School Year French Program: Click here to see class descriptions

Maman et Bébé Ourson – Mommy and toddler ages 18 – 36 months are welcome to attend a very gentle, creative and playful time of learning French together. This 45 minute class provides an ambiance that encourages Mother ~ child bonding through experiencing puppetry, lullabyes and other sweet songs tailored to delight the ears of these babies, simple stories using a lot of colorful props, animated and theatrical teachers, and consistent praise and encouragement as the children begin to mimic sounds and show comprehension. A truly ideal time to begin the learning of a second language and a gift to your child in time together and laying down early foundations.

Ages 3-5:
- greetings and conversational basics with puppets
- story-based vocabulary, songs, props, finger-plays and games
- hand gestures and sign language

Ages 6-10:
- introduction to reading & writing in French reinforced with weekly
- homework activity sheets
- age-appropriate phrases, skits, songs and games
- fairy-tale musical theater (one French play per term)

Ages 10 - 12:
- conversational French around books, themes, and spontaneous dialogue
- recitation of poems and other readings at a local library
- written correspondence with French pen-pals
- These children will also have opportunities to learn francais quotidien as students enjoy shopping excursions en ville with their teachers.

French for Teens!
Bonjour les amis! Wouldn’t you enjoy being able to understand the French spoken at the Olympics? Or order your own food – en français – at a French restaurant? Or have a French pen pal friend that you could practice writing to and speaking with as you learn more about the culture too? Would you like to learn conversational French with fun skits and dialogues and games and be so comfortable that you could even be a junior assistant counseor at a French Camp next summer? Come and learn French with Franc-O-Fun! Our classes will include learning all of the above plus optional workbooks and cds to supplement at home.

Class Descriptions:

Les Coccinelles – Brand new beginners ages 3 to 4 are ushered gently into learning foundational basic French through this weekly 45 minute class. This playful introduction to the language incorporates songs (written specifically for young learners that reinforce new vocabulary), telling a magical story together, creative movement, some sign language gestures, finger-play, simple games, stories and a snack ~ all in French! Puppetry, vocal intonation, facial expression, colorful props and music will assist the children with comprehension and the ability to mimic the new sounds and retain what they learn from week to week.

Les Lapineaux– Brand new beginners that are older 4 to younger 6 year olds will experience similar learning to the Les Coccinelles (see description above) but this class will be expanded and adjusted to their age group and will be 60 minutes in length. These children will prepare very simple fairytale musical theatre skits around traditional stories that have been adapted to enhance the learning of useful vocabulary. Sign language gestures will be emphasized as they begin to acquire more verbs, adjectives and emotions along with learning the alphabet, phonetics and a bounty of songs.

Les Lapins – This 60 minute class is for children ages 4-6 that have had at least one year of prior French learning or have attended a two-week immersion Franc-O-Fun French Camp. The children will learn to expand their existent French with more complex theme-related vocabulary around traditional stories, move from one word answers to responding with complete phrases, learn to ask questions and sing songs that reinforce basic French and enjoy costumes, scenery and props related to telling and acting out elementary fairytale musical theatre skits. Sign language gestures will be emphasized as they begin to acquire more verbs, adjectives and emotions along with learning the alphabet, phonetics and a bounty of songs.

Les Caniches – This new 60 minute class level is added to accommodate older children ages 6-9 that are experiencing French for the first time. This beginner level will be similar to Les Lapineaux described above but will be adjusted to the age and maturity level of these students and will also include some elements of Les Perroquets (described below). These French Poodle learners will move along at a good pace and be very stimulated and challenged as they are immersed in every way with learning to speak and understand French. Please refer to the descriptions of the other levels mentioned for more details.

Les Perroquets – Children ages 6-9 (Kindergarden thru Second Grader) that have had at least two years prior French and can read & write at school are welcome to experience these 90 minute classes. These exciting lessons will include 30 minutes of foundational French varying from all aspects of the calendar, telling time, expressing emotions, negatives, prepositions, phonetics and spelling, the difference between “tu” and “vous”, discerning when and how to use masculine and feminine articles and much more, 30 minutes of learning theme-vocabulary and songs around an adapted fairytale story, games to reinforce and the practice of reading and acting out character lines, 15 minutes of snack while learning etiquette and hearing a French story and 15 minutes of reading and writing skills. Oooh là là! Ces élèves will work toward a short play in the Fall and a larger scale musical theatre production in the Spring.

Les Alouettes – This more advanced French class is designed for children in second through fourth grade, ages 8 – 10, that have had a minimum of two years of French or that have been recommended for this level and that speak in fluid sentences and have had experience reading and writing in French. Their class will follow a similar format to that described in Les Perroquets above with expansion in all of the areas including grammar, additional pronunciation work with phonetics, beginning to learn other verb tenses, how to ask and answer spontaneous questions all the while having fun with continued singing, acting, telling stories and writing pen pals in France! Les Alouettes will learn and perform in several skits as well as one large musical production.

Allez en Ville – Our most advanced children’s French class for 7-10 year olds. These students will have had at least three years of prior French. They will get to use their French first-hand with 5 field trips during each 14 week session. Students will attend French class learning specific target vocabulary and phrases to prepare for each field trip. Each excursion en ville with their teacher to a pre-designated place (le supermarché, une boutique de fleurs, la bibliothèque, un café, un magasin d’animaux, une fromagerie..) will be an opportunity for the students to use their French as they pretend to be customers, go on a kind of scavenger hunt searching to complete their written exercises and questions about the store and bien sûr, converse in French. Students will learn how to keep a journal in French and write a short story about their experiences en ville. Class size will be limited to 6 students.

**NOUVEAU**

Les Cours de Cuisine ~ French Cooking Classes - many new cooking classes are being offered this year to accomodate the growning popularity of learning French while stirring, measuring, slicing and bien sûr - tasting and eating!! Click here to go directly to our cooking page.