In this post, I review Memoria Press’ classical homeschool French curriculum First Start French I, having used it for my 6-year-old second grader this year. TLDR: If you have limited options, this isn’t a terrible “spine” to build your French class around. In fact, if you’re willing to put the work into designing your own French course around this textbook, the text can be really useful.
Why First Start French?
There are few resources for a complete, classical homeschool French curriculum and this was one of the few textbooks geared towards elementary students. Given my very limited options, I went with First Start French I solely off the reputation of the publisher. I wanted something that aligned with classical education values in terms of a heavy focus on the fundamentals of grammar.
The Layout
The textbook opens with a 3-page Pronunciation Guide. Then you’re on your own for the rest of the text as far as pointing out these phonemes and making sure your student can sound out their vocabulary words, not just memorise them. But this can be overwhelming, because the vocabulary is organised by theme, not by phoneme. Yes, the accompanying CD has somebody pronouncing the vocabulary list (and singing the songs), but again, the emphasis is on the relation of the meanings of the words, not the sounds.
There are 36 chapters so you can cover one lesson per week of a traditional academic year. If you’re working with a younger elementary student, you could easily take twice as long to cover each lesson and make this last for two years. This is what I’m thinking I’ll do unless I come across some wonderful new curriculum in the mean time or my daughter starts to pick up the vocabulary more quickly than she is now.
Each lesson has a 2-page spread with approximately 15 vocabulary words, a grammar point (e.g. regular -er verb conjugation, pronouns, etc), a short dialogue, one translation exercise and one grammar exercise.
Pros
- Age-appropriate vocabulary list themes (like animals instead of airport vocabulary).
- 6 Songs in the textbook that are also sung on the accompanying CD.
- Simple quizzes and quiz key for each lesson included in the teacher manual.
- Some cultural tidbits sprinkled throughout the text. Not a lot, but better than nothing.
- 6 review lessons included in the schedule.
Cons
- No attempt to teach literacy / phonemic awareness.
- Pace is a bit too fast for a younger elementary student to use as is.
- No photographs / very basic black and white aesthetic.
- Not enough exercises in the student textbook to reinforce the material without supplementation.
- The few exercises in the textbook are repetitive and require a lot of writing (not bad unless you have a very young student).
- Requires a lot of supplementation to make this a complete course, even following the teacher manual’s suggestion of half an hour, four days a week, for 3rd and 4th graders.
How We Make It Work for Us
With all of the supplementation required for a proper elementary introduction to French, this class has turned out to be the most labour intensive for me this school year. This is what I’ve added to make it more kid-friendly:
- vocabulary flashcards
- worksheets from TpT for phonemic awareness
- games for memorising verb conjugations
- French children’s books for reading practice
- cultural “lessons”, aka French Club with French learning activities
Vocabulary Flashcards
For each lesson, I use Canva to make flashcards for the vocabulary list. I make two sets, one I cut out with the word attached to the picture for the beginning of the week. For the second set, I cut out the vocabulary word separate from the picture so my daughter can practice labelling the picture with the correct word. This is how we’ve been drilling the vocabulary for each lesson. It’s working, but it takes quite a bit of time and resources.
Worksheets
In addition to making my own flashcards, I also chose to buy worksheets from Teachers Pay Teachers to reinforce phonemic awareness. This way, when my daughter sees a new word, she can try to sound out the word because she knows the sounds of the individual French phonemes. Some of these extra worksheets from TpT focus on identifying syllables in individual French words, identifying subjects and verbs in French sentences, learning prepositions of place, etc.
I also made many worksheets for this specific textbook to help my daughter get extra practice conjugating the verbs, translating and learning the vocabulary. If you’d like me to put all of these into a free PDF, leave me a comment below!
Games
When it comes to learning verb conjugations, I use index cards to turn them into matching games. First, we practice the conjugation on a whiteboard. Then, I mix up the pronouns and conjugated forms of the verb and my daughter sees how fast she can match up the correct pair. Fortunately, for young kids, it doesn’t take much to gamify something.
French Readers
We also have a handful of children’s books that we try to pull out regularly at read aloud time at night. I will point out words we’ve learned in class or specific phonemes and see if she can sound out a new word on her own. For example, if she just learned the sound eau makes, she can sound out bateau.
Friday French Club
As far as studying French culture, we’ve had to completely do our own thing. Again, the textbook just doesn’t cut it for a young second grader. I used to sponsor the French Club back in my high school teaching days. So I incorporate a lot of the ideas from French Club into some of our Friday classes. I wrote a popular blog post with all of my best French Club ideas. But for us, Fridays are for French Club. (And I just got lucky with the alliteration.)
Who Would Enjoy First Start French?
- Classical homeschool mom who wants a grammar-rich textbook with elementary-appropriate vocabulary lists.
- A French-speaking mother who wants a traditional textbook but has the time to supplement the material with fun cultural enrichment as well as reading skills.
For an updated review of this this homeschool French curriculum, you can check out this end-of-year blog post. Let’s just say I came to appreciate it more once my daughter and I got in a good groove by the end of second semester. And we will continue the series, after which I plan on hiring a private tutor to take over if our budget allows.
Please tell me in the comments below if you have any suggestions for a better, more comprehensive homeschool French curriculum for young children that emphasises French phonics.
Keep Reading About…
My final thoughts on this textbook: Second Grade Curriculum Reviews
French Club Activities to add to your French class routine.
Starting a Foreign Language at Home: Teaching a Foreign Language – Getting Started
Practical Tips for Foreign Language Education at Home: Teaching a Foreign Language – A Practical Guide
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