French for Beginners: 6 Things Your French Immersion Child Needs To Know

If you have a child in French Immersion you want to know the French terms your child is learning. I am sharing some basic French vocabulary that you and your child will want to learn during pre-K, Kindergarten and primary French Immersion.

French For Beginners

You put your child in French Immersion and are super pumped about it. I mean, how proud are you going to be when your little bundle of joy is able to speak another language? How will that feel?

What will you and your child do together when they are fluent in French? Will you travel to France together?

Will you take them to a French bakery and watch proudly as they order “un pain au chocolat?”

I’ve been teaching Kindergarten French Immersion for over a decade and I can’t even explain how cool it is to see a little kid who has never spoken a word of French in his life be able to have a little conversation in French or talk about his favourite toy during show and tell in front of the entire class. It’s so sweet.

I also know though that it can be hard on parents who don’t speak French. If you are worrying about how much French your child will be learning and how you can help them, don’t worry. I have got you covered. There are a few basic terms that your child will be learning first and I’m about to share them with you.

ONLINE FRENCH LESSON

Basic Conversational Words

Your child’s teacher will most likely greet them at the door and then begin some sort of morning routine in the classroom. That might be sitting at the carpet and having a class discussion, going over the plan for the day, singing calendar songs, or something else. These are some of the first terms your child will learn:

Hello (bonjour)

how are you? (comment ça va?)

I’m good (ça va bien)

Goodbye (au revoir)

The Alphabet: Letter names and sounds

In my class we sing our ABCs in French each day. I also have alphabet posters up on the wall that we refer to often. Knowing what the letters are called in French and what sounds they make is one key still your child needs to have before they are able to read.

I always tell parents to practice the alphabet in English at home first. Most of the consonants make the same sound in English and in French so when your child knows them in English they can layer the French on top. The English knowledge base acts as a foundation for second (or third+) language learning.

Numbers 1 - 10

We start the year off counting every day to 10 and gradually count higher until we get to 100.

Rote counting to 10 is a good start though!

Here’s how they go in case you need a mini tutorial: Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix.

Calendar Terms:

Many early French Immersion classes will do some version of a calendar routine. Each day in my class we sing songs about the days of the week and months of the year. We talk about what day it was yesterday, what day it is today and what day it will be tomorrow.

Monday - lundi

Tuesday - mardi

Wednesday - mercredi

Thursday - jeudi

Friday - vendredi

Saturday - samedi

Sunday - dimanche

I offer a full French Calendar set for parents and accompanying videos (so you don’t need to worry about pronunciation!) in my French For Families Resource.

January - janvier

February - février

March - mars

April - avril

May - mai

June - juin

July - juillet

August - août

September - septembre

October - octobre

November - novembre

December - décembre

The Weather

In many Kindergarten classes we talk about what the weather is doing each day. Is it sunny or cloudy? Rainy or Snowy? This helps the kids become more aware of their environments and of course increases their French vocabulary. Woohoo!