Once you start learning a foreign language or using vocabulary from a foreign language, it's best to say it correctly.
Some basic rules about French pronunciation:
C, F, L and R Avec, Sauf, Tel, and Tour
A, E, I, O, U, Y - Vowels
the "e" at the end of the word tout vs. toute
s and ss poison vs poisson
c with , attached sounds like an /s/ otherwise it's a /k/ leçon vs. coupe
h is silent un homme
Hey Ed
^ the circumflex and the omission of the "s" hospital = hôpital hostel = hôtel
All the Vowels in a word (just a sampling)
ou - /u/ like "boot" (no diphthong)
eau - /o/ like "doe"
eu - /y/ difficult to produce but I have some tricks for you to try!
oeu - nothing close in English but we'll work on it. They look scary but they have a sound when they are in these orders.
Let me know if you want more practice...I've got a few years under my belt with my French studies!
When you have time and if you want to learn more about French pronunciation, this guy does a terrific job explaining of the placement of tongue in your mouth and how your lips matter when working with vowels. This is a great homework assignment. Vowel Practice Just watch what for a minute or so to see how technical this stuff can be. This is for students that want to perfect vowels. They are not easy.
Next, let's consider some more practice. Move to about minute 0:42 in the next link and we get into the tough part of French pronunciation. Deciphering sounds and then producing them Practice difficult sounds
Next I would consider putting the students on some websites to practice and then set up more quizzes and conversation starters to see how much they've practiced.
A great guide to French pronunciation
A guide to learn vocabulary Pick your favorite topic under the vocabulary tab and practice! My students like this site and use it often to practice. Tomorrow we can practice these together and I (the teacher) will listen to your pronunciation.
So what would be next? Maybe a small quiz the next day to decipher sounds would be appropriate. I love Quia for short quizzes! Once we have the iPads in place, students will be taking quizzes out of the classroom more often so I have more time to teach. You can write small quizzes, use so many settings so that your quizzes contain questions that are sorted randomly. You can even set it so that the answers or random so there is no one calling "B" to Question #2! (And taking pictures and sending them won't help because the test is set up random.)
Today...I'll test, you answer:
Quiz!
Going a little deeper, we're moving into Podcasts. Open up your podcast App and search French.
The American Council of Foreign Language Teachers (ACTFL) launched this app (Hello-Hello French) a couple of years ago and continue to embellish it. Pick your language (Hello-Hello World) and learn.
I like the Walk, Talk and Learn French by Radio Lingua. Check out the Pilot episode. Go to Paris when you feel like it!
FrenchPod - La Vie En Rose from May 15, 2012 - Learning Music to learn a language - the focus is pronunciation. Learn a lot about the most famous French song (La Vie En Rose). You'll learn how to say the words and what they mean!
My next choice would search out Rfi. I like this one because it's a story and it's fun.
I also encourage you to look at CoffeeBreak French (from Scotland) I recommend starting with Lesson 2 because it is easy to follow.
Or try Learn French by Podcast - Lesson 5 is good. Not only are these podcasts fabulous for learning, but the audio is fantastic for picking up the pronunciation.
I'm doing a lot with FrenchPod101.com (still in Podcasts) so choose the one that calls to you.
You can also spend some time learning some basics (especially restaurant lingo) in Learn French HD. I've been working on Chinese and the ISP students like it. Pick your language, pick your app. You can do a lot for free.
I would then probably have you work through a few more websites to practice.
Had enough? Thought so!
But just for fun, open up your Fotopedia Paris and dream away........
Putting a few hours into this set up will give the students days of work. You can continue to add more exercises in the classroom to support their homework and then you can do more testing to suit your needs.
Bonne Chance! (Good Luck !)
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