Teaching English in French primary schools
 

I have been teaching English in two French primary schools since Christmas. (I was a primary teacher and adviser in England before taking early retirement in France). I have three year groups, ages 7-8, 8-9 and 9-10. They are large classes (up to 29 in one class) and are also mixed year groups. The classrooms are small, with large, heavy, iron desks - so there is very little flexibility for group work. There are no resources apart from those I make myself. Things are going well with the older children, but I find it hard to come up with ideas for the youngest age group. They are not doing any writing and are only reading simple, individual words with visual clues. I try to use a mix of aural / oral, visual and kinaesthetic teaching methods.
I have read Pernickity's posts with interest - is there anyone else out there with any ideas?
regards
Rouvrou

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Hi Rouvrou, glad to have found you! :D

I find the kids here so enthusiastic and not at all afraid to speak. This is new to me as I mostly taught teenagers and adults before, so I'm not sure if it's because of their age or a mix of age and nationality/culture!

I find the lack of materials and lack of clear curriculum great, on the one hand, because there is no pressure to achieve anything concrete and the kids sense this and just enjoy themselves. It's a break from the regular classes, but they're learning nonetheless. However, the lack of resources means that I spend as much time lesson planning as teaching which makes it quite hard work.

I would love to know how you (as a teacher and adviser) view your role? Do you feel that they need to know x, y and z by the end of the year or are you happy to cover random subjects (vocab/grammar) and hope it's enough...

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Hi there!
I guess we are lucky in Normandy, because our local advisers have taken the European objectives and broken then down into year by year activities and objectives. I also use the objectives in the English strategy
The Standards Site: Key Stage 2 Framework for languages
These are also based on the European standards.
I find that the combination of these two gives me the objectives and the "what", but is a bit short on the "how", especially the "how" in a French classroom with all the constraints I described in my first post - plus the one you mentioned in another thread about the teachers not really liking it if you make too much noise. I have one teacher who visibly winces when I sing with them (perhaps he is a musician!)
Although I have been a primary teacher and adviser, I haven't taught a modern foreign language before, so I feel that I need to get much better at the pedagogy - for example, what are the best ways of introducing and practising new vocabulary, what games work with large classes in cramped conditions etc
I am sure there must be masses of people on this forum with lots of experience and ideas.
regards
Rouvrou

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

I’ve been teaching English in French primary schools for the past ten years. I’ll try to explain « how » I teach.
My teaching is comprehension-based. I don’t think you can learn to speak a language without first understanding the language. To understand any language, we have to be exposed to it A LOT and what we are exposed to has to be comprehensible. Parents make language comprehensible when their children are learning to speak their L1. They do this naturally. They seem to know instinctively that it helps children understand if they talk about objects, people and events that can be seen, heard and touched.

A dog! Look at the dog!

I hear a bird. Listen to the bird.

Here comes the mailman.

Parents know children need lots of practice listening so they create opportunities for listening through out the day. They talk out loud about what they are doing as they perform everyday routines and tasks.

I’m cutting the tomatoes.

I’m looking for my shoes.

They also describe what their child is doing, feeling, hearing, seeing . . .

You’re so tired. It’s time for a nap.

You’re giving Teddy Bear a hug.

Parents instinctively know children need to hear the language to learn it, so they speak to their child and they help make what the child is hearing comprehensible. I do exactly the same thing in class. I begin with TPR (total physical response). The beauty of TPR is that the language is 100% comprehensible from the first class. A word can be taught through TPR if its meaning is transparent without translation. The most obvious groups of words are concrete nouns taught with props and action verbs but also many adjectives, prepositions, etc. I teach lots and lots of verbs in the first few weeks of school including, say, stand (up), sit (down), walk, stop, jump, run, swim, fly, come, come in, go, go out, stay, fall, begin, finish, drink, eat, listen, look, look at, look for, put, take, give, put on, take off, put in, take out, open, close, see, shout, cry, sing, dance, draw, write, sleep, play, work, etc. I say the word, I do the action with one or two students and then I teach the sign for the word to the entire class. I talked about signing with my classes in a previous post. Gestures, combined with teaching vocabulary in context, and constantly recycling vocabulary provides students with a language base that allows them to speak with a basic level of fluency very early on.
If you are interested in using sign language with hearing children, I recommend the following books:

