French Lessons

The Need for French Instruction

   In northern Vermont we still have a rich tradition of French Canadian or Québécois culture. But we are quickly losing it. Growing up in Connecticut 30 years ago one could take French or Spanish starting in 7th Grade. In 2009 there are few schools in Vermont which offer foreign languages before ninth grade. I am trying to help the French language stay alive in northern Vermont through offering French lessons to children in Franklin County. I am not a native speaker of French but have acquired an excellent knowledge of the language from school. I studied French for 6 years through Level 6. After high school I lived in Belgium for one year and spoke French every day. During this time I lost all traces of American English influences on my French. I never understood the Wallon dialect. Fortunately almost all speakers of Wallon in Belgium could speak standard French. I eventually thought in French.

Inspiration

   I love French and I love teaching French. I think it helped that my father spoke nine languages. I must admit though that the "language gene" didn't find its way to my siblings the way it did with me. My father's strength was in Swedish and the other Scandinavian languages. But then both of his parents had been born in Sweden. My father's knowledge of Scandinavian languages was very helpful during WW II when he served as head of the Scandinavian Departmanet of US Military Intelligence at the Pentagon. My mother's French which she learned in school was good enough to reinforce my interest in learning French. Dad encouraged me with his facility in speaking French. I was inspired by my parents and my teachers.

Cultural Immersion

   Later I developed a facility in speaking French while living in Belgium for a year. I was assigned to NATO headquarters at SHAPE in Mons, but lived with a Belgian family on their dairy farm. The family I lived with spoke Flemish with each other and French with me. They and my neighbors could not speak English. It was a wonderful experience. In Wallonia (southern Belgium) and France, people thought I was a French-speaking Flemish person; when I traveled to Switzerland people there thought I was French Canadian; now when I travel in Québéc, French Canadians think I am a French speaking English Canadian. I thank my teachers who gave me the foundation which enabled me to develop my ease of speaking French while living in Belgium.

   I was drawn to this area of northern Vermont near the border with French-speaking Québéc so that I could continue to speak French after living in Europe for three years. The two years I lived in Germany enabled me to learn German through immersion in the culture. That experience taught me how one could more quickly begin speaking a language without learning all of the grammar first. That is the approach which I use with children who are in elementary school. It has been very successful.

Teaching Philosophy

   In my classes children develop an understanding of how spoken French and English are organized while acquiring speaking ability starting on the first day. Conversations reflect the children's own interest in relationships: to each other, between family members, their environment, home, school, through hobbies, activities, games and food (Café Bibliothèque !).

   My specific approach to teaching French to children is designed to create young speakers who do not translate in their minds. Their spoken French is a result of my helping them to acquire “new language” (new words for known meanings) which just happen to be in French. My phrase for this is linguistic equivalency.

   I first understood this concept of linguistic equivalency in Belgium. Vincent Craeye was six years old at the time. I lived with him and his two-year old brother Christophe, and their parents Remi and Christiane Craeye. Vincent could say whatever he wanted to say in both Flemish and French. But when I asked him to translate something from French into Flemish so that I could learn to say it in Flemish, he couldn't make the translation. Even though he could in fact say the phrase in both languages. His six-year old brain didn't translate the way an older person's brain does. That was why he learned so much speech so quickly in two languages - simultaneously.

   At times I will make use of my students' logic functions so that they understand the structure of their own maternal language. But most often I take advantage of the fact that at their young ages, they can acquire language with incredible ease. Good pronunciation is important to being understood. Children's brains are wired to acquire good pronunciation quickly. Learning language stimulates the growth of neural webs in the brain which in turn faciltate learning other subjects more easily. Acquiring a second language strengthens certain areas of the brain that are critical for learning.

Tangible Results Create Confidence

   My classes include lots of positive reinforcement. The children respond enormously to it. The children who learn from me are all smart. Some know it and others don't. I help each and every child realize that they can indeed learn to speak French. After eighteen ninety-minute classes over a four-month time span, my 4th/5th grade students are speaking simple, grammatically correct sentences in French with very good pronunciation. The result is that they now feel smart, they believe in themselves and their abilities. And speaking French is more than “just knowledge”, it is a skill. It is challenging, it requires concentration but it is fun. And when you can do it, you know it and so do others. The ability to speak French in northern Vermont has strong social value. Vermonters of French Canadian descent are proud of their heritage. Speaking even a little French here raises self-esteem which increases confidence. Confidence is a good thing in children.

   The result is a three-dimensional comprehension of language and conversation where students can infer meanings using known vocabulary and phrases and new words heard for the first time. Children become enthusiastic and confident speakers with excellent pronunciation. The ease with which they speak with natural intonation and rhythym reinforces their confidence and gives them a superb advantage for the day when they start formal language study in high school.