French Learning Update

So, it's been ... 8 months now since we started learning French. That is - me, trying to brush up the French I've learned in school and to build up on it, so I can read and talk to her - and my daughter (who's 4 years old now) taking in and learning more than I would have imagined when I started all this French adventure.

Si ... au trecut 8 luni de cand ne-am apucat de franceza. Eu a trebuit sa-mi amintesc, alaturi de ea, ceea ce am invatat la scoala, iar ea, a invatat mai multe decat m-as fi asteptat eu, cand am inceput aceasta aventura a invatare a limbii franceza.

How did we do it? We started gently, with simple picture books, nursery rhymes in French and some cartoons I've found on youtube (For some resources, check our French Learning page).
Luckily, she loves music, so she's been listening to lots of comptimes on CDs and on Youtube as well. She's learned several songs by herself - such as 'La Mere Michel', below :)

Cum am procedat? Am inceput usor, cu carticele simple, cantece de copii si desene animate simple pe youtube (gasiti cateva idei pe pagina noastra de French Learning) .
Din fericire, I. iubeste muzica, asa ca a ascultat si inca asculta cu multa placere multe comptimes pe CD-uri sau pe Youtube. A si invatat multe cantecele, de una singura, cum e si 'La Mere Michel', mai jos.

She also loves books. Surprisingly (for me), she's been listening carefully to stories in French (and enjoying them!) just as much as she enjoys the books in English. If you're wondering how we read - when I'm introducing a new book to her and I know there are unfamiliar words in it, I would read each phrase and then translate it into Romanian. Then, the second time I read that book to her, I don't translate anymore - I kind of let her pick the unfamiliar words by herself. I rather point to the images and discuss the unfamiliar words in French, rather than translating.
Here she is, retelling some parts of an histoire she enjoys listening to (it's from the Histoires pour les petits magazine, that come with an audio CD as well). The story is called 'Un piege our le Pere Noel' and she's trying to tell it just the way she heard it on the CD.

De asemenea, I.-nei ii plac mult cartile. Spre surprinderea mea, a fost doritoare de la inceput sa citim impreuna povesti si in franceza, asa cum citeam in engleza. Daca va intrebati despre felul in care citim - cand ii citesc o poveste noua, de obicei ii traduc, mai ales cand stiu ca sunt cuvinte necunoscute ei, ii traduc in romana. Cand recitim cartea, nu ii mai traduc - prefer sa deduca ea singura cuvintele din context, din imagini etc, sau discutam ce inseamna, insa fara traducere.
Mai jos - povesteste dintr-o poveste de Craciun pe care o asculta des pe CD (din revista Histoires pour les petits), si incearca sa povesteasca exact asa cum aude pe CD:)

Cum mergem mai departe, pe partea de franceza? Cu muzica, carti si conversatie. Pe viitor, probabil ca va merge la ateliere si cursuri/scoli de vara la Centrul Cultural Francez pentru a mentine si imbunatati limba franceza. Va fi nevoie permamenta de continuitate, altfel va uita, si nu imi doresc aceasta. 

Cum ne descurcam intre romana, engleza si franceza? Buna intrebare. In general, dialogul intre mine si ea e in primul rand in engleza, apoi in franceza. Cu restul lumii, in romana. Stie ce limba trebuie sa vorbeasca cu cine, de exemplu, daca i se adreseaza cineva in engleza, va raspunde in engleza, daca o intreba cineva ceva in franceza, va raspunde in franceza.

Voi, ii invatati franceza pe copiii vostri? Mi-ar place sa aud despre experienta voastra, va astept sa ne povestiti despre felul in care invatati voi!

Our Week in Pictures (School Wrap-Up)

I. is now 4 yrs and 1 month old.
I. are acum 4 ani si 1 luna.

Our week, in pictures:
Iata o parte din activitatile din aceasta saptamana:

Gingerbread (from Homeschool Creations) and Candy Theme (from 1+1+1=1)

Since last week we read some great Gingerbread Man books, both in English and French, I've chosen some printables to go along with them - from the Gingerbread Baby pack (Homeschool Creations) and from the Candy Preschool Pack (1+1+1=1). Needless to say, she loved this theme!

