Cunning linguists
Help! French vocab booster needed
Ickythumpsmum · 21/01/2016 21:14
Hi, we live in France and my 7 year old has good french- was born here, French nanny, 3 years maternelle. He now goes to international school and while his french reading is progressing, and his chat with his friends is good, his vocab is limited to typical little boy stuff. He takes part in local French clubs but I need to help him increase confidence when talking about other things. Is there a computer program I could subscribe to like reading eggs, but French? Or anything that would boost his vocabulary? I'm also interested in any suggestions that would help him with masculin and feminin. Thanks in advance.
TheyreMadITellYouMaaaad · 21/01/2016 21:17
I found in my early teens that reading comic books like Asterix and Tintin really gave my French a boost. The language may be a bit dated, and I'm not sure how wide the range of the vocab would be, but I could be a starting point?
Seriouslyffs · 21/01/2016 21:23
yy to Asterix. Really excellently and ingeniously written, lots of puns etc. Give him a notebook and offer him a € for every 10 be words he finds. 
What TV does he watch?
Ickythumpsmum · 21/01/2016 21:36
I loved tintin but never really tried Asterix. I'll give it a go for sure. What's a be word?
Tv wise, we don't watch a lot. Normally it's something from netficks in French - he likes the dragons cartoon. His vocab is very 'boy'. This week I was shocked to realize he thought a dress was Jupe, not Robe. No big deal, but it just highlighted how he has areas he can speak well in, and other areas he is clueless.
Seriouslyffs · 21/01/2016 21:49
Be word should be new word.
If he can get into a good regular, ideally daily, TV programme that will enhance his vocabulary. I don't know french kids TV- is there an age appropriate news programme.
One advantage that you do have is loads of home education resources- even petrol stations have 'que sais-je' on loads of subjects. Can you take him to librairie and have a good browse?
Funnily enough I can easily imagine my bright monolingual son not knowing the difference between dress and skirt at that age. Are you sure there's a problem?
mrspremise · 22/02/2016 20:39
The Duolingo app is great for brushing up; you can do a test to start and it will then set exercises based on your level of fluency. I use it to keep my French 'topped up'...
tb · 15/03/2017 12:16
We came to France when dd was just 9. The first day at school the maître gave her a Tituff book to take home. Perhaps they would be an idea.
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