How I Learned French (a timeline) 

I started learning in 2018, with a few different learning apps on my phone. I started with Duolingo for vocabulary, but found it confusing since it didn't explain grammar at all. I then moved onto Rocket French and then Coffee Break French, which were great commuting resources. I would just listen to the lessons in the car on my way to/from work, and after-work activities. After I had gained more vocabulary and listening skills, I tried classes at a local Alliance Francaise, and shortly thereafter I moved onto speaking practice with private tutors on italki.com. 

Here's a list of the apps I used, for how long, and how they helped me on my French language journey!

• Duolingo 

This was a fun way to start learning French vocabulary. It was not good for grammar at all, though. They didn't explain the difference between the singular tu and vous, verb conjugaisons (which I still find very difficult), along with other things that made it a little confusing to learn. I spent about 6 months using the app before I got bored and moved on to other learning apps.

• Rocket French

This was a great app to practice simple conversational grammar and vocabulary! I liked how they made you repeat sentences to really work on your pronunciation. The app's exercises were also really helpful to really drill certain concepts into my brain after listening to the audio lessons. I think I bought the whole package for French, and went through them all. I spent about 6 months on this app.

• Coffee Break French

I only used Levels 3 & 4, which were terrific! I learned intermediate-advanced grammar with these, and the stories were really fun and engaging to listen to. All the written material is also great, although I didn't do much reading. I mostly listened to the audio lessons while driving.  I spent about 2 years on this app.

• Alliance Francaise (In-Person Classes)

I found these classes not very helpful. I was in an A2 class, and there was not much value to it. We didn't speak much in the class, and we mostly just took turns reading dialogue aloud and working through some vocabulary. I took classes for about 10 weeks. 

• italki.com (Online Private Tutoring)

Private tutoring has been the best tool for me. By the time I started taking these lessons, I had already been learning through apps for about 2.5 years, so I knew a decent about of vocabulary and grammar. I've been taking these lessons since 2020, one 1hr lesson per week, and my skills have really improved. My lessons weren't anything fancy either-- just conversational practice with a patient and kind teacher! We would just speak about our daily lives, and through that I got comfortable with speaking and using all the grammar and vocabulary that I built up from learning apps. 

• Being immersed at home with my husband and my children  

It took a while (about a year of practice) before my husband was comfortable speaking with me in French, since we had always communicated in English. Now that we're more comfortable communicating in French, I've been soaking it up way faster and been able to remember tons of new vocab and grammar! We've been speaking French to each other since my son was about a year old (2023). As of right now, we communicate in French whenever we are in front of our children, and switch to English after they're in bed.

I speak with my children only in French. Because it has become such a habit, it would feel bizarre to speak to them in English! This forces me to speak way more than any other situation I can think of.  In addition, watching my son's ability has been so much fun! At 3 years old, he was already correcting my pronunciation and verb conjugaison in French. All of our media is in French as well, so I am constantly listening and reading in French!

Raising Bilingual Children

Knowing that children soak up languages quickly, I did some research on raising bilingual children before my son was born. I only read two books. The first was not very interesting, and the only advice I remember from it was "travel often to the country where they speak the language you want your kids to learn." Ok, that's nice but not realistic for most people. The second book I read was Maximize Your Child's Bilingual Ability,  which was GREAT. It was very inspiring and gave tons of practical ideas and useful anecdotes on the subject. After I read that, I felt like my research was done! 

Adam Beck, the author, mentions this equation that he coined in order to summarize the most important concept in the book:

"EXPOSURE + NEED = BILINGUAL ABILITY"

Children need to be exposed to the language enough, and have a need to use the language if you want them to be bilingual. I link to the book below, and give a few tips that are mentioned in the book that we are currently (or are planning to) use. 

I highly recommended buying this book if you want your child(ren) to be bilingual!

• Immersion at Home

In addition to only speaking French in front of the children, almost all of our media (books, music, audiobooks, etc) are in French. This has been great for me as well. I am learning so much from the kids' French books, and listening to stories about Petit Ours Brun from the  French app Bayam!

• Exposure to Other French-speakers

We try to call our French-speaking side of the family a few times a week, so the kids can interact with them and know that "other people speak French too!". We also visit Canada 1-2 times per year, which is great exposure for the kids.

• Yearly Language Interviews

This is fun to do, even if your children aren't learning two languages! It's fun to track their progress with yearly language interviews. Starting at 2 years old, we conduct an interview where we ask simple questions like "What's your name?", "What are your friends' names?",  "What's your favorite color?", etc. It's fun to see all the progress they make in such a short time!

• Pen Pals to Family 

We aren't doing this yet, but when the kids get older I plan to start a monthly letter to family in Canada. This way the kids can practice writing and reading in French in a fun way! Also, what child doesn't love to receive mail?!