this game. You can review eveything they have learned in French so far. You can practice colors by saying Simon dit touches quelque chose bleu. (Simon says touch something blue.) Or you can practice numbers, Simon dit sautes trois fois. (Simon dit sautes trois fois.)

Like other activities, keep it fun and entertaining for your kids. If you feel your commands are a bit hard for them and they are confused, feel free to whisper the translation in English. You don’t want your kids to get a bad taste in their mouth from French.

Games, Games and More Games!!!

I'm not sure about your kids, but my daughter cannot get enough of games during the day. Any game you have that is in English you can change to French. Candy Land is a great game to teach colors. Any matching card game you have can teach whatever is on the pictures. Or you can create your own. Uno can be used to teach numbers. Go Fish can be used to teach numbers. Yahtzee can be used to teach numbers or/and colors depending on the version you are using. Guess who is a family favorite of ours which you can teach a multitude of words.

You can also do simple written games for kids who are at the reading level such as hang man or a home made version of pictionary. Like I've said before a simple wipe board can do wonders for a French lesson.

Enjoy!

A game for teaching body parts...

After you have taught your children body parts, try this game as a review.

On a wipe board, draw a person with all of the body parts you have taught. Point to a body part and ask them what it is. If they are correct erase that body part. If they are wrong leave it there. Continue with all of the body parts until you have erased the entired person.

The kids will find it amusing when the person is completely gone from the wipe board and they will be very proud of themselves (as they should be!).

GOLD!!!!

Kids are motivated by money, but don't worry you don't have to give them all of your money. I know you give them enough as it is. However, they are also motivated by play money and fake gold coins. Here is a French vocabulary game that my kids adore.

First we cut out gold coins from construction paper. They can write numbers on them if they like and practice their French numbers. Then after the gold coins are finished, Mom (or Dad) gets all of them. But not for long.... Here is where the fun begins. Ask your kids what different words are in French, then for each one they get correct, they get a gold coin.

For more advanced students you can even take away coins if they miss one, but I don't do that with my kids (yet).

To make the game more authentic you can use this French phrase when asking the question:
"Comment dit-on “apple” en français? (How does one say apple in French?)

Une Voiture Bleue! A Blue Car!

In French usually the adjective comes after the noun. One way you can teach the diffent noun/adjective order in French to your child is to use a wipe board. You can draw a noun first like a une voiture (car) then afterwards you can draw a blob of the color like bleu(e) (blue). Then you can teach them une voiture bleue (blue car). Here is an example:

(As you can tell you don't have to be an artist to get the point across to your child.)

Once that clicks you can add a few more words and in no time your child will be saying sentences. You can teach them ‘J’ai” (I have), then with the part they learned above they can now say: “ J’ai une voiture bleu.”

*Please note, it is useful to teach them the article (le, la or une, un) with the noun so that they will remember the two together. This will make things easier in the future.

How much French knowledge do I need?

I know a lot of parents are a little worried about teaching their kids French that is not perfect and they decide not to teach French for that reason. I disagree. I don't think you have to speak perfect French in order to teach your kids French. In fact, I don't think you have to know any. I think you can learn side-by-side with your child. As you learn the colors in French, you can teach your kids the colors.

You can also get yourself and your kids a French tutor. Most colleges probably have some students from France or another French speaking country. You can look on craigslist or contact the international club of the local college and try to find a tutor. You can even hire a tutor for both of you. 1 hour with you and 1 hour with your children?

Every area is different, but the going rate around here for a French tutor is $20 a hour. This may or may not be the right option for you, but it is worth thinking about. Also, make sure you get references and that your French tutor has some teaching experience. A good recommendation goes a long way!

Toddler puzzles

I'm sure you have a ton of those little toddler puzzles where they have numbers, letters, shapes, animals, etc. Here's a new idea for a use for them. Use them to aid in you teaching your child French. Every week you can use a different puzzle and reinforce those words. This even works with older kids. My 6 year old doesn't mind me using 'baby puzzles' to teach him French. I even find him playing with them when I'm not looking.

The main hurdle in this exercise is to find all of the puzzle pieces. If you kids are like mine, they are probably behind the couch.