Language Resources: French Language Learning Links

French Language Learning Links

This is a living document of web sites that can be used as additional resources to learning languages face to face and online. We hope to curate this list and add and subtract sites as necessary.

If there are any web sites that you love, and are not on this list, give us a shout out in the comments below and we’ll add your web site to the list ASAP!

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Acapela-box.com
http://acapela-box.com

Text-to-speech service with the ability to modify speech for multiple languages and variations between speakers. Versatile. Valuable for listening/speaking practice!

BBC French Lessons
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french 

Like the BBC Spanish lessons, BBC French Lessons are definitely for the traveler. These lessons are very clean and well polished. Activities are limited, but the real-world video and audio are second to none. BBC also utilizes a wide variety of accents and regionalisms in their recordings.

BBC Guide to Watching French TV
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/tv/

This is technically an addendum to the BBC languages web site, however it merits its own link since many language teachers love to use media resources like video and audio to supplement their own lessons. It’s clean, easy to navigate, and the BBC is a very reliable resource in world languages.

Conjuguemos
https://www.conjuguemos.com/index.php

Think of Conjuguemos as an online workbook for your Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Latin language students. The site stores a large amount of practice activities, with more exercises added during the year by users. Teachers can also create their own activities.

Culturally Authentic Pictoral Lexicon
http://capl.washjeff.edu/

So, this isn’t exactly for language learning but it is a big name with a big goal. The Culturally Authentic Pictoral Lexicon is an image/media archive for culturally authentic images from across the world, managed by Washington & Jefferson College. The images are all Creative Commons Licensed, and are free to use in any educational work. There are dozens of countries, and hundreds of images to choose from!

Digital Dialects
http://www.digitaldialects.com/French.htm

Digital dialects has games! Lots and lots of games! Flash-based games on a huge variety of languages! (Which unfortunately means it’s not iOS friendly.) Highly recommended for SmartBoard work, computer lab time, and other in class activities.

Ecole Jean-Chaubet
http://pedagogie.ac-toulouse.fr/eco-chaubet-toulouse/index.php?lng=fr

This site is from an actual school in France, and includes short stories available for printing as well as maps and other classroom resources. Also has links to schools in La Reunion and L’Ile de Maurice.

Environnement de Wallonie
http://environnement.wallonie.be/cgi/dgrne/publi/telecharger.idc?id=0

This page is run by the Service Public de Wallonie. This is a page full of PDF documents, in French, about ecology and the environment. Contains many signs, guides, and is a great supplement to natural science lessons.

FrenchSpanishOnline
http://www.frenchspanishonline.com

Although a little busy in terms of design, there’s a lot of great mini-lessons, and audio for vocabulary and grammar. In fact, the audio is superb all the way across the site!

How To Use a Bilingual Dictionary (French)
http://www.wou.edu/~ivalm/dictionary.html

A good resource for the principles of learning how to use bilingual (or multilingual) dictionaries. Includes examples in French including French pitfalls in using things like online translators. From Western Oregon University.

Language Guide French
http://www.languageguide.org/french/ 

The site is a little rough around the edges on design, but the content is very solid. Contains vocabulary and grammar lessons. Also contains a separate section on reading and comprehension. Overall a solid resource for practicing French!

Livres d’enfants d’hier et d’aujourd’hui
http://expositions.bnf.fr/livres-enfants/index.htm 

This site is actually an offshoot of the National Library of France, and is completely flash-based (so be careful with mobile devices). However it still has wonderful interactive activities with Babar – ABC’s and Harry Potter novels. Very shiny!

No Tengo Enie!
http://www.notengoenie.com

This is a simple site meant to help you copy odd ASCII characters (like accented vowels, etc) to the clipboard and then paste them wherever you like!

Mahalo
http://www.mahalo.com/category/language

Mahalo is a web site dedicated to learning about anything on the planet. Their YouTube videos are very short, but precise and well spoken. Production values are high. You’ll also find a huge variety of other topics to explore in addition to French.

Middlebury College, French Department Resources
http://cr.middlebury.edu/public/french/Lexique/

Middlebury College has links to resources and activities for teaching various French topics, with authentic French materials. Includes lessons, assignments, tasks, and more!

NativeMonks
https://nativemonks.com

Pretty simple premise, hooking up students with individual tutors over video chat. Simple fee structure and pretty easy to get going. Many languages offered.

RocketLanguages.com
https://www.rocketlanguages.com/french/lessons/

Vocab lists, and audio for listening/speaking. Diverse selection of lessons.

So You Really Want To Learn French?
http://www.realfrench.net/

Good vocab lists, grammar lessons, and a good implementation of Flash-based games. Games can be tuned to specific vocabulary lists. Account registration not required for some content, but is required for full access to matierals.

Speakado
http://www.speakado.com

Speakado takes a great media-centered approach to learning. Speakado focuses on very simple words and phrases and YouTubes like crazy. Good clear recordings that are simple and to the point. Not so much on full blown lessons, but a great add-on for listening and speaking help. Other languages too!

Tandem (iOS App)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tandem-language-exchange/id959001619?mt=8

Practice any language, at any time, with people from around the world who share your interests. It’s the easiest way to practice foreign languages one-on-one with other language learners, and make friends along the way.

Wespeke – Spanish
http://en-us.wespeke.com

WeSpeke is the social network to learn and practice languages online for free with native speakers. Find practice partners for language exchanges or tandems in our large global community. Use text, audio, or video for conversation practice with native speakers.

Wikibooks – French
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/French

From The Wikimedia project comes an attempt to create a fully functional free textbook online, and community editable. They’re still on the basics, and there’s a long way to go, but there are some great resources here in the short term. It’s an ambitious project worth supporting. (And a reminder, most things online with “wiki” in their names are still good things!) Other languages supported too!

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