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Original poster

How the heck is a 12yo supposed to learn French, when

29 replies

HaveAHappyNewJung · 09/01/2011 16:46

they really struggle with reading and writing in English?

It is getting frustrating. :(

12yo DSD, dyslexic (well, tendencies anyway, can't afford private test) and not getting help since starting yr8. She is getting better at English I must say, she can read a lot more now but spelling and memory are really still difficult for her. She's good at science and maths type subjects though.

She just can't remember any of it.

We did a matching game for her vocab list, and I was thinking next time I might cut up sentences for her to rearrange, but I'm at a loss for what else to do.

She lives with her mum and is only here every other weekend (alternates with siblings) so we can't do as much as we'd like although we do some help online.

I am thinking of getting their textbook because they only have them at school and aren't allowed to bring them home ever. Even for exam revision. They are told to revise from their exercise books but there is barely anything in them, and that seems to have never been marked so there were loads of mistakes.

WWYD?

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Original poster
HaveAHappyNewJung · 09/01/2011 17:23

"BTW the school should be doing more than they seem to be doing."

You're right about that :(

OP posts:
shirljon · 09/01/2011 17:07

Get the textbook (Amazon is cheap) and work from that. I tend to agree with you that there isn't much point to learning another language before you have mastered your first language. But the theory is that learning another language CAN help your word-recognition and grammar in English. Keep helping her as much as you can, but help needs to be more often than every other weekend to make significant progress. Maybe you could help her more if you had a copy of the textbook each? Then you could e-mail each other with the answers?
BTW the school should be doing more than they seem to be doing.

purplepidjin · 09/01/2011 17:04

Maybe have time when it's just the two of you and you're only allowed to speak in french? Also, I had a "First Thousand Words in French" book when I was a kid, and it came in surprisingly handy at A Level Blush

Play "Quelle heure est-il, M. Le Loup" in the garden, particularly with younger DCs.

Sing French songs and nursery rhymes - "Tete, epaulles, genoux et pieds" is a lot of fun, as is "Simon dit"

Original poster
HaveAHappyNewJung · 09/01/2011 16:48

(BTW it's not the actual subject that's the problem, I'm good at French - helped her older brother through GCSE - it's just how to help someone who struggles with literacy)

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