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Teach Me French: A Musical Journey Through The Day
This title is suitable for ages 2 to 12 years. It includes a 45-minute cassette and 20-page colouring book that includes all lyrics and translations.
Paperback + Cassette
First published January 1, 1996
1 person want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 12, 2020
2.5 stars
A nice idea, but the execution isn’t as good as it should be. Don’t get me wrong—I like the idea of using songs to help learn a language. I have used them myself on other occasions; they are wonderful as a language tool. Songs tend to use a slightly richer vocabulary than is found in ordinary conversation, and the music slows down the words, making it easier for children to hear the individual phonemes. I have especially enjoyed the light songs can shed on grammatical structure; the music makes it easy to recall the specific words, giving children a nice template for creating similar sentences.
These songs don’t do that so much. For one thing, they really aren’t traditional French songs for the most part; they’re traditional English songs that have been translated into French. Sometimes it’s awkward and stilted, and this means that the words aren’t always as fluid and natural as they should be. Second, it means that there is no translation given, just the English words, and since they worked so hard to recreate the same rhyme and meter in French, the songs’ meanings have changed a great deal. So it isn’t learning a song in a foreign language as much as it is simply repeating syllables whose real meaning has been lost. Third, the singers on the CD aren’t quite all together. They’re singing in a chorus in slightly different time (which is cute and all), but this makes it very difficult to understand the sounds.
The most useful parts of this book are the spoken bits, where the children in the story use simple words to introduce their family, their pets, and their home. But the music is more a distraction than a resource. All in all, it’s a nice diversion, but it’s unlikely to provide the linguistic aid that parents might expect.
A nice idea, but the execution isn’t as good as it should be. Don’t get me wrong—I like the idea of using songs to help learn a language. I have used them myself on other occasions; they are wonderful as a language tool. Songs tend to use a slightly richer vocabulary than is found in ordinary conversation, and the music slows down the words, making it easier for children to hear the individual phonemes. I have especially enjoyed the light songs can shed on grammatical structure; the music makes it easy to recall the specific words, giving children a nice template for creating similar sentences.
These songs don’t do that so much. For one thing, they really aren’t traditional French songs for the most part; they’re traditional English songs that have been translated into French. Sometimes it’s awkward and stilted, and this means that the words aren’t always as fluid and natural as they should be. Second, it means that there is no translation given, just the English words, and since they worked so hard to recreate the same rhyme and meter in French, the songs’ meanings have changed a great deal. So it isn’t learning a song in a foreign language as much as it is simply repeating syllables whose real meaning has been lost. Third, the singers on the CD aren’t quite all together. They’re singing in a chorus in slightly different time (which is cute and all), but this makes it very difficult to understand the sounds.
The most useful parts of this book are the spoken bits, where the children in the story use simple words to introduce their family, their pets, and their home. But the music is more a distraction than a resource. All in all, it’s a nice diversion, but it’s unlikely to provide the linguistic aid that parents might expect.
Displaying 1 of 1 review