Netflix has many wonderful shows by grade level to help your child practice French.
It’s widely known that being bilingual can open doors and offer additional career opportunities. But did you know that learning a second language may help working memory and attention spans too? Learning a second language is a great life skill! No wonder French Immersion programs are so popular.
The school classroom setting is known for emphasizing reading and writing in French to students. Where Core, Extended and French Immersion students can easily improve some skills at home, however, is by practicing listening in French: a super important part of helping students become truly fluent in a second language.
French audiobooks can be cost prohibitive without an educational subscription, and you may not know any French yourself. Not to worry! There’s one fabulous reasonably priced tool that you may already have in your arsenal… Netflix!
All of the Netflix Originals come well supported with captions and audio in other languages. You can set language preferences simply by choosing the audio & subtitles button on the screen.
Here’s a handful of shows to help start off your child to one geared towards their grade level:
For beginners through Grade 2: try ‘Dinotrux’ and ‘Care Bears & Cousins’
For beginners through the end of grade 2, these two shows may be a great fit. The vocabulary may include some unknown words, but students will generally be able to figure out from context. More importantly, unlike many shows geared towards older kids, the length of the sentences and speed of the dialogue is slow and well paced for little and new learners!
For grades 3-5: try ‘Ever After High’ and the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ spinoffs
The dialogue is a bit faster-paced and more conversational for more advanced French Immersion students, but still includes frequent pauses. Both include the option of English and French subtitles to help assist if your child needs just a bit more of a helping hand to follow along at first.
For grades 5-6: try ‘Boss Baby: Back in Business’ and ‘Fuller House’
It may seem incongruous that one of the more advanced shows listed has a baby as the main character, but the dialogue in both shows often has normal-to-fast conversational “banter,” making it a great choice for more challenging listening. Plus, there’s some great vocabulary that your child may have not encountered before in normal school conversation.
Additionally, a great thing about using Netflix this way is that many shows and episodes can be downloaded for learning on-the-go on car trips, for camping, while visiting grandma, or just anytime. And that also makes it a wonderful program to keep your child engaged and practicing their French skills on any school break too – summer or winter.
All you need to be able to download episodes to take with you is to have the Netflix app installed on a tablet or smartphone. Happy watching!
Are you looking for additional French support? Our tutors are professional educators who are available to give you and your child hands-on, customized tutoring help if your child needs an extra boost to succeed!
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