Did you Like these Tips on How to Teach English?
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From the lens How to Teach English to a French Speaker.
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blogalexg
May 5, 2012 @ 12:26 pm | delete
- Lots of great tips!
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Geeve
Feb 14, 2012 @ 5:30 pm | delete
- I like it :) SquidLiked as part of the Happy Valentine's Day Quest.
Heureuse Saint-Valentin :D
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d-artist Nov 15, 2011 @ 10:37 am | delete
- I wish I had learned the French language when I was younger, I just don't think I'm capable for it now...Dom I bet you have an elegant accent!
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Mateu
Nov 4, 2011 @ 9:07 am | delete
- As an English teacher in France, I have to respectfully disagree with a few of your tips. While it's true that French and English grammar differ considerably in some places, it's not necessarily useful to encourage students to simply ignore their own knowledge of French. Rather, it's often more useful to make connections, highlighting both similarities and differences. You can't simply expect them to be immediately capable of evaluating whether something "sounds right" in English; they first have to build up an understanding of English grammar in their own minds. An effective way to do so is to encourage them to construct their knowledge of English grammar comparatively with their extant knowledge of French. Secondly, the idea that French speakers can only understand one or two sounds is highly questionable. You don't even explain what you mean by that or offer any evidence to support that case. But it's simply not true and in no way prohibits French speakers from learning to speak other languages fluently. Yes, French has it's quirks, but so do all languages, English hardly being an exception. From the standpoint of linguistic science, French and its speakers aren't at all unique.
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Jacqueline
Jan 28, 2012 @ 5:12 pm | delete
- Thanks for your sharing your feedback and experience as a teacher in France Mateau! Would love to have the opportunity to ask you more about your experience. I'm just embarking on TEOSL certification (going with Cambridge CELTA course)...followed by
hopefully, securing a teaching contract in France. Hoping to tap into some help/guidance from relatives who live near Paris. I realize that teaching TEOSL in France is one of the most difficult countries with respect to work visa accquisition. I'm a Canadian, mature, with a B.Sc. degree and good business experience on my resume. If you could share any wisdom on where to start with tracking down possible employment through French government, or perhaps private school teaching possibilities, I'd be most grateful!
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prosperity66 Jan 28, 2012 @ 6:15 pm | delete
- I wrote this page as an English student, not a teacher. What you as a teacher think is easy or normal, isn't necessarily for us, students.
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CoolFoto
Oct 16, 2011 @ 2:32 pm | delete
- Excellent lens. I once thought about being an ESL teacher, but, went to law school instead. I am an American who learned French in Elementary school, high school, and college (1 semester). You are blessed by a Travel Angel. Keep up the good work!
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Obscure_Treasures
Aug 26, 2011 @ 11:35 am | delete
- After reading your comment on my lens Best Of Thailand I became curious to go through a few of yours.This lens of yours about How to Teach English to a French Speaker is really awesome. Godd job. keep it up.
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Helenee
Jul 3, 2011 @ 1:34 am | delete
- I am Greek, and I have studied both French and English since I was seven years old. I have a Bachelor in French Language and a teaching licence in (British) English. English pronunciation is difficult for French people, and French pronunciation is difficult for English people.
But -- I squarely disagree with the statement that French is not a "singing language" -- it is so musical!
And -- I'd like to add that French language includes so many different sounds; sounds from the pharynx, from the palate, from the nose, from the back of the mouth, from the front of the mouth, from almost everywhere but the ears! I think it's doing them injustice, by saying that they "only recognize two sounds."
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- I studied English by myself when I was 10 years old - through the Beatles' songs and getting help from a dictionnary my father gave me.
Then, I studied Dutch; which is my country's official and national second language; then Spanish; which is my stepfather's native tongue, leaving English aside.
I only re-studied English two years ago at Berlitz. This is where I finally understood that for Frenchies (not Belgians since they already have an "singing" accent because of Dutch) it's hard to understand the different ways to pronounce English words. Just takes to mention the "TH" sound... which Frenchies pronounce "Z".
However, having studied the fact, I decided that, instead of many, I don't think that French pronounciation of foreign languages is a fun thing neither some kind of joke. It's just because their language prevents them from understanding those sounds.
Now agree or not, and this isn't meant to offend you in any way, but since I'm a French speaker, I think I'm more able to tell if it's hard to understand and "copy" or not than someone who's speaking French as a second or third language.
Apart from Provençal and Mediterranean accents, French isn't a singing language at all. Instead it's a "flat" language; which I love more than any other in the world.
PS. Those 2 recognized two sounds (which are those French speakers are able to copy) is a fact taught by many professors and confirmed by studies. Just run a search on the Web. As for me, I just provided tips for English teachers... this lens isn't meant to bash "Frenchies" who I'm part of.
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Helenee
Jul 3, 2011 @ 6:17 am | delete
- Ok, got your point. Well, I guess it would be hard for a French or an English or a Greek to copy "click languages" xD
Anyway, compared, for example, to Greek language, which has lost all its prosodic values, I still find French sounds extremely variable.
