French Immersion math help for parents who don’t speak French

Your child brings home a math sheet in French. You can do the math, but you can’t read the question, and your child is stuck. This happens in a lot of Ontario homes: many French Immersion parents don’t speak French.

Here’s how to help anyway.

First: the math is the same

French Immersion changes the language of the lesson, not the math. Ontario’s French as a second language curriculum says that for subjects taught in French in French Immersion, the expectations in each grade are the ones in the English-language curriculum. So your child learns the same math as children in the English program, with the same topics in each grade and the same methods: number lines, arrays, area models, and explaining their thinking. Our plain-language grade guides describe what your child is learning this year, in English.

So you aren’t starting from nothing. Once you know what a question is asking, you can help with the math exactly as you would in English.

Is my child’s math taught in French?

It depends on your school board and your child’s grade. In Ontario, at least half of all instruction in elementary French Immersion is in French, and immersion students take at least two subjects other than French in French. Math is one of the subjects that can be taught in French. Many programs that start in Grade 1 teach every subject in French until Grade 3 or 4, then add English. Each board decides how its program is set up.

Ask the teacher, or check your board’s French Immersion page. It’s worth knowing, because it tells you whether the homework will come in French and which words your child is learning.

Let your child be the teacher

The best tool you have is your child. Try this:

1. ”Read me the question in French.” You don’t need to understand it. Reading aloud slows them down.
2. ”Now tell me in English what it’s asking.” Putting it into English is real thinking. Often the problem gets easier the moment they say it in their own words.
3. ”What do you know, and what do you need to find?” Now you’re doing math together, in English.
4. They write the answer in French, the way the teacher expects.

If your child can’t explain the question in English, that’s useful to know. It may be the French words, not the math, that’s the problem. Tell the teacher.

Words that come up a lot

A short list of math words your child may see. Keep it on the fridge.

French	English
l’addition, additionner	addition, add
la soustraction, soustraire	subtraction, subtract
la multiplication, multiplier	multiplication, multiply
la division, diviser	division, divide
la somme	the sum (answer to an addition)
la différence	the difference (answer to a subtraction)
le produit	the product (answer to a multiplication)
le quotient, le reste	the quotient, the remainder
égal, est égal à	equal, equals
plus grand que, plus petit que	greater than, less than
la moitié, le double	half, double
la fraction, le numérateur, le dénominateur	fraction, numerator, denominator
le nombre décimal	decimal number
le pourcentage	percentage (percent)
arrondir, estimer	round, estimate
la droite numérique	number line
le périmètre, l’aire	perimeter, area
la régularité, la suite	pattern, sequence
le diagramme à bandes	bar graph
la moyenne	mean (average)
Explique ton raisonnement.	Explain your thinking.
Montre ton travail.	Show your work.

Ask the teacher for the class word list too. Many teachers have one.

Two things that trip parents up

The decimal comma. In French, decimals are often written with a comma: 3,5 means 3.5, and 0,25 means 0.25. Ask the teacher which your child’s class uses, so you don’t take the comma for the one English uses in big numbers, as in 3,500. French writes big numbers with a space instead: 3 500.

Numbers from 70 to 99. French counts these differently. 70 is soixante-dix (“sixty-ten”), 80 is quatre-vingts (“four twenties”) and 90 is quatre-vingt-dix (“four twenties and ten”). If your child is slow on these, it may be the French, not the math.

Translation apps: for you, not for the answer

A translation app on your phone can tell you what a question says. That’s fine. Use it to understand the question, then let your child do the math and write the answer in French. Translated answers can come out wrong, and they skip the French the homework is there to practise.

Practising math in English is still practice

Times tables, number facts and mental math don’t care about language. Practising “7 × 8” in English in the car still builds the fact. If your child’s class uses French words for the methods, ask your child to show you the method, and talk about it in whichever language works.

Free help in French

• The FSL Homework Toolbox (fsl.rainbowschools.ca) is a free site from Rainbow District School Board for parents of children in French Immersion. It has a math section with strategies to use at home, plus audio in French and English.
• Your board may offer free online homework help in French. Ask the school what’s available.

Questions to ask the teacher

• Is math taught in French or English in my child’s grade?
• Is there a list of math words the class is using?
• Does the class write decimals with a comma or a point?
• When my child is stuck at home, is it OK to talk the math through in English?
• For Grade 3 or 6: which language set-up does our board use for EQAO? Our EQAO Grade 3 and Grade 6 guides explain the options.

A note about Astuzo

Astuzo is a math homework tutor in English, made for the Ontario curriculum. It works in English only, so it isn’t the right tool for math homework written in French. If your child also has math homework in English, Spark helps one step at a time with hints and questions, and never just gives the answer. Astuzo is available on Android in Canada: get it on Google Play. On iPhone or iPad? Join the waitlist.

Program facts from Ontario’s page on French as a second language programs and The Ontario Curriculum: French as a Second Language, Grades 1–8 (2013), page 16, read November 2026. Your school board sets how its French Immersion program is organized; check with your school.