Learning French can be a challenge. Fortunately, the love of language can be cultivated over time through play! Here’s a short list of activities to motivate your youngster and help them develop an interest in this essential subject.
In today’s digital age, the idea of corresponding “the old-fashioned way” (by mail) may seem outdated, but this method has many advantages. Children get to experience what it’s like to wait for a letter. Plus, writing letters in French helps them do the following:
- Practise formulating sentences
- Improve their penmanship
- Work on interrogative sentences (questions)
- Come up with synonyms
- Use pronouns
- Structure their text and ideas
- Etc.
If your child isn’t wild about “vintage” correspondence, suggest email instead.
French songs are treasure troves filled with beautiful images and rich, colourful vocabulary. Take your child on a little tour of the French chanson repertoire and pick out some beautiful texts. Then try these ideas together:
Children’s books and all the worlds they contain are like Cupid’s arrows: once they strike your heart, you’re in love! Help your child fall in love with books by planning a reading marathon. How? It’s simple:
- Dedicate an entire day to the activity
- Choose several books
- Dive into your respective books
- Schedule breaks to discuss your reading (What do you like about this book? Can you summarize the story? Etc.)
- Etc.
Looking for some French book recommendations? We have several thematic lists on our website.
What makes a word beautiful? The answer depends on the reader! For instance, a word may sound beautiful, make you think of something nice, or have several similar letters. Whatever your definition, hunting for the beautiful words all around us is a fantastic way to enrich your vocabulary. For example, you can challenge your child to do the following:
- Come up with 10 beautiful words per week
- Find and write out the definition of each word
- Explain why they love this word
- Write a text that contains one or more of the words
- Etc.
What’s an exquisite corpse? It’s a hilarious multiplayer game where each person contributes to a sentence by adding a single word. Here’s how to play:
- Choose a French sentence structure (e.g., [determiner + noun] + adjective + conjugated verb + [determiner + noun])
- Write the first word at the top of the page and fold it to hide the word
- Pass the page to the next player, who writes the second word
- Repeat the exercise until the sentence is complete
- Unfold the page
- Read the result out loud
- Have a good laugh
- Repeat as many times as you want!
Is your child wondering why learning French is so important? Learn about some of the main reasons in our article.
Writing : The Alloprof Parents' team