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

Amazon.com: Signing Exact English: Books: Gerilee Gustason,Esther Zawolkow,Donna Pfetzing,Lilian Lopez

or this website:
ASL Browser

Next, I introduce There is/are, this is, he/she/it is, I am and the verbs have, like, want, need, make/do, can, must and the question words and lots of important little words like, so, but, then, if, also. These are worked into daily conversation with the kids and the conversations become stories – usually very repetitive silly stories.
As part of our entry routine, I write a journal entry on a large pad on an easel in the front of the class. It always begins with “Today is . . .” If it is someone’s birthday or if someone has broken a bone or has a new baby brother or sister or pet or is going to Spain for the weekend that gets mentioned. This week Luc (CE2) had a new baby brother. So we wrote, “Today is Monday, February 11th. Luc has a baby brother.” Then I started asking and answering questions with the kids help. I sign a split second before I speak so the kids can speak with me as opposed to repeating after me. Does Luc have a baby sister or a baby brother? Luc has a baby brother. Who has a baby brother? Luc has a baby brother. Does Marc have a baby brother? No, Mark doesn’t have a baby brother. Luc has a baby brother. Luc, does your baby brother cry a lot? Does he sleep a lot? Does he sing or does he cry? Luc said his brother sings so we created a story about the baby singing very loudly all night and Luc can’t sleep so Luc is very, very tired. And of course the baby sings only in English not in French so we burst into song often while telling the story. Luc gets out of bed and shouts “BE QUIET” but the baby does not stop singing. The baby begins to dance. This went on for 10 or 15 minutes. Sometimes we act out the story -2 or 3 or 4 times -or draw the story on the board, anything to help make it comprehensible to everyone.

I also like to share picture books with my classes. The books can be in French because I tell the story using vocabulary they will understand and I ask a lot of questions.

By the way, I see my classes 3x30minutes/week.

Other suggested reading:
Amazon.com: How Languages Are Learned (Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers S.): Books: Patsy Lightbown,Nina Spada

and anything my Stephen Krashen. “Comprehension-based” approaches are based primarily on Stephen Krashen’s Comprehensible Input (CI) theory.
Books and Articles by Stephen D Krashen

Also watch this show about a gesture-based teaching method:
Enjeux

Good luck teaching
cjj

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

cjj,
Fabulous post.

Does it take long to actually learn the signing yourself? I think I may investigate your links and try this as I feel that what I'm currently doing seems disjointed (although, having said that, I'm impressed with the amount the kids have actually remembered since November last)

I've also become a little lazy and find it easier to speak French but I think the kids are beginning to rely on the fact that they will get a translation, so perhaps they'll get a shock after the holidays when I only speak English!

Question: How do the teachers react to your methods? Have you had any feedback from the academie over the years?

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Rouvrou, I'm still sniggering at this!

Am also wading through all the info on the site you recommended, good to see the objectives in black and white.

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

I found it surprisingly easy to learn the signs for the words I use the most often with my students. I found it easier to learn the signs in the context of a story so I practiced by signing the stories I like to read/tell my students or have created with my students. Also, if a natural sign exists for the word, I use it instead of the SEE sign. Hot, cold, walk and run are a few that come to mind. Until this year, I’ve never had a class for more than one school year so the number of signs I need to know is limited to about 400.
As far as translation goes, I will from time to time translate a word the first time I introduce it. I sign and say if/si/if for example. But, for the first 10 hours or so I try to introduce only words that can be understood from my modeling. For example: Put on the coat, take 2 pencils, run to the door, sit on my chair, sit on your desk, run then jump, sing then shout your name. I also use pictures occasionally to clarify meaning and if someone blurts out something in French, like “I know” or “I don’t understand” or “who me?” I take that opportunity to teach the English equivalent and the appropriate sign.
The “good” teachers really enjoy watching me work with their class and can appreciate what I’m doing. They are so proud and supportive of the progress of their students. I love working with these classes. The other teachers use the time to make photocopies or grade papers – enough said. Every year I have entire classes of future teachers from IUFM come to observe my
classes . . . The feedback I receive is that my methods and the way I interact with my students are "American" or "made in USA".
There are always lots of comments about my "esprit positif et encourageant", constant smile, energy, utilisation of space, movement . . . but even the French teachers who are convinced of the efficacy of my methods say it isn't part of their culture and they tell me flat out they would never be comfortable utilising such techniques. I try not to give up hope.
By far my biggest supporters are the parents.

