[cjj]

I teach in France also. I think it is ideal if the kids don’t know that I speak French. That way they are never tempted to speak to me in French. Why would they if they think I can’t understand them. I warn the teachers and parents at the beginning of the school year that I will speak to them only in English if any of my students are within hearing distance.

Since I have the English only rule, in order to help convey meaning, my lessons are bimodal (voice-aural/gestural-visual). In other words, I use sign language (SEE* not ASL) simultaneously with spoken English. The iconic nature of signs conceptualizes the word’s meaning. However, I initially began signing to slow myself down when I spoke. One can speak nearly twice as fast as one can sign so if as in my case you sign complete English you will slow down significantly and it also allows the kids to see, hear, and feel the words. But the real bonus of signing is that it gets and keeps their attention focused and the fact that their hands have something to do seems to calm them down. For more about using sign language with hearing children, I recommend the following book:

Amazon.com: Dancing with Words: Signing for Hearing Children's Literacy: Books: Marilyn Daniels


*SEE (Signing Exact English) is an English-based sign system. It adopted much of the vocabulary of ASL but added grammatical features of English such as articles, verb endings, etc. and signs by English word rather than by concept.

I sign a word a fraction of a second before I say the word. I encourage the kids to say the words with me, i.e. they read the signs out loud. Eventually I stop speaking and just sign and the kids do all the speaking.
I sign everything I do. For example: “Today I want everyone to listen to a song. So, I take the CD. I open the CD player. I close the CD player, etc.”
But mainly, we create stories together TPRStorytelling style. Or, we talk about what we did over the weekend, how Camille broke her foot (dancing with an elephant, of course!) or how to get rid of the mouse that has moved into my kitchen for the winter.
I also read (sign) a lot of books.

This approach develops a basic level of fluency by introducing essential, high frequency vocabulary in context (stories and meaningful conversations) and recycles it throughout the year so the students hear this vocabulary used correctly many, many times in many different contexts.

There is a popular method in Canada, called AIM, which I’m currently piloting here in France with great success. It is similar to TPRS but is based on plays and music. It uses gestures extensively. There was a report about AIM on a Canadian TV show (francophone) similar to 60 minutes. You can watch it here. Enjeux

If anyone is still reading, I hope you find something useful.