Here are some pictures:

Choosing the beginning sound.

Gluing only the images that begin with the 'F' sound.

The Candy Preschool Pack printables, a huge hit with us!

She loved the counting game

Placing a cube on the one that's different.

Gluing Candy vs. Fruit

Proud of her work!

Other activities:

Working with our spelling set to make short CVC words.

Necklace making - with cute beads (from Kaufland)

The books we read this week (the English books are on sale at Libris. ro, that's where I got these from):

Choosing more books - those are the shelves holding our books in Romanian.

She played a lot this week. Here she is playing doctors - giving poor Winnie a shot...

And then one day she pulled out all our train sets and then played like crazy with them, for the rest of the week!

She loves the Thomas train set!

Yeah, all the trains were going at the same time ... it was crazy!

How was your week?

Some great collections I may be linking to:

Speekee Review

When my 4 yr old daughter asked me to teach her Spanish, I was at a loss. After all, Spanish would be her 4th language, after Romanian, English and French - would she be able to learn without confusing them? And then, I was by far NOT fluent in Spanish. I would understand most of it, but I'm not able to speak it (as I was with English and eventually French), to help her master Spanish, as well.
So, I began to look online for resources - language video lessons for kids, songs, stories, and any kind of information that would help me (the non-Spanish speaking mom), to introduce Spanish language to my child and learn along with her.
And so I came across Speekee.
It looked like just what we needed. And when I found out we would be able to review it, I was thrilled!

Here's a bit of information to get you started.
Speekee is an immersion-based program that teaches Spanish for children aged 2-11. You can get it on DVD, or view it online at Speekee TV, for a really affordable fee. You will have 10 episodes, each with a different theme, with lots of songs and animations.Children learn at their own pace, and they have fun while learning!
Speekee uses the immersion method - meaning that everything is being said in Spanish only, the words are carefully introduced and thoroughly repeated several times throughout the lessons.
Each week you get by email a lesson from the Fast Track program, with lots of ideas and lesson plans to complement and reinforce the lessons introduced by the Speekee videos. You also have access to download free activity sheets and flashcards.
Speekee works particularly well for homeschoolers - read this article on Speekee's blog, for more information on that .

What I liked best about Speekee? I liked the way the lessons are structured each on a theme, the way vocabulary was gently introduced and repeated though music and fun. We both learned a lot by watching it together and going over some practice as suggested in the weekly Fast Track emails.
Other that the content that was just perfect for my daughter's age and way of learning, I appreciated the fact that we could access Speekee TV anytime and from various devices. After we've been through all the videos, I set Speekee up on the iPad for my daughter so she would select the lesson and songs she liked best.

And my daughter? My daughter simply loved Speekee. She enjoyed the videos a lot, and liked the sock puppets in particular. Here's a video of her - playing with her 2 mittens :) that are supposed to be our puppets:)

Did she pick up some Spanish, after a month of Speekee? She did, a LOT! Not only she learned all the songs (she's singing them all day long), she also learned to speak in short sentences and she's very intent on conversing with me in Spanish, as well (besides English and French). She would say 'Mommy, we speak Spanish now' - so I have to play along and speak the little Spanish I know.
Here's another video, we're looking at an English book for babies and reviewing the words in Spanish.

So, yes, I'm very happy with what she learned from Speekee and I recommend it to all the parents who want to introduce Spanish in a fun and gentle way to their children. I am grateful for being offered the opportunity to review Speekee and learn so much from it! Thank you, Speekee and we're looking forward to the next lessons!

French books, reading and more on our Weekly School Wrap-Up

Ok, it looks like all we did this week was READ! Read, read, read and read again, especially in French! I've got a great set of books and magazines from the French Cultural Center and also bought kids French magazines from the newspapers stands, so, yes, we had quite a bunch of French stuff to read and enjoy!

