In this post, I review Memoria Press’ First Start French I curriculum, having used it for my 6-year-old second grader this year. TLDR: If you can find a better homeschool French curriculum, pass on this one unless you’re prepared to supplement. A lot.
Why First Start French?
There are very limited options for a 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.
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.
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 (I can dream, right?).
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.
- Repetitive exercises in the student textbook.
- Not enough exercises in the student textbook to reinforce the material.
- 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
As far as the cultural aspect of studying French, we’ve had to completely do our own thing. Again, the textbook just doesn’t cut it. 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 classes. I plan to write a whole post on that. But for us, Fridays are for French Club. (And I just got lucky with the alliteration.)
Overall
I would not recommend First Start French for early elementary unless you are prepared to supplement the material a lot and teach literacy on your own. That being said, it’s very difficult to find quality French textbooks that are not only geared towards young learners, but also teach literacy (French phonics). So 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.
Related Posts
Teaching a Foreign Language in Your Homeschool – Getting Started
Teaching a Foreign Language in Your Homeschool – A Practical Guide
Please, please tell me if you have any suggestions for a better, more comprehensive homeschool French curriculum for children! Or ways to teach French phonics, vocabulary and grammar at home?
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