Department members:
French: Marie Accettola [email protected] vm# 57699
French: Tracy Rose [email protected] vm# 58823
French & Spanish: Heather Langford [email protected] vm#56147
French: Gina Speranzi [email protected].ca vm# 41399
French: Robin Pitkin [email protected] vm# 57120
Here are some great ways to improve your French daily
- Set your home page on your web browser to an interesting French site like TV5 or France 24. This will give you some exposure to French vocabulary every time you open your computer!
- Set the language on your Google account, phone, or other sites that you use every day to French!
- Look for the language all around. It’s everywhere - store names, on packaging, t.v. Look for French on product packaging in the instructions, ingredients list, etc.
- Greet your friends with, “Bonjour! Ça va?” even if that's all you can do.
- Use your known vocabulary words whenever possible. “Hey, do you know what the devoirs for les maths is? I forgot!”
- Set the language of a movie you know to French & see what happens. For example, Frozen has a French audio option… with all songs in French!
- Download French music & listen to it on your phone
- Take a familiar text and read it in French
International Language Department FAQs
How can a student improve their French language skills?
Every student enrolled in a BDHS language class has been given access to SMASH Education. A Ministry approved Ontario curriculum-based online learning platform which follows each teacher's units of study. You have access to SMASH Education via this link: smasheducation
This platform is used for Spanish language learners as well.
Students are encouraged to improve their reading skills through a variety of texts. These can be hard to find. Here are some online resources to help out: LinguaFrench
Looking for ways to increase your listening comprehension in French? Youtube is a great resource! There are many to choose from. We enjoy this website: FrenchAlexa
Spanish will use: SpanishYoutube
Here are some online games students can play to make practicing in French more fun: DigitalDialectsFrench and for Spanish practice: DigitalDialectsSpanish
For French learners who would like learn about participation in Canadian government language programs click on this link: OfficialLanguagesPrograms
Interested in traveling abroad? The International Student Exchange – Ontario, is a registered not-for-profit corporation providing exceptional reciprocal exchange programs for Ontario elementary and secondary students with France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Ireland & Germany! Check out this link: StudentExchange
This is the most commonly used OnlineDictionary for our French and Spanish classes at BDHS
To help students conjugate French verb tenses, gone are the days of expensive books and searching through pages, instead check out this website: FrenchConjugator and for Spanish conjugation: SpanishConjugator
TransparentLanguageResources
TV5Monde
FreeFrenchLessons
Spanish will be using: LinguaSpanish
CommeUneFrancaise
leFrancaisFacile
SaveMyBrainLaBlogotheque