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Many thanks cjj for your informative and detailed posts - there are lots of ideas here that I will try to use and adapt for my own situation.
It seems to me that what you are describing here covers the principles of good teaching - clarity of objectives and varied and interesting activities which support those objectives. If you look at the English materials on the Standards site and the video clips on the linked NACELL site you will see that it is all based on active learning, with lots of ideas for visual and kinaesthetic learning; all very similar to your practice.
It does seem to me (admittedly only after a short exposure to French classrooms) that many of the things we have been talking about in England over the last ten years are not much under discussion here - climate for learning, creating the classroom environment, positive behaviour management, independence, active learning, assessment for learning etc etc.
Is this an accurate view? What do other people think?
regards
Rouvrou

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Hi rouvrou i teach in spain in a semi private school to 6,7,8 year olds with about 20 children in class. we use the get set go books which prodides teacher and children with a very good base for language learning. they have all the objectives incorperated in a syllabus filled with games , songs and fun but with a very practical step by step way of introducing grammer through speaking , reading and singing. check it out and then with a few flashcrads you will be on your way. thew classroom is your repsonsiblity . you should take it on yourself to decorate with meaningfull english material based on a syllabus and that will inspire the children and make them feel homely. involve them with activities to make posters like picture dictionaries. photosfrom magazines with the french and english words written on and it will help them pick up the grammer.don´t take the easy english in a foreign country way out and wait for the school to paint the claassroom or provide you with a syllabus. teach with a guideline not here and there lessons and internet worksheet in five minutes worksheets invest in a good book with syllabus. contact macmillan or oxford.they have great products in spain with extra story and flashcards and cds with songs and a firm guideline to introduec the grammer and vocab the children needand these were designedandwrittenby pros. check outthe get set go books as soon as you can. you can get flashcards from mes-english on-line as well.

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Thanks Kevin. I will indeed have a look at "Get, Set Go", but I don't think the local inspectors / advisers would be too keen on the exclusive use of a commercial scheme and as a teacher I have always wanted to adapt and use my own materials. The European framework does provide a very good structure, so I use the framework to set objectives and then design activities around them. I have bought the "English for Primary Teachers" book by Mary Slattery and Jane Willis and have found lots of useful stuff there. I have also found this forum really useful for ideas for activities. As to the classroom - under this programme you are teaching for 2 x 45 minutes in the children's state school classroom. Of course good display is really important and I am able to put up temporary displays in the four classrooms that I work in, but in this instance you are working in another teacher's classroom so there is a limit to what you can do.
regards
Rouvrou

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Okay. I just assumed most schools will use at least one text book or student , activity book. The state schools in france and Spain give parents a list of text books they have to buy for the coming year so try it. What do you do have a file and then file all the worksheets and material yourself or do you let the children copy ,cut and paste into a book. I am glad that´s not me because here i teach from 9.00-17:00 and I have maybe two hours of prep a day. The classes are 55minutes. I use a pupils book with comprehension ,reading and singing activities. It is accompanied by a workbook and both is based around the national framework . most books and we re-view them every year is the same but the characters or style is different. We also have another book to copywrite in or do extra activities. I have three classes a week with the7,8 year olds and rely heavily on songs,flashcards witch i source to iontroduce new vocab. copy writing is also important. We also supplement the book or change certain units depending on how the children are doing.I couldn´t imagine having to teach by worksheet. It is difficult to let children of that age copy cut paste file without instruction in their native tongue. We teach natural science in english as well and I have my class twice a week and we work from scratch. We have a english department with both local and native speakers all with university degrees and we type at the beginnning of every year the syllabus and objectioves for each class and prepare extra activities etc and that is hard work without if not close to impossible without a textbook.we are struggling in sciemnce becuase we decided to go against a textbook. we also have a virtual classroom for parents and children on the schools web-site. I am surprised by the amount of time it takes to pre-pare well thought of worksheets and material. The best thing about a book is it is a spine you can grow your body around and the class should flow. I find That the worksheets made on worksheet engines on the net on tefl sites is not enough. anyway best of luck kev;)

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

I don't use worksheets much either Kevin as the emphasis is very much on aural / oral, with only a very little bit of written language for the older children. We do lots of games, songs, and oral practice, with pictures and real objects or toys. This half term I am building the work around "Traditional Tales" and the characters in them (Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks etc). If you have a look at the Key Stage 2 website (link in an earlier post in this thread) you will see what the objectives and teaching activities look like - all very much based on active learning.

The European initiative is really about giving the children a good experience of language learning in state Primary Schools, not about teaching for the Cambridge Exams or similar. My son teaches in an Academy in Spain and I know he does more written work and grammar teaching with them. He also has much smaller classes though - fifteen maximum as opposed to 26+ in my classes.
regards
Lisa

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Rouvrou,
You mentioned traditional tales which led me to wonder if you have received the Alice in Wonderland book from Langues pour Tous, recommended by the minister of education? It comes with 1/2 the story (!), plus exercises and a CD to go with it. Looks good. I'm going to start with it this term.

Our school didn't receive it but another local one did and they don't teach Eng there so someone kindly passed it on to me. Published by Livre de poche, maison d’édition, actualité littéraire – Editions Pocket

I'm going to ask the inspecteur this week about it (and if there are more freely available) when he inspects me this week (!) I'll let you know his answer.

