Kate O'Connor (August 26, 2011) - The entire class is taught in French – a wonderful immersion for my son. Even though he's only had minimal exposure to French, Miss Clementine uses a variety of body language including many hand gestures to get her point across, he seems to understand most of what she's saying. Jacques's exposure to foreign languages is limited (as neither of us are fluent in another language).

We listen to French CDs (we enjoy Putumayo Presents: French Café), watch movie DVDs with the French audio track on, read a few French books (one with an enclosed CD) and dictionaries, and use a Hooked on Phonics French computer DVD learning set. I don't have a schedule for him to sit and learn French. If he requests computer time, sometimes he'll ask for the French DVD. If he wants a movie and he's seen it a million times (such as The Bee Movie which is a fantastic movie!), I suggest watching it in French.

I don't often read the books to him in French since I don't want him to learn mispronunciation from me. Sometimes we'll play simple games, like Candy Land, in French (I can handle colors in French) or play number games in French. Hopefully I'll glean a little French so I can help him along if he should need it. I'm always looking for new ways incorporate the limited French I know into our everyday conversations.

Before each class, I receive, via email, a link with the upcoming lesson. Included are links with the songs and such that we can review with our children. A poster-sized sheet is taped to the board with the day's lesson in class. After class a worksheet is distributed with the lessons learned in class. It's all a very organized, well-thought-out lesson plan.

The second class started with a review from the first class – birthday candles, weather, puppets, and a few other songs and games. My son loves anything sports-related so he was very eager to play basketball! They learned sports words and counting while shooting a small, soft ball into a pop-up hoop. He was so excited that he won the contest by scoring the most baskets and he'd tell anyone that would listen about it. Next were the egg races. The children picked the color egg they wanted and took turns, two by two, racing down the line with the egg on a spoon, trying not to drop it. They always end the class with snack time.

The third class had the standard review in the beginning which seems to help the children remember previous lessons. This time they introduced the train where they'd line up and follow each other in a circle. They'd change speeds and stop and go to learn those motion words. The main lesson was all about space – planets and rockets. They used small, foam rockets to aim at the laminated planet pictures. The games are simple and fun. The children seem to embrace the learning style and my son loves learning French, especially the songs.

Au revoir!