The books and magazines in French we read this week

She liked the Histoires pour les Petits magazine a lot. I thought the French level would be too difficult for her, but she asked for it each night, all of it! About 60 pages worth of stories - and then once finished, she wants Picoti (all of it) and so on! If we could read each night for at least an hour, she would be so happy!
The big book that you can see is a French version of the Gingerbread man - here's a link on the Amazon for it. We loved this 'Le bonhomme en pain d'epices'! First of all, it is HUGE - see below how it looks, compared to a pocket-size version. Then, each page has 3 section, where the story is being told for 3 yr olds, 4 yr olds and 5 yr olds - gradually rising in difficulty. First I read the easiest version for a couple of times, but when my girl heard the medium (4 yr) version on the CD (yes, it comes with a CD with all 3 versions on it!), she wanted me to read the more complicated version! We just fell in love with the books and I'm definetely planning a Gingerbread man theme for the next week!

Gingerbread man books, in En and Fr

My little girl loves books. I've always made sure she has easy access to books - we have a few book baskets around the house with books she can easily see and flip through. Here she is in her 'reading corner' - before going to bed - looking at books and then choosing what she wants me to read.

The reading nook, with the English books basket

We also have a French books basket, with some of our books and magazines (not borrowed). I try to rotate the books from time to time and she's always happy to discover the books she hadn't seen for a while.

Our French books basket

Except for the French books, we practiced reading short words in English each day, using some fun ideas to practice reading.

Word family flip book

Word slides

We worked on the Pink Series that we purchased from the Montessori Print Shop. You can download a free document that is part of the series. And, if you're looking for something free, the Helpful Garden blog has an excellent Pink Series for free!

Matching words to pictures

This is what we're at now, as far as reading goes.

And little girl made a bracelet out of bead bears. And one of Cheerios cereals, too, no picture for that one!

I hope you all had a great week!

Some great collections I may be linking to:

Fun Ideas to Practise Reading Word Families

I've recently stumbled upon some fun reading ideas for kids on Pinterest - I like the Word Families Flip Books and the Word Slides a lot!
[Am gasit recent pe Pinterest idei pentru exersarea familiilor de cuvinte, mi-au placut mult Word Families Flip Books si Word Slides]

So, inspired from the Word Families Flip Books post, I made a flip book myself, only for the '-at' word family to begin with. The beginning letter sheet ar mobile, while the '-at' stays the same.
[Am incercat si eu sa fac un astfel de carnetel, am taiat foile dupa cum vedeti mai jos, si am scris mai multe litere de inceput pe foile mobile, cred ca se intelege din imagini].

And then I printed and used the '-at' word slide from School Sparks.
[Si am mai printat un astfel de joc de la School Sparks - foaia cu litera de inceput trece prin cele doua fante taiate si copilul o misca in sus sau in jos incet, citind pe rand cuvintele.]

And we used the '-AT' Family Word game on Starfall.
[Si am folosit jocul pe acceasi tema de pe Starfall.]
We liked all these ideas - they help increase the speed of reading, by recognizing the '-at' ending.

Where to Read Children Books Online (in English)

I have started teaching my little girl English when she was 1 year old (we're Romanian, living in Ro). I have started slowly, talking for a few minutes, introducing vocabulary, listening to children nursery rhymes in English each day. And then, over the next months, I gradually increased the daily 'dose' of English, with the target to be able to use only English during our morning together (until lunchtime). And then, around 2 years old and a half, she began to enjoy longer reading sessions together before sleeping time, so I've decided to read to her exclusively in English.
 I didn't have access to buy enough books, so I've searched over the internet to see if I can find free books online, either simple, or read-out. From what I've found, here's what I liked best and used a lot with my daughter:

• Our favorite, by far, is We Give Books. You will find so many nice books to read online, for free!

• Free children books on Amazon.com. More details, in this blog post.

• Reading is Fundamental has read-aloud books, games and music. There are resources in English and Spanish, too!

