Imagine watching your students develop a confident proficiency in the French language before the end of the year. Your teaching methods play a significant role in both proficiency development and student enjoyment.
Here are five engaging ways to encourage your students to learn French and speak it with confidence before the end of the school year.
Include interactive and hands-on activities
Experiential learning allows students to take a more active role in their learning. Providing authentic, hands-on activities ensures that students better understand how French is used in real conversations.
Interactive and hands-on learning activities are beneficial not only for kinesthetic learners but for all students. Students are more engaged with curriculum content when they actively participate in their education through hands-on activities.
Some hands-on activities to try with your French students may include:
- Dramatising using high-frequency words
- Having students use their hands to represent the meaning of words
Use a kinesthetic approach
Combining hand gestures with spoken words can be a powerful way to teach your students French. The Accelerative Integrated Methodology (AIM) includes gestures to help students hear, say, and “feel” the language simultaneously, which results in faster comprehension.
Using gestures in your French class is a great way to support students with diverse learning styles (Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic), ensuring no learner is left behind. AIM’s unique Gesture Approach appeals to both kinesthetic and visual learners to help contextualize what they learn.
Contextualization is essential for language acquisition. help your students contextualize their learning through literacy and the arts. Using storytelling and drama, music and choreography to reinforce language skills can help your students acquire the language more rapidly.
Here are a few ways you can accelerate your student's learning of core vocabulary through contextualization:
- Singing and dancing to French songs
- Reading engaging stories
- Role-playing
- Story writing
Focus on core phrases and vocabulary
As you know, French has many words and phrases that are used frequently. Knowing these phrases is essential to daily communication and will help students learn (and use) the language faster.
Focus on what we call Pared Down Language. (PDL). These are the highest frequency and the most functional words introduced first for authentic communication! Examples of these functional words in French include:
- ici (here)
- veut (want)
- peut (can)
- regarde (look)
- écrit (write)
- et (and)
- moi (me)
- pour (for)
- dans (in)
- quand (when)
In French, verbs are at the heart of the high-frequency vocabulary your students should learn first. At AIM, we teach you how to teach across verbs (mange (eat), court (run), dort (sleep), peut (can), veut (want), fait (do), sait (know), etc.) rather than through (as when conjugating) allowing you and students to focus on function rather than form, thus accelerating language proficiency.
Teachers can access our list of over 500 high-frequency French words and vocabulary in our Step 1 Kit for ages 11-13, Le garçon qui joue des tours. I would suggest Les trois petits cochons - the most popular Kit with the broadest range of appeal - for ages 8-12.
Use repetition as a positive teaching tool
As language teachers, we know that repetition is essential for language acquisition. Recent studies have emphasized how important repetition is when it comes to providing a supportive learning environment.
In your classroom, you can make repetition fun and effective. AIM uses “Pleasant Repetition.” We expose students to high-frequency words in a variety of different ways so it isn’t boring. This strategy allows us to demonstrate vocabulary in different contexts, allowing us to help accelerate students’ language proficiency.
You may repeat high-frequency vocabulary in your French classroom by:
- Using gestures for students to ‘view” the meaning of the words (the Gesture Approach)
- Breaking students into groups to rehearse and perform plays
- Singing songs, rapping, and playing games, that recycle the same vocabulary
- Engaging students in spontaneous conversations
- Inviting students to retell familiar stories in their own words
Other teaching strategies to accelerate language learning
Below are four more ideas you may use in your classroom to encourage faster language learning:
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Create an immersion environment. If you teach French immersion now, you know the benefits of daily immersion when learning a language. If you teach CoreFrench/FSL, the benefits are the same. AIM supports you in your ability to maintain a French-only environment, no matter how much time you spend with your students.
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Personalize learning. Students are more engaged when they’re having fun. Consider tailoring your lessons to your student's passions and interests. For example, if your students love dancing, sing and dance with them often. If they love dramatising, introduce plays and if they love to write stories, be sure to engage them in literacy activities.
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Gamify learning: Turn lessons into games to make learning fun. Create challenges, and reward systems to motivate your students to practice their new language skills while having fun and competing against their classmates and/or other classes.
Resources to accelerate language learning in your classroom
Are you ready to transform your teaching experience? The Accelerative Integrated Methodology (AIM) helps students increase their engagement, develop a love of the language, and learn a new language much faster than other approaches.
Attend an AIM workshop online or in-person to learn how to incorporate the methodology called AIM in your classroom. Ask us how becoming AIM certified can help you accelerate language learning.
