The kids and I reviewed French Essentials.
This is supposed to be a high school program. Students can complete the modules to earn the equivalent of high school foreign language credits.
They have all the necessary lesson material available: audio, video, workbook exercises.
The format is difficult for our family to navigate. I don’t want to keep clicking through lessons for audio or video. I would prefer an audio-video lesson and then a workbook. Simple. Straightforward. Easy.
In the Download Area, I downloaded zip files of clickable pdfs. The online lessons begin with lesson 4 in module 1.
I need to write the vocabulary on the board anyway for my kids to see it. The clickable pdfs don’t really work for us. There was a lot of monotonous repetition in the audio-visuals. We skipped most of it after the first few lessons and just learned it our own way.
The girls complete the workbook pages quickly and easily as long as they can copy the vocabulary. I am not impressed with the level of learning and review in the work pages. My girls don’t really retain it and would prefer more options.
At the bottom of the screen of the Download Area are workbook downloads, answer keys, and a lesson checklist.
Five Modules have links for exercises and tests. The tests are online and I would prefer something more comprehensive that I could print and check. With four children, I just did oral checks. For the girls, I would prefer written unit tests.
The quizzes are really just audio flashcards.
There is a culture download section. We didn’t really use this after I looked through them. We can do better research and learning on our own. These are very basic.
So, the placement test already had me irritated because some of the answer choices have two correct answers. It’s not a valid test. Sure, there’s a “more correct” answer, but they don’t ask for literal meanings, only “meanings.” They don’t even say which answers are incorrect when you score it.
We began with lesson 1 and worked our way through Module 1. I took 4 semesters of French at university. I could teach that entire module without a teacher guide.
Liz humored me and sat in for the lessons and completed the workpages. Since she was the target age level, she was not impressed. She was disappointed because we had hoped this would be a great program for her.
Tori obeyed and completed the work but didn’t care for the workbook pages.
Kate really loves language and kept craving more.
Alex completed all the listening and oral exercises and then did his own writing work while the girls did their work pages.
I am not impressed. I was hoping for something more challenging and fun that I could use to help teach the girls, and eventually Alex. Tori and Kate are only 6 and 7 and were bored with the level of learning.
I can tell a lot of work went into designing this program, but it’s just not for us.
Levels:
- Pre-high school – Grades 4/5 – 7/8: Modules 1 – 5
- Middle school (junior high) – Grades – 8-9: Modules 5 & 6
- High school – Grades 10-12: Modules 7-10
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