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Trireme
Jun 26, 2011 @ 7:37 am | delete
- Hi i spent some time in the Philippines where English is taught predominantly by American teachers however some students i met expressed a desire to learn British English, so it is quite handy to be able to highlight the comparisons between the two.
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Rafick Jun 25, 2011 @ 3:45 am | delete
- Moi, j’ai eu un énorme avantage (désavantage?). Au début, lorsque j’avais quatre ans, on m’a enseigné le français à travers le créole, puis, presque tout de suite après, l’anglais à travers le français et, pour terminer en beauté (de 11 à 18 ans) le français à travers l’anglais. Malheureusement, cette méthode digne d’être inscrite sur le Tour de Babel ne m’a pas fait parler le chinois. (Squidoo n'accepte pas les accents.)
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whoisbid
Jun 20, 2011 @ 3:51 pm | delete
- I wish my french was better.. If you can speak french and english then that is awesome!
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MaxReily
Jun 4, 2011 @ 3:39 pm | delete
- This is a wonderful lens. As others have pointed out, it's nice to be able to understand the challenges facing someone learning English, and compare them with ours in learning French. People who have never learned a second language have no idea of differences such as sentence order, verb conjugation, vowel pronunciation, in addition to the words themselves. I have so much admiration for those whose first language is not English, yet who have made the effort to learn it well enough to converse and write. I studied several years of French and some Spanish in school, but I wouldn't be called fluent in either. I enjoyed this lens a lot!
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EnglishAccelerator
Apr 19, 2011 @ 3:43 am | delete
- Hi, really good to hear comments from someone who does not have English as a first language and who can explain the learning problems so well. It is really important for teachers to look at their teaching methods from the student's point of view rather than just relying on teaching theories. Thank you for your input :-)
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Margo_Arrowsmith
Feb 11, 2011 @ 6:00 pm | delete
- Wonderful lens, but my first thought was that I never knew a French speaker to wanted to speak English
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mivvy
Jan 15, 2011 @ 3:32 am | delete
- Great lens, sound advice. and thanks for stopping by my R pronunciation lens. You are right , we, in Europe, learn British English. We are neighbours, I think, I am Dutch.
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WordCustard
Jun 25, 2010 @ 9:19 am | delete
- Having battled with learning the French language, it is very interesting to see this from the other side. It sounds like there are just as many challenges and pitfalls to learning English as there are to learning French. But I like the fact that we do have many different languages in the world and it is well worth the effort to learn them. *~*~ Angel Blessed ~*~*
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JaguarJulie Jun 14, 2010 @ 10:49 am | delete
- Oh wow ... I do think it is so valuable for someone to be able to first speak English and then second to actually speak a second language well ... I'm thinking for me it would be Hungarian!
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- Would be great if you were to start speaking Hungarian, this would make us closer than ever!
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LKW31
May 24, 2010 @ 4:21 am | delete
- This was very interesting to read. I work with French and Italian people and their English is brilliant, but it is easy to forget that English isn't their first language. It is embarrassing really that we Brits just assume that everyone speaks English. I love the French language, it is a lovely sounding language! This is a very helpful guide and created beautifully.
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- English is the first language spoken worldwide so I think it's normal to forget that many don't speak it ;) Thanks for the compliment.
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smange
Apr 27, 2010 @ 2:25 am | delete
- I actually was reading the forum and noticed your use of the word "apprehend" and comments of learning English recently. I then noticed you were from Belgium and figured this gave you away as a French Belgian. Then I looked at your lenses, found this one and realised I've seen it before. :) (Sorry, still too new around here to remember everyone properly).
Anwyay, if you want help polishing up your English I can help. I'd suggest swapping English-French lessons, but your English is about a billion times better than my French, so I wouldn't want to burden you with my awful use of the language. :)
The reason "apprehend" gave you away is that it's not quite the same as "apprendre". They're almost false friends. In English, "apprehend" means "to arrest", "to take (by force)", "to be fearful of" (see the meaning of "apprehensive") and also "to notice". However, it's normally used to imply that something has been noticed in a very sudden or powerful way, such as viewing great art or taking in the details of a life-and-death situation. It's not normally used to simply mean "to notice" or "to take". And sadly, it really doesn't mean "to learn". Tricky one, huh? :)
..And while I was here I thought this lens deserved a blessing and a lensroll. Enjoy!
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- Thanks for the notice and the blessing, of course, Smange :)
In this instance, actually, I used "apprehend" in the sense of "understand" - at least, this was given by the Collins dictionary when I researched for a "strongest" word than "understand".
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Emily
Feb 4, 2011 @ 12:52 am | delete
- im about to start teaching some french friends english and stumbled upon this site. there is some great stuff on here.
