Most people don’t learn to speak a language by writing grammar exercises.

Luckily for me, I had the opportunity to study French in Quebec (Sevec summer program) and in France for two years at University (Sorbonne, Nantes) where I had all the authentic French conversation I could handle and more! Not everyone has these opportunities, so I wanted to make a difference when I started teaching: I wanted to give all of my students more authentic learning situations so that they could have an authentic French conversation. 

How much authentic conversation happens in your classroom?

Eventually, this led me to my CEFR and DELF training which confirmed to me that I needed to speak to my students in French all of the time, that I needed to give them lots of opportunities to interact in French in authentic situations, and that I needed to believe in them and help them believe in themselves. Learning about the CEFR stages of language acquisition and gaining a deep understanding of the descriptors for each language competency at the various levels, allowed me to understand where each of my students were in their FSL learning and to determine the steps they needed to take next to continue. 

Are you familiar with the CEFR language levels and how they can help you support your students?

Thanks to transformingfsl.com, and organisations such as OMLTA, CASLT, and ACPI, there is so much online support for FSL teachers now. But I still had one challenge. And, it’s the challenge I heard most often in my role working with other  teachers and students as an FSL Coach and consultant: how do I get them speaking in French? 

Do you ask yourself how you can get your students speaking in French?

When a dear and trusted colleague introduced me to the Neurolinguistic Approach (NLA), I felt like I had discovered the HOW of the CEFR! NLA focuses on oral language acquisition to develop internal grammar. By explicitly teaching students one sentence structure at a time and creating opportunities for students to use the sentence structure in a variety of contexts, make it possible for them to participate in authentic conversations. 

Using a literacy-based perspective, we can then teach students to read and write in French as well. Once they know what the words mean and how to pronounce them, they can read them. AND, when they can talk in French, they can write what they say in their heads! 

Oral language acquisition is the cornerstone of reading and writing.

In Education, we are now hearing much about the “Science of Reading” and how to teach students to read. All of the research underlines the importance of teaching students how to listen and speak in order to be able to teach them to read. Before focusing on phonics, we focus on phonological and phonemic awareness, and we focus on vocabulary development. When the building blocks of oral language are strengthened, then decoding and reading comprehension follow.

Over the last 30 years as an FSL educator and FSL Coach, I have discovered that I love to share with new FSL teachers, and with experienced FSL teachers who know they need to do something differently. I’m an FSL Coach and educator, a certified DELF-DALF and ANL instructor who helps coaches and educators teach French using scientifically proven best teaching practices. I coach FSL educators and coaches to gain confidence in their field, support their students using CEFR principles and NLA techniques, and focus on the joy of teaching FSL.