2.10.15

Middlebury Interactive French, A Schoolhouse Crew Review

My 10th grader loves learning French! The culture, the language, and even the recipes (which everyone in the family loves eating) have received an enthusiastic response from her. She dove into her new High School French I Course by Middlebury Interactive Languages with equal enthusiasm. Though she has studied French before, it was not exactly alligned with this course, so we decided together for her to start with their interactive High School French I which is a six month one semester online course for 9th- 12th grade students. No prerequesites were required for this level. Middlebury Interactive Language courses focus on the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. French II, French III, French Fluency, and AP French are also offered by Middlebury Interactive Languages as well as elementary and middle school courses and a summer immersive language experience. 
As soon as we were provided with a password, my daughter was able to independently begin this self-paced interactive online course, easily following their quick start guide. She had no trouble accessing the program through a Windows based laptop. She started a new French notebook where she writes the words she is learning, but other than studying those words the course is completed online. There was a little learning curve to using the French version of the laptop keyboard which enabled accenting the words correctly. Until mastering that, her answers were marked incorrect. The culture studies built into the course make it much more than just a language course. 

As the parent, I am able to access the online gradebook and see quiz results and a table of contents. In addition to quizzes there are also midterm and final exams each semester. Semester long courses are broken down into 18 units each, including the tests. Each unit is further broken down into five lessons (so easily scheduled to be covered in 18 weeks) which include vocabulary, interactive word games, punctuation tips and more, French grammar is built into the lessons. Audio components show both English and French words while listening to the French audio clip as many times as needed. Students can record themselves speaking the phrases then compare them to the French recordings. Included activities differ in each lesson. 

Just as when learning a new violin song, listening to a recording provides an audio lesson of how it should sound. Being able to repeat the many audio components of these lessons is a great feature of the program. 



In the laser shop last week while working on an Eiffel Tower project, my daughter said she'd love to visit all of Europe. Her big sis, my mom, and I all agreed that would be a fabulous trip to enjoy together. The next day, my mom and I dropped the girls off for a community orchestra, and the street where the event took place was Paris Avenue. We joked about my daughter's dream coming true, but visiting the real Paris is a real dream for her (and all of Europe!) Middlebury Interactive French is helping to prepare her for when that dream becomes a reality. 



Connect with Middlebury Interactive Languages online:
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Jennifer

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