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

No Pernickety - I haven't seen it, I will ask the school about it. I am starting tomorrow with "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" and have found some useful pictures on line to make flash cards. I will then do The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs - I think the last two should be familiar stories for the children in French?
Good luck with the inspection - if it is any help, my adviser ticked the box that said "Too much French" and I only said about three sentences in French, so be ready for that one!
regards
Rouvrou

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Hi All,
I just found this forum while searching for printable flashcards. I also just started teaching in three French Primary schools in November. So far, so good!! The kids are nice and I basically do whatever I want...I follow the curriculum suggested by the Inspection Academique, mostly oral/aural but we do write as the teachers said parents expected to see written work in the notebooks!!! I rely on TPR quite a bit..if you aren't familiar with this method of teaching language, maybe there are sites on the Internet. It works very well for many things...and allows you to remain in the target language. I try to avoid translation...and try to only speak French if there is much confusion about an activity.

Does anyone have a good method for oral evaluation? I try to keep track during question/response reviews and warm ups but it is difficult!

We have a "journee de formation" here in the Landes on March 12...I will be interested to see what type of information we receive

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

abonnenfant,
haven't heard of that method before, sounds interesting. As with all these methods I get fed up if you have to pay big money to access it. I like the idea of telling stories though and would love to get some roleplays/plays started. Had you used this method before November?

By the way whereabouts in Landes are you? I'm not far from Aire sur l'Adour! Will be interested to hear about your workshop.

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

I started with Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See? yesterday. They enjoyed the book, but next time I shall spend more time on the vocab before we try to read the book together. For assessment I use "What have we learnt today?" and when they tell me (in French) we do thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs wiggle (for I understand well, not at all, sort of) for each activity - which hopefully match the objectives for the session.
BTW has anyone found any good resources for The 3 Little Pigs? There are some good British Council ones for Red Riding Hood, but I can't find anything I like for the Little Pigs.
regards
Rouvrou

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Pernickety – how did your inspection go ?
I second abonnefant’s recommendation of TPR. It’s great and it doesn’t cost a thing to get started. In TPR (Total Physical Response), the children give a physical response rather than an oral response to what the teacher says thereby demonstrating that they understand what has been said. Traditionally, TPR teachers begin with the following words:
stand up - sit down – walk – stop – turn around – jump

To start, say “stand up” and you stand up and motion for the class or a small group – I like to begin with 2 boys & 2 girls – to stand up;
Say “walk” and you walk and check that the group is walking;
Next is “sit down” and you sit down and everyone will sit down.

After practising stand up, sit down and walk several times, say “stand up” again but this time don’t stand up. This allows you to instantly see which kids have really internalized the words. I spend the entire class introducing new vocabulary and checking for understanding. This is so important! A child who doesn’t understand will feel lost and tune out mentally and just give up.

After stand up - sit down – walk – stop – turn around – jump, expand with “walk to the window/door/board”. When the kids are responding with confidence, say “jump to the window”. Your quickest kids will respond immediately by jumping to the window although they have never heard this before and have never seen you do it. This is the beauty of TPR!

Next introduce words that can be combined with the words the kids have already internalized.
For example, touch or point to can be combined with the nouns to give “touch/point to the window/door/board”. Sit down can be combined with chair, desk, floor to get “Sit on a chair/desk” then add my/your to get “sit on my chair” then add nose for “touch my/your nose” or “touch the chair with your nose”. I hope you get the idea. You’ll be amazed by what the kids are able to understand.

When I plan my lessons, my goal is to surround my students with contextualised, comprehensible language. Due to the nature of TPR each lesson is repetitive yet varied and interesting. I’d never think “today I’m going to teach colours” then go in and teach 10 colours. Instead, I’d introduce 2 or 3 colours and combine them with previously acquired language i.e. “Touch the blue fish” or “sit on the blue chair” or “give me a blue pen”.

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Another great thing about TPR is that kids who don't "get it" can simply look around, see what others are doing, and imitate them. They don't have to be corrected by the teacher or anyone else and they quickly learn to associate the phrase with the correct physical response. The students eventually start using the English phrases, too. If someone isn't listening, or doesn't respond to the TPR "command", the other kids will repeat, for instance, "Stand up! Stand up!".

I even use TPR to focus a lesson when students get distacted or off task. I give a series of commands that get them moving, then say "Sit down. Look at me." and continue on with the task at hand that wasn't working well before the TPR break.
I'm a big fan!! ( In case you couldn't tell)

Re: Teaching English in French primary schools
 

Thanks, all, for the great advice below. I begin teaching my daughter's class of 30, 4-5 year-olds tomorrow morning.. 15 years ago I taught TEFL to adults in Language schools but I now have "TPR" as a my prop.
Thanks, saved by the forum!