bonjour
merciavec
trois
mais non
chateau
avignon
hommesamour
vie
frommage
www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com
Shone, the co-creator and publisher of
French Essentials, a five-year French
program specifically written for home-
school families.
TOS:;Can;you;tell;us;what;makes;French
Essentials different from other French
programs;currently;on;the;market;today?
Greg:;The;thing;that;makes;it;unique;is
that it has both downloadable and online
features. The core lesson is downloadable
from our website. Once the lesson is on
the;desktop,;it;functions;like;an;E-Book,
so there’s no need for the Internet. A
student;can;work;right;from;their;desk-top. Within that downloadable lesson,
the student can access all the audio and
all the video right from the lesson page.
We’re;different;than;other;programs;that
are CD-based and DVD-based in that
we’re;a;lot;more;user-friendly.;You;don’t
have;to;search;around;for;things;like;au-dio;and;video.;It’s;one-click;access.;When
you;are;learning;a;word,;you;click;on;the
word and get the audio. When you are
instructed to do a video exercise, you
click;and;the;video;comes;up;right;where
you;are;working.
There;is;also;a;workbook;for;the;writ-ten component. These can be downloaded and printed off as many times as
parents need for different numbers of
children.
There are some online features that
complement;the;learning.;The;first;is;the
online exercises and lesson tests. These
are exercises with audio that students
can;do;after;they’ve;done;the;lesson;to
reinforce everything they’ve learned.
There are also different things on French
culture, called Savais-tu?, that students
can;access;on;line.;They;talk;about;dif-
ferent aspects of French culture, not just
in France, but around the world in places
like Quebec, Switzerland, or French-
speaking;Africa.;We;hope;to,;in;the;fu-
ture, add more multimedia content to
this section such as podcasts and differ-
ent things.
Along with the online exercises, there
is an online lesson test. It has options
for parents to set it up in different ways
based;on;the;child’s;learning;style;or;how
in depth they want to test. It can be used
on as many computers as the family has.
The only restriction that we have in our
terms of use is that the Modules be used
by one family, not by multiple families,
because the pricing is designed for sin-gle-family purchase.
TOS: What are some of the advantages
of a student learning French? Where is
it;spoken,;and;how;popular;is;the;lan-guage?
Greg:;I;know;that;in;the;U.S.;especially,
French gets overshadowed by Spanish.
By;Bonnie;Rose;Hudson
French is one of only two languages
spoken;on;all;the;continents;of;the;world.
Bridging;the;Gap:
Parlez-vous;français?