I would suggest the use of the word 'comprehend' as opposed to the word 'apprehend' in this instance :)
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EnglishAccelerator
Apr 19, 2011 @ 3:52 am | delete
- This can be the very problem with dictionaries. I made a similar mistake when learning Italian and said something really embarrassing. Fortunately everyone laughed and commended me on my efforts. So well done you for the level of English you have achieved. The good thing about making mistakes is that you can learn from them :-)
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arncyn
Apr 3, 2010 @ 5:53 am | delete
- Great tips from someone who definitely knows what she's talking about! Your English is excellent Dom so people tutoring French speakers should definitely keep your advice in mind. By the way I had no idea that French speakers spoke differently, depending on Geographic location! They all sound the same to me, I think the French language always sounds beautiful, comforting and melodic. Maybe someday you can teach me how to speak it. (:
*blessed by an angel*
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- Thanks so much, Cynthia for your kind comment! Just tell me when you're ready to start learning, just let me know :D
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AddaptAbilities Mar 7, 2010 @ 2:46 pm | delete
- This was really interesting. As an American learning French, I've been most tripped up by verb tenses (especially the simple past tense). Do you have any advice for a native English speaker learning French?
I'm also a bit confused about French speakers "hearing" sounds. Obviously the language has more than two phonemes (and other languages have more than 7) ... is this the number of sounds a person can hear at once? Or is it vowel sounds?
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- Ah, advice for English learning French: forget about your conjuguation; it is totally different from ours. French simple past is NOT English simple past.
Actual French "past simple" is used only in literature nowadays, we usually use "imperfect" - that looks like your Preterit or we commonly also use a tense that looks more like your "Present perfect".
For something we did yesterday, we'll say "I have been" or "I have done". As for our "imperfect" tense, it looks a bit like your past continuous but isn't used in 100% same circumstances than it is in English.
Complicated, uh!
As for the sounds (I'm not a scientist but read a study about it), I think that it relates to the number of audible sounds at once: example: "an" -> in English is equal to two sounds A + N; in French is equal to one sound AN. French is not a "singing" language, other languages are all singing languages.
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skiesgreen
Dec 14, 2009 @ 3:04 pm | delete
- This is a great insight into the difficulty of learning a language. Its a fact that language learned by tge age of 12 is much easier than after that age. Obviously the sound issue comes into it as well as well as syntax, Great lens.
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- Thanks, Norma. Indeed, kids learn other languages easier than adults, but as stated here there's always a fun way to learn something; which makes it easier to learn ;)
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poutine
Nov 29, 2009 @ 2:51 pm | delete
- Could you explain why french speaking people can only hear "2" sounds??????
Poutine
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- Thanks for your input, Poutine. I added an explanation in the related chapter ;)
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SueM11 Nov 22, 2009 @ 12:04 am | delete
- Loved your lens. As someone who comes from a country where English is not the main language spoken I can certainly identify with some of your points. So have you tried teaching English to a Chinese speaker?
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- Thanks Sue :)
Oh no, never tried... but not necessary in my French speaking country :)
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- Ooooops :) Don't worry, our young French speakers as seldom able to pronounce our words either, seems being more a problem of generation and medias than anything else. Fortunately, some parents take care of those problems and handle them with care.
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Sylvestermouse
Nov 8, 2009 @ 8:01 pm | delete
- Very interesting! Both of my children can speak French (my daughter would love to move to Paris) and my son can speak Spanish. I have never really understood why it is so difficult for others to learn English, but after reading your lens, I actually understand it a little better. I can definitely understand why it would be so difficult to learn English when half of the US doesn't even know how to properly pronounce tomato:)
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- Thank you so much for your kind comments :)
Bambi, learning French is the hardest thing you would ever have done! In order to learn French you must be in love with the language or with a Frenchman or desperately need to communicate with people :) It's complicated, however, I love my language :)
Dom.
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happynutritionist Nov 7, 2009 @ 10:10 pm | delete
- Very attractive and interesting lens...I was never very good at learning other languages, but this makes it interesting! 5stars ~claudia
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mysticmama
Nov 7, 2009 @ 1:39 pm | delete
- Interesting lens... I grew up in a bi-ligual, French Canadian/American English family...yet never quite grasped the french...and even after 4 years of high school french, that was nothing like the french spoken by my relatives lol... I still cannot speak French!
I figure it's a brain glitch, and thought I was just bad with languages until a few years ago when I managed a predomonately Somali workforce and found that I picked up that language as if I'd been born speaking it?
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Jewelsofawe Nov 7, 2009 @ 12:49 pm | delete
- Excellent lens! Felt like I was in class!
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- Thanks ladies :)
By the way, JP, a Spanish cousin of mine is happily married to a Japanese too :)
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jptanabe
Nov 7, 2009 @ 10:50 am | delete
- Love the graphics! I don't know about teaching English to French speakers, they all seem to speak English better than I speak French! But my husband is Japanese and needs lots of help to improve his pronunciation and grammar. Maybe I can learn something from your tips!
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a_willow
Nov 7, 2009 @ 10:38 am | delete
- Excellent! :)
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by prosperity66
I've learned English as a French speaker, first by myself (with the help of the Beatles, lol) and then by taking English classes. I thus built this pa... more »
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