Language apps for 7 year old

[Loverofoldfilms]

Hi - DS is learning French at school and hates it because he isn't good at it. I told we can fix that by catching up, getting a cool app and then he can be expert… for that I need an app. He is in year 3.

Which French apps can you recommend (for iPad, IOS)?

[rodentforce]

Lingodeer is good. We prefer it to Duolingo because it deals with grammar a bit more. There are some good podcasts too - I don't know much about ones for kids but maybe someone else can advise ...

[fedup2017]

What about watching cartoons in French.... There must be some on YouTube. Would help to "get his ear in". My 5 year old loved Dora the explorer in French with English bits when we were in France. It might be a bit babyish for your 7 year old but you might find other stuff on youtube

[brilliotic]

DS did Duolingo at age 7 (Y3) when they started French at school but one hour each week seemed pointless, and some children had been doing 'French Club' for years already so had a head start. By doing 10 minutes every day he quickly caught up and overtook the class.

It's definitely not something most 7yos can do by themselves though. It was a matter of sitting there with him to work through the exercises, even typing them for him at times.
I have yet to find a decent language app that really works for children, amazing really considering the hundreds of maths apps out there! If anyone knows one, I'd be very interested!

rodentforce, is Lingodeer more childfriendly?

[rodentforce]

brilliotic I'm not sure it's much more child-friendly than Duolingo - it's a similar approach really. Tbh i haven't looked at it in much detail - my son (7 at the time) wanted to learn Chinese because a friend of his is Chinese, and a (adult) friend who learns Chinese seriously recommended it as being much better than Duolingo for explaining the grammar

[Loverofoldfilms]

Thanks so much! We will try Duolingo together. :)

[Mamabear12]

You could also ask the French teacher if he or she could let you know the schedule so you can prepare him. For example - week one - numbers and basic phrases “bonjour” week two - fruits and more basic phrases “ca va?” And make flash cards to help support him and quiz him. Also, there are loads of au pairs if you live in London you could hire for a couple hours a week to do this with your son so he learns the proper accent. I managed to teach my dd this way when she was 4, and within 2 months she knew over 200 words/phrases. She then started a French bilingual school and has thrived. Also, there is a good cd you can buy on amazon that has songs w loads of useful phrases. It starts w a p (sorry need to find it to remember the entire name).