Editorial Review
Already a proven home-study program, the Language for Children series is making noise with this updated, integrated book-plus-audio edition. Along with its charming visuals and lively activities, the series now provides in CD format the stimulating sounds of language to entice preschoolers through primary graders into learning a second language. Cute, catchy songs and the humorous, serial adventures of SuperCat are sure to captivate the imagination and foster language acquisition. Each set in the series contains an 80-page full-color activity book coordinated with two 60-minute CDs as well as a Parent/Instructor CD packed with helpful tips.
Together children and parents can master basic language skills, including making introductions, counting from 1 to 20, and describing objects. The perfect package for parents and teachers who want to familiarize three- to nine-year olds with foreign languages and cultures.
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Customer Reviews
Fun songs and children's voices 
2008-05-12
The songs have catchy melodies so it's easy to learn them and join in. I like the fact that the delivery is fast, imitating native French speakers. Also a plus is that children's voices are used in the conversations which is more fun. Drawbacks are that the songs are imbedded in the middle of the instructional tracks on the CD. It would be better if they had their own designated tracks - because already my kids want to hear the songs but don't want to hear the narrator's explanation and translation.
A fun and effective way to get started 2008-04-28
One of many advantages of this program is that it blends listening/speaking skills with reading/writing skills. For the very youngest child that might be an issue, but I think it's an advantage for kids at the "early reader" level in English (probably age 5-7 and up). It will appeal to older kids, too, although at a certain age they might be better off working at a more rigorous pace than is offered here.
As for the reading part -- sure, words like "monsieur" can be confusing to see in print, since they do not sound the way they look. But that's something you have to get used to sooner or later, if you're going to use the language at all, so why put off learning it? Anyway, for most words that's not an issue. So it is great that the child is getting both parts of the language experience simultaneously.
Some folks believe that it's more important just to get the child accustomed to the spoken language. Whether or not that's really true, it's going to be very hard for most parents unless they are fluent in the new language. This program does not require the parent/teacher to know any more than the child -- and you can learn together for that matter!
For the record, I speak French well enough to know that the text is accurate and that the speakers are mostly native French -- and in fact, speak with a more "natural" cadence than the way we used to learn in school.
I was pleased to see that the "course" is in fact carefully planned to progress logically, and that it is broken down to reasonable 8-12 minute lessons. Working through one unit gives the child a feeling of accomplishment without having to struggle for a long time. It also allows the parent/teacher to replay specific segments for review, without making an individual lesson overly long.
The audio program works interactively with the workbook -- but it is not always clear when the book has material that can read along with the narration, as opposed to those segments that are being done purely by ear. Thankfully, from time to time the narrator refers to specific pages, so you find your place eventually. It's not that big a deal, and the book is generally quite wortwhile as an adjunct to the main lesson content.
A very cute component that some children may like (ours does!) is that there is a silly little cartoon storyline that progresses, three frames at a time, at the end of each unit in the book. Each new episode uses a few new vocabulary words from the latest lesson. We have not completed the course yet, so I don't know whether the story will be all that great, but that's not the point. I can see that after each lesson, our child is enjoying the experience of being able to read a bit of this comic strip, out loud, in French! It's a great confidence builder and adds fun to cap off each lesson.
The program comes with a separate CD with instructions for parents/teachers. It's a bit long to listen to (one could just read a manual!) but the disk also contains songs and other items that are compiled from the lesson disks, into one convenient place.
For parents whose school districts do not offer world languages in the early elementary years, this course is a reasonable way to introduce a younger child to French language (and to some extent, French culture) so that they get at least a little foundation while their minds are still growing. It won't be enough all by itself to replace a year's worth of school-based study, but it provides an easy-to-follow, well-planned lesson structure that can get you started.
It's not Rosetta Stone or the like, but since it has a much more modest price, it's probably worth 5 stars in comparitive terms of bang-for-buck.
OK, but bland. 