• My daughter loved the short animated stories and games from Online Stories.

• We also loved the stores read by their authors at Barnes&Noble - Online Storytime

• Lots of animated stories and other English-learning resources on British Council - LearnEnglishKids - Stories. Our favorite: Goldilocks.

[Romanian version]
Cu engleza am inceput cu I. cand ea avea 1 an. Am inceput incet, vorbindu-i cate un pic in engleza, ascultand muzica in engleza, etc. Apoi, in urmatoarele luni am crescut 'doza' de engleza zilnica, tinta fiind ca in final diminetile noastre petrecute impreuna sa se intample in limba engleza. De pe la doi ani si jumatate, de cand a inceput sa stea mai mult timp sa asculte povesti, i-am citit numai in engleza.

Mi-a fost mereu teama ca nu va avea un vocabular suficient de mare in engleza, si stii ca prin citit de dezvolta atat de mult vocabularul, am cautat mereu carti noi, diverse, prin care sa i se largeasca vocabularul.
Nu am avut foarte multe resurse (carti, materiale, etc) si nici nu stiam pe atunci ca se pot comanda online, direct de la edituri din strainatate, etc. Si atunci am cautat si pe internet daca se gasesc carti de citit, gratuite. I-a placut mult sa citeasca, si a invatat enorm de multa engleza prin lectura.

• Site-ul meu preferat unde se pot citi carti online este, de departe, We Give Books. Am scris mai multe desre ei in acest blog post. Frunzariti un pic site-ul, sunt multe carti. Trebuie sa va inregistrati, dar e gratuit!

• Carti pentru copii, care se pot descarca de data asta, gasiti pe Amazon.com. Am scris in acest blog post mai multe detalii despre cum se poate face asta.

• Pe site-ul Reading is Fundamental gasiti povesti citite online, sunt forma de scurte filmulete, pentru prescolari, cat si pentru cei mai mici. Site-ul este disponibil atat in engleza cat si in spaniola, si contine si cantecele si joculete simple, folositoare pentru language learning.

• Noi am folosit mult si cu succes povestioarele scurte animate si jocurile de pe Online Stories.

•  Ne-au placut mult povestile online de la Barnes&Noble - Online Storytime - sunt carti citite de catre autorii lor, carti noi, carti de succes.

• Povesti online si mult alte resurse pe site-ul British Council - LearnEnglishKids - Stories. Preferata noastra, Goldilocks.

Voi ati mai gasit si alte locuri unde puteti citi / sau sunt citite online carti in limba engleza pentru copii?

Reading, Languages & Music - About Readeez and more (School Wrap-Up)

I. is now 4 yrs and almost 5 weeks old.
I. are acum 4 ani si 5 saptamani.

Our schedule was thrown off this week, so we took it lightly, as school was concerned. We read a lot, both in English and French - apparently, we took the habit of reading in French before naptime and then in English in the evening.

And we listened to a lot of music. We always listen to music. We have used children songs with great effect to learn both English and French. Music is fun and through repetition, children acquire foreign languages easy through music and movement.
And since my little girl loves music, so another recent habit of ours is to listen to French children music while having breakfast. For Spanish, we continued with Speekee - lots of music and songs there, too!

I showed my little girl the Readeez videos for the first time this week. I have seen them on the 1+1+1=1 blog first, and then when our friend Andrea from Our Beautiful Childhood had only great things to share about the videos, I've decided it was time we tried them, too, the free ones. This is their official Youtube channel and this is the website. Please read Andrea's post for a detailed description of the program and what stands behind it. We both loved the videos, I selected a few of free ones and put them on a list for us to use.
What makes these videos different is that the text of the songs appears onscreen as it's being sung, split into syllables, which I think it's a great option to the traditional flashcards system, meant to help teach children read.
I also see these videos very good to help teach children English as a second language in a fun way.
My daughter's favorites are The Duck Song:

and the All The Pretty Little Horses!

Some great collections I may be linking to: