Want to start a French reading program for your highschool classroom?

Bringing the joy of reading to your French classroom is reading easy and will provide so many long term benefits for your students. A reading program can take some time to 'get off the ground', so be patient. It takes time to see the results, to build a library of books and to get all of your students habitually involved. 

When I first introduced a reading program in my Year 8 classroom, there were mixed emotions. Some students loved to read and gravitated to the French books with ease. Others took more convincing and aid but once the expectation and habit was set, they joined in. 

Here are the hows, the whys, the whens and the whats to starting your own French reading program in your highschool classroom:

What are the benefits of increasing core literacy skills in a foreign language?

• Phonemic awareness - encourage your students to read aloud so that they can try to identify each sound in a word. Some students have trouble identifying the letters that aren't pronounced - those pesky 'silent' letters in French! You can provide them with a 'cheat sheet' which to use while reading aloud and they can use their thumb to cover the unpronounced sound in a word. 

• Vocabulary - insure that your students have access to many reading levels so that you or they can pick a book for which they already understand most of the vocabulary. This allows them to easily learn new words in context. Say to the kids, if you can understand 80-90% of the words when you flick through this book, choose that book to read! This is called comprehensible input. Stories allow words to be learned in context, this means that they may not need to access a dictionary to get the meaning (but also a teachable moment for dictionary practice!)

• Fluency - your students will be reading automatically, accurately and with appropriate tone when reading books in French. Such great habitual exposure to real language! This also accounts for punctuation. Have you also experienced young learners ditching punctuation when they learn French? "Madame, I didn't think I needed it?"! Reading with punctuation helps with this exposure. That in written language, we use punctuation to help with phrasing and meaning. 

• Comprehension - an incredibly important skill gleaned solely from reading! Not only do students read for meaning but they are forced to make inference from a text. Your students will reach a conclusion of meaning based on evidence and reasoning. Just another reason to choose a book with high comprehensible input. You could assess their comprehension through simple and repetitive questioning or just asking them to draw a picture.

'Learn French with Luc and Sophie' - top pick for beginner readers

How to implement a reading program?

• Extended time - make sure that you implement a reading program over a long time period so that your students get into the habit of reading. Otherwise, you aren't allowing them any time to improve their core literacy skills. Creating a habit of reading will also aid your students in reading lengthy texts as they get more sophisticated in their language skills. 

• Comprehensible input - ensure that you have many reading levels available to your students and encourage them to pick their own reader. As a teacher, you know your students best, so aid and teach them what it means to pick a reader at their level. Also, encourage them to move up a level as their comprehension growths.

• Investment - Invest in a book collection for your school! Bring your principal or library on board by explaining the benefits of a reading program in a foreign language. Not to mention how your French reading program will supplement the English reading program. You could also work with the English department to see if you could streamline the materials for your program, such as implementing similar book logs or vocabulary/comprehension workbooks (with a LOTE approach, of course).

• Audio - Overtime, you may wish to record yourself or someone reading the texts available at your school. This way, students can also listen to recordings while reading which increases their phonic skills. There are also many readers available to purchase with accompanying audio.

When can you ask your students to read?

• If you have a long or extended class, ask your students to partake in silent reading for 10-15 minutes.

• You may wish to include reading as a homework task and students can keep a reading log. Ensure they are completing timed reading to make sure that all your students feel that reading French is achievable. I ask students to read for a minimum of 15 mins/week in Years 7-8.

• One class per fortnight could be allocated to reading in the library (if you are lucky to have decent hours dedicated to your language program!)

Which books could I use for my reading program?

For my highschool students (levels A1-B1), here are the books that I have used and recommend:

Entry-level books

Learn French with Luc et Sophie - vibrant books with thematic content. The pictures are highly engaging and there is limited text on each page. These books will be very attractive to your reluctant or complete beginner readers. 

T'Choupi - although made for French children, these books won't contain the past simple and have young audience topics that your students will relate to. There are some books that have a 'histoire à deux voix' - there are the written words and the key vocabulary is illustrated. 

Multi-levelled sets

AIM readers - the AIM program was developed in Canada for second language learners of French and contains frequently-used vocabulary. You will also notice that key vocabulary is reused and recycled across the readers. Reading packs levels 1-3 will cover levels A1-A2, from early beginner with limited text to readers that resemble advanced children books with large chunks of text.

À Lire series - designed for high school and adult readers, this series contains easy-to-read books for foreign learners that look like real books. They also have lower level versions of popular French literature, such as Beauty and the Beast, The Little Prince and Arsene Lupin (for those Netflix viewers!). You will find levels A1 through B1.

Bilingual books

Stories with English translations are another great way to access literature, but ensure that the French is highly comprehensible for your student, otherwise the read will be overwhelming and unproductive. My favourite is Easy French Reader, but there are so many bilingual readers to choose from!

Be aware, that when you purchase books written for French native readers, they may contain the past simple. In my opinion, I would only introduce a student to a book with the past simple if they were learning to use the past simple themselves or if they were proficient enough readers that it would not be distracting. Otherwise, the read would detract from building on the skills previously mentioned. 

Have you implemented a reading program in your classroom? Which books do you love to recommend your students? Comment below!

French Teacher Resource: My experience with Gianfranco Conti tools

Is your teaching mantra also, 'I want my students to be able to speak French?'. Then, Gianfranco Conti's teaching and tools will certainly resonate with. 

I first travelled to France at 16, and on return to the Australian classroom, I asked myself why there wasn't a greater emphasis on listening and speaking. The "traditional" method at the time, and even now, seems to heavily focus on reading, writing and explicit grammar instruction. Don't get me wrong, I do love learning and teaching these areas of a new language (as they are, of course, important!), but in the classroom, did they enable me to speak the language? No. The ultimate goal is confidence in fluency in the target language (Fluency in the use of a particular set of vocabulary and grammatical structures regardless of level).

Conti's work focuses on just this - enabling students to automise structures to be able to use them spontaneously. This is how we reach fluency. Let me highlight a few "Conti" concepts that I incorporate in to all my teaching:

1. Comprehensible input

No doubt, that at uni, you learned Krashen's Input Hypothesis. Essentially, a learner improves in a 'natural' progression if they are exposed to language that is comprehensible - just one step above their current stage of linguistic competency (i + 1). As teachers, in an artificial classroom environment, we are in charge of the language input and can therefore ensure that our students understand the input language and slowly increase in difficulty to allow maximum learning potential. This, in turn, lowers the effective filter, aiding students to feel more motivated and uninhibited. Also, if you take comprehensible input in to account, your students can increase in sophistication much quicker as they will feel more capable to "push the envelope" and try new sentences (not just focusing on memorising massive word lists that are hard to use communicatively!).

2. Chunking

Fluency is 'chunked' speech. This means that we don't use isolated words in speech but we use them as small parts. For example, you don't just use 'allé' by itself, but you would use it as a chunk, 'je suis allé'. When we speak, we then use 'chaining' to connect these chunks (producing full sentences) which are linked by connectives. Cool, huh? 

Of course, some words are learned independently (such as nouns or adverbs...), but they need to be practised with chunks. Conti uses 'sentence builders' to provide context to new and old language (see resource below). The takeaway message? Teach language in chunks!

Example of a sentence builder

3. Reusing and recycling language

Automated language lives in our long-term memory. So how do you get it there? You need to reuse and recycle language! Language text books are certainly improving, but the traditional approach was the teach a content item and then say to students, "You should be able to use it as it was taught to you back in March!" Language should always be repetitively used. Use it so you don't lose it! As teachers, we can plan our curriculum to ensure that past content is weaved in and out of our lessons.  Working in an immersive language teaching setting, we would use Leanne Hinton's 20/20 rule. To commit a chunk to memory, you will need to use said chunk 20 times in 20 different settings. This sounds like a lot, but it isn't once you apply the reuse and recycle language rule!

Applying Conti tools to your curriculum

So, I'm sure you have all come to this blog for some resources! Let me oblige. In order to achieve fluency in a unit, Conti outlines the progressive phases through the acronym, MARS EARS. From modelling a new construction (M) to spontaneously using the construction in communication (S). For each phase, I have included my own resources and ideas designed for a Year 8 term 3 unit on 'hobbies' is based on Conti's famous activities for each progressive phase. You can download the resources and use then as they are or use them as a template for your own work.

Note that these activities were used in conjunction with the AIM play, 'Veux-tu danser?', which provided the context for the unit on hobbies.  

Also, these are resources designed for my students. They are not perfect. Resources are always designed to be improved. You may feel they have too much language, too little language. Not cover enough content, cover too much content. Modify at your will.

First step:

Design the curriculum to reuse and recycle language. You will notice that the new content is spaced out over the term and old content is interweaved. Ensuring adequate priming and routinisation is an absolute must before students can demonstrate fluency.

Year 8 Term 3 curriculum planning document

Second step:

Create your sentence builders to set the teachable language chunks for your students to use.

Hobbies sentence builder (students had already automatised approx. 1/2 of this language)

Comparison and superlative sentence builder 

Past perfect sentence builder (main focus on 'avoir' as auxiliary and no explicit grammar instruction at this stage as automation with chunks is easier for learners to use!!!)

Third step:

Design resources, worksheets and activities for the classroom based on the MARS EARS progression. Each resource does not necessarily fit under each specific category, it depends on how you use them and why. Think of the resources as aiding to progress through 3 phases: priming > routinisation, to finally reach spontaneity.

Modelling: 

Mind reader game - one student chooses a sentence secretly and the other students in the class or group have to guess which sentence they picked by reading aloud a sentence. 

Disappearing text - get students to set a goal - how many sentences will they try to memorise? You can do this as an oral or writing game (great with mini whiteboards).

Awareness-raising:

Gap-fill exercise

Spot the missing word - listening task

Receptive processing:

Tangled translation with traditional translation (lower to higher cognitive demand)

Structured production:

Oral ping-pong - partner task

Staircase translation

Boardgame

Narrow reading (each passage is very similar)

Find someone who - give each student in the group at least one card. They read their card to the group and the group or the individual fills in the worksheet.

Explanation: 

When you explain learned concepts, ensure that your students have internalised the structures well prior.

Autonomy, Routinisation and Spontaneity:

You can use many activities that you already employ in your classroom, such as speed dating, spot the difference (between pictures), student jigsaw tasks, listen and recall (reciting memorised sentence orders), running dictation, 4, 3, 2 technique (repeat the same information but reduce the time)...

Conti has so many activity ideas that, firstly, it is hard to implement them all (although all so fun!). Secondly, most of the activities you will likely already be using. You just need to be aware of the purpose and implement them at the correct stage to aid your students to fluency. Note that it is wise to reuse the same activities across the year as you want your students to learn the language, not always a new game.

For more information and ideas, you can read Conti's blog. He also had ready-made resources through his sentence builder website and the interactive website for students, The Language Gym. He also has purchasable books: Breaking the Sound Barrier, The Language Teacher Toolkit and French Sentence Builders. Also, join the group 'Global Innovative Language Teachers' on Facebook.

Learn fluent French fast... here's where to start.

I get asked by a lot of people about how to start learning French. What are the secrets, what are the tips of the trade. The hardest part about starting a new language is knowing where to... start! The task of taking on a new skill, such as talking in a new language, is nothing less than onerous. Or so you thought.

So this blog is for you, adult language learners. And just for the repeated record, yes you can learn a language to fluency at any age - I get tired of explaining this to people. For now, just understand that it's a big fat lie when you hear that adults can't pick up second language fluency.

Here, i'll lay out some different ways that I advise adults to learn new languages.

STEP 1: The best way to start is to work out why you wish to start learning French.

Learner goal A) I want to learn French because I want to speak with people, and communicate in a different language. This is either because I want to travel to a French speaking country or because I'm interested to talk to people who speak a different language. Or maybe both! (Lucky you!)
Maybe you need it to increase job prospects or to connect with your new French partner (This is a common situation, so many Frenchies in Australia!). Maybe you're a retiree who just wants to work the brain, and practice a new and interesting hobby.

Learner goal B) I'm mainly interested in the logistics behind language and language learning. I love learning about linguistics, and how people can express themselves in languages other than English.
Maybe you feel as though Australia is such a multilingual country that it's time you had some perspective on how people might think in another language.

.... So what's your reason? (Comment below if you wish to share!) I can help you decide whether you're a learner type (A) or a learner type (B). Then move onto the next step to get started ASAP!

STEP 2: Start to learn with both language 'input' and 'output'

Let me start by expressing one main rule of language learning. You need both language 'input' and language 'output' to truly learn any language. What this means is that you need to be learning the language by ways in which most people would consider hearing and listening to a language, and also you need to be using the language through speaking and writing (optional). You constantly need a mix of all these passive and active learning methods at all stages of the language learning to progress. Even right from the get-go!

Now let's look at some different ways that you can learn French in Australia:

Learner goal A) Coucou! You're predominately wanting to learn to SPEAK the language!
We are so lucky in Australia to have so many native French speakers - time to take advantage of the situation!

Meetup language group

Social approach -
Use the combination of a group class scenario along with meetup social groups. There are many organisations and small businesses to choose from (see below for links). Meetup groups are generally a mixture of native speakers and learners of French, if you know which groups to choose from.
This mixture of speaking and learning quickly from natives and advanced learners gives you the opportunity to use the language straight away, and quickly adapt the language based on your initial mistakes. It's one of the best ways to learn a language, in the fluent capacity, but can also be the most daunting as you are forced to drop your guard quickly and embrace your language faux pas.

Solo approach -
Use a combination of one-on-one tutoring with a native French speaker, and join some bi-monthly small French conversation groups. I advise these types of people not to join a group language class, as you will lose yourself within the group and then become way too nervous to open your mouth to speak (which is the opposite to your goal!) Build some confidence within small groups and with native speakers, and you will truly feel yourself flourish in the language. Sometimes you might also like to be immersed in culture by yourself, so attend French events that occur often in your city or visit French cafés and restaurants, and soak in the Frenchness.

Learner goal B) Bonjour, salut, coucou, bienvenue to linguistics. You're predominately wanting to learn the FORM and FUNCTION of the language.

Grammar approach -
I typically find that this group is really in to language apps. Start to delve into apps such as DuoLingo and iTalki on your phone and laptop for some quick knowledge. As group French classes are generally grammar-based, you might also enjoy interacting with people with similar interests in this setting. Hard-copy grammar books that I would recommend are Schaum's Grammar and Easy French Step-by-Step (free copy through link). Both books contain heavy grammar exercises and are in-depth guides to form.
If you're heading back to uni or about to start, the French language courses at most good universities will be enough to tickle your grammar desires.

Allez, c'est parti! We all have to just jump in and start learning!


Links to learning French in Melbourne:
Please comment or email if you need some help to find what's best for you.

Native French tutors -
Gumtree (best way to find a local native and on the cheap)
The French Workshop
VoulezVouloz
Alliance Française de Melbourne

Group classes -
Lyceum Language Centre
Alliance Française
Cosmopoli' French
CAE
French Journey
InLanguage Boutique

Meetups -
Meetup.com
MundoLingo
Language Connection

Conversation groups -
My French Life
Alliance Française
Ask your local French restaurants and cafés as many hold monthly conversation groups


Please comment or email if you need some help to find what's best for you. Bon courage!

Should we teach French in schools?

A recent article by Associate Professor Warren Midgley from the University of Southern Queensland, analysing which languages should be taught in Australian schools, recently took flight in the media. The well researched article highlighted the gap between the languages offered in Australian schools and the possible economic and community benefits of second language learning.

In today's global setting, students acquiring second language skills at schools can be of great benefit to our international community. No doubt the question of which languages to study at school is of great importance. However, it would be a mistake to simply impose change based on economic reasoning.

With a focus on economic gain and Australia's majority linguistic communities, it is easy to understand that French might not feature high on the priority list. The article does however point out that, for travel purposes, French is the official language of 53 countries. Is this the only important factor for learning French? As the article implies, is it worth teaching French at all?

French literature
Bilingual competency gives access to different languages, and subsequently, different concepts and ideas. Studies have shown that if you want to get a message out to the world, English will be the language accessible to most. However, what about the approximate 6 billion people who don't speak English? How do you reach their ideas?

Recent studies have identified the best languages to get your message out and access different cultural ideas. Along with Chinese Mandarin, Spanish, and Russian, French is of course a highly communicated global language. French is also highly translated in English, which shows the literary demand for both language groups. If you have ever done some research as a monolingual English speaker, you may have noticed that you only ever read articles or scholarly work in English? Ever thought that might be an issue?

Francophile communities
There is nothing better about the Internet than easy collection of data. Duolingo (app for language learning) released information that, after English, French was the most accessed language on their app. For Australia, French tops the list.

Francophile and francophone communities exist all over the globe. In Europe, French is still the second most taught language in schools. Not to mention that half of Africa is French-speaking, and we have New Caledonia at our doorstep. Through my travel experiences, I have used French everywhere I go, and have used French to build relationships with refugees in Australia and other second language speakers. Just being a 'linguaphile' bridges the gap for new language experiences.

The French-speaking world 2008

Brain benefits
I couldn't write a blog without the obvious mention of the cognitive benefits to second language learning. It is common knowledge that when students learn a second language, there are positive impacts on all areas of learning.

Most people quote the 'critical period hypothesis' to me, saying that you can't learn a second language after the age of 12, so why bother. Nonsense! The research shows that, although you may never be a native speaker, you can certainly acquire bilingual competency, and well, why do you want to be a native speaker anyway?
It is never too late to learn a language, our brains are amazing machines. Use it! If you happen to have a slight affinity for the French language, start from there.

As a French teacher, my bias towards the study of French is implicit within this blog. My experience in teaching, however, has shown me that students will generally show interest in language for reasons outside of economic gain and travel. Generally, there are personal beliefs and interests that are predisposed by family and experience. Most students are inspired by their teachers, and tune-in to the teacher's passion for the subject area. Most students in Victoria are also stimulated by the incentive of increased study scores in LOTE (but that's another conversation...).

My opinion dictates that French is, in fact, a globally important language to study at school, and there seems to be general 'francophile' interest. Also, LOTE in general is of benefit to cognition and social skills for students. We don't want to create more of a disincentive for students to learn languages by imposing adult economic beliefs on the languages curriculum. Let's promote language learning for all the right reasons.