L'orthographe c'est facile! 7-8 ans

Description:

L'orthographe c'est facile! 7-8 ans teaches basics of French grammar with 7 sets of drills. These are introduced by a 'Professeur' who looks like Mr. Potato Head. He pops up on a regular basis to explain the exercises, encourage and give help. On exit from the program he tells a joke or a riddle.

'L'écriture des sons' and 'Les sons inverses' ask for completion of words by filling in one of 2 syllables, e.g. adding 'ai' to 'bal..' for 'balai'. 'Débuts et terminaisons' requires picking the correct word of a sentence from a short list, for example 'vite' versus 'vitte'. 'Le mot secret' is about filling in a missing word given the first letter. A vocabulary list of about 200 words can be searched. The next two exercises 'Accord du nom' and 'Accord de l'adjectif' demand the right choice to make nouns and adjectives masculine or feminine, singular or plural. Finally, 'Accord du verbe' requires picking the verb that is incorrect and then entering the right answer.

The bottom of the screen shows the number of questions completed and number correct. A notepad is available to take notes during the exercises. A results screen gives a text and graphics display of progress and marks. The blackboard icon gives tutorials on the current set of drills, and the book icon gives access to the full set of tutorials. For example 'La phrase: points et majuscules' explains (in French) that a sentence starts with a capital and ends with a full stop, and introduces other punctuation marks.

Features:

• Supports multiple users and tracks individual progress
• Results screen to display and print progress report
• Online help explains the drills and options
• Online tutorials for review of material
• Tutorial and correct response presented after an error
• Options to disable tutorials, animations or music (intended for school use)

Technical Aspects:

Report and Conclusions:

L'orthographe c'est facile! 7-8 ans teaches the basics of French grammar. It is intended for francophone children ages 7-8, so the age range needs to be adjusted upwards for kids learning French as a second language. It was a little difficult for my 8 year old, who is in grade 3 of a bilingual program, and it was too easy for my 10 year old who is in grade 5 of a full French school.

The program focusses on drills more than entertainment, but the Professeur is fun and tells good jokes! A knowledge of vocabulary is assumed, that non-francophone kids do not typically have. I found it useful to keep a dictionary handy to check the meanings of new words.

There are a total of 6 CD's available, in the age range 7-15. This program is the first of the L'orthographe series. If you want your children to practice the basics of French grammar at home, then this is a great place to start!