🇫🇷 Le Club des Amis 🇫🇷
Le Club des Amis is an exploratory introduction to French for homeschooled children (ages 5-8). The goal of the class is to provide children early exposure to the sounds of French and some basic vocabulary in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. Children will be introduced to French language and culture through songs, dances, simple games, and play-based activities.
Instructor: This class is offered by a close friend and fellow homeschool teacher, Carolyn Fay, aka “Madame Caro.” She is a former university-level French professor with 20+ years’ experience teaching French at all levels and to pretty much all ages! While her training focused on teaching adults--she holds a PhD in French—She has now spent almost as much time introducing French to children. She homeschooled her daughter through 8th grade and has taught French to many Charlottesville-area homeschoolers at CHEC, online, and in small-group settings. Last year she served as the French instructor at the Renaissance School, so her most recent experience is with teenagers. She is excited to work with little kids again!
She says: “My approach with young children is to keep it fun, light, and quick-moving with LOTS of repetition. (More repetition than most adults can stand, honestly.) Over the years I have found that children are sponges when it comes to language. Repetition helps to cement new sounds in their brains. We will sing songs, dance, learn finger plays, and do many silly activities. My philosophy is that if it’s fun, kids will want to do it. If they choose to study French in a more formal way later on, they will have an excellent base of sounds, vocabulary and expressions. And if they’ve learned early on that learning a foreign language is fun, they will be motivated to keep learning, and who knows? Maybe they’ll drag you to France on a family vacation one day!
Each session will include songs, conversation with puppets, an introduction to the day’s material (e.g. names of animals, numbers, colors, food), and some games or other gross-motor activities. I will have the kids on their feet as much as possible. Occasionally we may do story time from my collection of French picture books or watch a short cartoon video. I tend to tailor my lessons to the interests of the group.”
Time, Place, Dates: 1:15-2PM at Alena’s home near Pen Park on Tuesdays. The fall session will run for 6 weeks from October 22 to December 3, 2024 (with a week off for Thanksgiving). Make-ups days as needed will be added on after the last week of class.
Tuition: $120 per student