2008-02-09
For my kids, the audio part wasn't very engaging. The lady's voice was a bit dull. The information in the program was useful though.
Cute, lots of colors, but... 2007-09-10
I'm a bilingual language teacher (Spanish) and am attempting to introduce French and German to our own four children (as well as Spanish). We just finished the project Flip Flop French: Ages 3-5: Level 1, so we use that daily, and I'm so pleased with it, but always like to supplement so the children are never bored with language learning.
This is great, but... it doesn't flow too well, and is a bit overwhelming - there is so much information on the page, I like to break it down into two or three days, but the kids reply, "We already did that page." So... it's cute, but not a great "curriculum" really.... just a good add-on, from my perspective.
Speedy Transaction 
2007-03-13
I'm yet to use the product. However, the transaction was smooth and the product seems to be in good condition.
Loved it 2007-03-10
Already a proven home-study program, the Language for Children series is making noise with this updated, integrated book-plus-audio edition. Along with its charming visuals and lively activities, the series now provides in CD format the stimulating sounds of language to entice preschoolers through primary graders into learning a second language. Cute, catchy songs and the humorous, serial adventures of SuperCat are sure to captivate the imagination and foster language acquisition. Each set in the series contains an 80-page full-color activity book coordinated with two 60-minute CDs as well as a Parent/Instructor CD packed with helpful tips.
Together children and parents can master basic language skills, including making introductions, counting from 1 to 20, and describing objects. The perfect package for parents and teachers who want to familiarize three- to nine-year olds with foreign languages and cultures.
C'est si bon by Alain Le Lait 2006-12-24
Please note that my rating and review is for the children's CD "C'est si bon" by Alain Le Lait. I'm surprised that Amazon.com does not carry Le Lait's CD and I wanted to recommend it anyway. Both as a grandparent and a linguist I couldn't have found a better way to expose my 3-year old grandchild to the French language. Every song is a fun, upbeat lesson featuring a vocabulary theme -- colors, days of the week, food, the alphabet, etc -- and lots of repetition. The lyrics are great for whole-language learning and they are easy to memorize and sing along. Songs are beautifully composed and sung by Alain Le Lait. The CD comes with a songbook with the French lyrics and English translation as well as a list of keywords and phrases. The songs in the "C'est si bon" CD are just pure fun. You and your child can listen to them all day -- as we do -- for the joy of it. The learning comes attached with no additional effort. Le Lait's CDs are available here: http://www.yadeeda.com/french.html
Excellent, But Possibly Overwhelming for the Beginner 2006-03-23
This set is an excellent place for a child who has already been exposed to the French language to begin. However, if your child has never been exposed to French (and you do not speak it yourself), the pace of instruction might be a bit overwhelming because some pretty difficult vocabulary is introduced very early in the program.
That having been said, I vastly prefer this program to the others I have purchased and it nicely integrates lessons/activities with songs which the children remember and enjoy singing.
Best foreign language program for YOUNG children I've seen. 1999-10-20
I teach preschool children French in my home and have not seen an easier method for children who do not yet read. Though designed for beginning readers it is easily adapted to non-readers. Parents who do not speak the language can learn along with their child. The program comes with an activity book children can draw, color and cut in, along with 3 cassettes. Two cassettes are the lesson plans (1-10), and the third is an instructional guide for parents.
My only disappointment is that there is not another level after the child completes the book.
We also have the German for Children(it comes in several languages). We spend time in the evening doing the program with our 4 year old son. I soon realised that my 2 year old knew all of the songs and was responding to questions directed at his older brother in German. They love the Super Cat cartoon.
Note: A young child can not do the lessons without help from an adult.
Slightly disappointing 1999-06-27
I was surprised to find out that this book doesn't really come with a cassette for the kids to listen to. I talked with some customer service people and found that there may be quite a few different versions of this book, and unfortunatly not all of these versions are currently available. But other than that this book is still a pretty good french instructor for young children.
