I have not kept up to date with my news about the group of four lately but we have still been meeting on a weekly basis. We had begun talking about the possibility of studying French as a group earlier in the term. The idea definitely had its pros and cons. None of us were doing any French, even though several of the children were very keen to learn. We needed a teacher or a suitable program or both.

We now have both a teacher and a program and are into our sixth week. I am pleased with the way the program is building vocab and conversation each week but I know we won’t get far without daily practice. I need to schedule in time for both listening to our vocabulary and conversations on cd, as well as practising the phrases we have learnt. L13 has been spending some time with French children’s book and tape sets which is helping her pick up some sentence structure and grammar as well as vocabulary.

As I sat on the bus today I listened to several French conversations going on around me but unfortunately could not understand anything. I am finding that I can decipher a bit more of the French dialogue in some of the Canadian history novels we have been reading lately. Only a bit, but it’s a start.