I was looking for something to help my kids to learn and remember some grammar facts – particularly whether certain words are masculine or feminine. Ma grammaire en couleur by Envolée makes this process interactive and (dare I say it) fun!
The process is simple – each level starts as a blank picture, like this:
In order to colour the picture, the child using the program has to select the right déterminant for each part of the picture. I thought my 9 year old daughter might get bored of this after a few minutes, but she didn’t. She loves it! A friend of mine has her children using the paper version (similar concept but I’m not sure if the pictures are exactly the same), and she said her kids love it too. Who knew that you could get a child to voluntarily do grammar exercises?
This program has been a great addition to our learning time. My 9 year old has been using it for her French electronic time for the past few months, working on it for 10-15 minutes per day for 4-5 days per week, except when we were away for summer holidays. There are 50 levels in the program so it has kept her busy for quite a while.
The program is geared to Francophone students in grades 1-2, but in my opinion it’s also a good fit for slightly older students in immersion or French as a second language programs. My 8 year old is not quite ready for grammar lessons yet, but I will definitely be holding on to this one for him to use as well in a year or so.
This program is available in a desktop version ($24.99) or as an iPad app ($5.79). If you’re looking for a grammar supplement, I highly recommend it.
Here is a great video demo of the program in action:
Many thanks to Envolée for providing a copy of the desktop version for the purposes of this review. As always, opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced by the publisher in any way.
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I’m the worst at remembering which nouns are feminine and which are masculine. I”ll have to remember this app for when my kids start French in case they’re as bad as I am. 🙂
12 years of French instruction (immersion) and I still can’t make any sense of masculin/feminin!
Me, too! The masculin/feminine confusion causes me more grief than anything else. This app definitely helps with it and is a great intro for kids. For myself, I’d love a systematic way to really memorize and engrain them all, but I’m still working on that!