Part of our French routine at home involves the kids spending 10-15 minutes per day on some kind of app or web site. Initially, we used apps that covered basic vocabulary expansion, but as the kids progressed, we started adding grammar and other advanced skills.

I recently came across the iTooch collection and was so grateful that the publisher agreed to give me free access to my kids’ levels (CM1/grade 4 and CE1/grade 2). Each grade-level app covers France’s curriculum for that level in math and French. If you buy the bundled version that includes both subjects, they are still separated within the app so you can choose which skills you want your child to practice.

The actual practicing comes in the form of multiple choice questions. The app offers instant feedback so your child can see if they got the question right. The summary shown at the beginning also lets you know what skills they have mastered in each category.

My favourite elements of the app

I like how many things are actually covered in one application. Seriously, it’s a huge list. Check out the full gamut for French CM1 skills here: http://www.edupad.com/fr/itooch/application-francais-cm1/ The other grade levels are here: http://www.edupad.com/fr/itooch/application-primaire/

The questions are separated by specific skill. This means that we can use the app in two ways. I can let my kids do what they want on it for their time, or, I can look up what we’re practicing with our Grammaire de Base workbook program and ask them to practice that specific skill.

Automatic updates are included. Every once in a while, a message comes up saying that new content is available. For example, recently a tennis section was added with some questions and information about a tennis tournament.

What my kids like

My daughter liked the characters they used for immediate feedback on the questions. She also liked seeing her progress on the summary page for each category.

My son unfortunately did not like anything about the app at all. 🙁  I think he just wasn’t ready for the level that I had for him. CE1 is for grade 2 students whose first language is French. My son’s vocabulary and grammatical skills are just not at that level yet. I’m going to try giving him specific skills to practice once he does more grammar next year. So, if you’re buying for your own child, you may want to consider going a few levels down in grade placement, depending on how advanced their French skills are.

Overall, I highly recommend these apps for French learning. We will be buying the higher levels as each child is ready for them.

 

Thank you to EduPad for providing me with these two applications. As always, all opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced by the publisher in any way.

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