I love when I find new resources to help the children and I learn foreign languages. We tend to focus on Spanish quite a bit, but my oldest homeschooled daughter, who is 11, really wants to learn French. I admit I jumped at the chance to review Bonjour! Let’s Learn French by Judy Martialay, a retired foreign language teacher who has devoted her time to public advocacy for foreign language education. It seemed like the perfect book to share with the children as they are all in, or close to, the recommended age range of 6-10 years old. My youngest son is six, while the girls are seven and a half, nine and a half, and just turned eleven. I figured we would enjoy it, seeing as we had recently had the opportunity to review Mrs. Martialay’s other foreign language book ¡HOLA! Let's Learn Spanish.

We received the soft cover, 35-page book to read, plus there is free access to the audio of the book on their website, among other wonderful resources for the parent. I immediately downloaded the audio as recommended so we could have the book read to us the first few times, which really helped us learn the pronunciation, so we could attempt to read it ourselves. We really enjoyed having the opportunity to hear the French words read by a native speaker.

There are six sections in the book, plus an acknowledgments page at the back of the book titled “Merci beaucoup.” The sections are as follows:

• Bonjour! (Hello!)
• Louis, l’escargot (Louis the Snail)
• C’est à toi! (It’s Your Turn!)
• Coin de culture (Culture Corner)
• Faisons un dessin impressionniste (Let’s Make an Impressionist Picture)
• Les mots (Words)

The first section, Bonjour! (Hello!), is an introduction to the children from Pete the Pilot, who is taking the reader on a “trip” to France. Included in this section is a list of 15 common words/phrases, along with their translation. It is suggested to practice these words before “arriving” in France. You and your child will practice such words/phrases as: hello, how are you?, my name is…, please, thank you very much, good-bye, and the numbers 1-5.

After this two-page introduction, you will find the bulk of the book, the story titled “Louis, l’escargot.” The story begins with five children playing on the beach (à la plage), building an impressive sand castle (le château de sable). This castle is fit for a king, yet they do not have time to find one before they are called in for dinner. After night falls, we finally get to meet Louis, l’escargot. He is looking for a place to spend the night, and as you might have guessed, he spies the beautiful sand castle. He makes himself right at home, seating himself on the shell throne, and declaring himself the king. Before he can enjoy his dinner, his sandcastle is destroyed by a couple of animals. He ends up falling asleep, using his own shell, and in the morning the children see him in the wrecked castle. They rebuild the sand castle and decide Louis is the perfect king.

The neat thing about the way this story is presented to the children is that French words are included in the story, in bold letters, directly after the English words.  Then when the word/phrase is used later in the story the translation is no longer provided, requiring the reader to recall what was previously learned. Most words are used quite a few times, providing lots of repetition. When listening with the provided audio, there is a pause after the lady reads the French word(s) so that the child (and the parent) can repeat the word(s).

The next section, C’est à toi! (It’s Your Turn!), provides activities for more practice with the words already learned, plus quite a few new words and phrases. There are ten different activities for student and parent/teacher to participate it. You will have a chance to practice introducing yourselves to others, asking, “How are you?” and replying, learning the words for more people and things, along with figuring out where you might find these things (at the beach, at school, or at home). Then you can go on an actual “treasure hunt” to find different objects. Eight colors are taught, along with a couple of activities where you look at pictures and name the colors. Then there is a fun “L’expression du jou” section, where you write down how many times you say a specific French expression each day of the week. For example on Monday you are to find opportunities to use the expression “J’adore!/I love” and at the end of the day you write down how many times you say that expression. Each day has a different expression to focus on.

The final activity in this section is a skit called “Louis vaenville” or “Louis Goes to Town.” Louis the snail and his friends decide to go to town to go to the café, but they have trouble crossing the road because of all the fast traffic. The dialogue is given a line at a time, first in French and then in English. And more new words are introduced.

The next section is called Coin de culture (Culture Corner). Here the children will learn more about some of the cultural aspects that have been mentioned in the story. They will read about beaches, kings, the French flag, onion soup, and more. These are just short paragraphs to help children understand a bit more about what was read in the book. There is also a song to learn called “Ah! Mon beau château!” or “Oh! My Beautiful Castle!”

The section titled Faisons un dessin impressionniste (Let’s Make an Impressionist Picture) gives some information about impressionism and gives you a chance to create some impressionist works of art.

The final section, Les mots (Words) lists each of the just over 100 French words learned in the book, along with the translations.

The children and I enjoyed listening to the story multiple times. It is such a cute story. I would hold the book so the children could see it, while we listened to the author and native speaker read the story. After the native speaker said the words(s) in French, we repeated them. Having a chance to hear the French pronunciation was wonderful, seeing as I do struggle quite a bit with knowing how to pronounce words in foreign languages. After we had heard the story a couple of times, we completed the activities.  I really do appreciate the variety that are included.

There are several points I would like mention.

I do love the way the French words are introduced to us through reading a fun story.  I thought this was an ingenious way to help these words “stick” in our minds. We got to hear most of them multiple times, and I know how important repetition is for learning things. I do wish the additional words that are introduced in the skit had additional ways to practice with them either before, or even after the skit.  The children had a lovely time acting out the skit, but they had trouble memorizing the lines because they weren’t used to all the new words, especially because some are spoken rather quickly.

Another concern we came across was the time given for us to repeat the French words during the story and activities. Most of the time there is adequate time given; however, on occasion, the author continued reading the story before we had finished repeating the words/phrases.

I would love to see a downloadable copy of the skit and the Daily Expression chart included on the website, so each child would be able to have their own in order to make completing these activities easier.

I would also love to see a follow up to this book, where children (and parents) can practice the words learned while learning more and perhaps getting some lessons in the grammar that is being used.

Bonjour! Let’s Learn French! is a neat introduction for elementary age children who are learning French. Children can listen to a cute story and start memorizing French words right from the beginning. There are multiple activities to help reinforce the vocabulary, and children can learn about French culture. You can purchase the book for only $16.99, and there are wonderful free resources on the Polyglotkidz.com website, which I greatly appreciate.

- Product review by Karen Waide, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, February, 2018