You know the Sound of Music
song Do Re Mi, where she says “let’s start at the beginning, a very good place
to start”? Well, truer words were never sung. I don’t know if it’s because I
work in education and have taught at both the elementary and college level, but
“beginner” lessons that don’t actually start at the beginning drive me bonkers.
You always have to teach to your lowest denominator, which means if you say
something is lesson 1, it better start at lesson 1 (nothing should need to be
taught before it). You have to lay a foundation before you can build a house.
For example, you can’t teach division unless students already know subtraction
and multiplication. Breaking it down further you can’t learn subtraction unless
you know what numbers are. A lot of French lessons will start with greetings
for conversation or verb conjugation for reading, but that’s not really the
beginning. If you assume that your student has never been exposed to French
before, you have to start with the alphabet. Learning the French alphabet and
pronunciation is step one. Another first step would be learning the pronouns
before starting to learn verb conjugations. How can you conjugated a verb for “you”
if you don’t know what “you” is?
Funny story, I was recently
given a placement test for a French class even though I was automatically
signed up for Beginner I since I have never taken ANY French before. The test
was completely in French, even the directions. The “easy” section started with
conjugating irregular verbs in full sentences (completely in French). Um that
is not a test a brand new beginner should take, just sayin'. Would you give that test to a Kindergartener their first day of class? There’s a problem
if you can’t even read or understand the directions. If someone is brand new to a language they aren't going to be able to read in that language yet.
It can be very discouraging to any student when they feel overwhelmed and like they don't know anything. It can actually detract from someone's ability to learn if they are emotionally discouraged. This is why finding a balance is so important. Full immersion (no English) is an excellent way to learn a new language, but it's the "sink or swim" method of learning. Not all learners respond well to this type of learning. Sometimes being overexposed to something new can cause the brain to just shut off because it's overwhelmed and that is a point when learning isn't happening anymore.
It's important to spend time figuring out what works for you, how you learn best. Once you know how you need to learn, go from there.
Some take away tips:
- Start with the alphabet first. Pay extra attention to the vowels, accents, and silent letters. I find writing out phonetical pronunciations in English really helps until you have the pronunciations memorized. There are a lot of good videos on YouTube for learning the alphabet (just do a search for French alphabet). Most of the videos are geared towards children, but that’s alright you are learning at that level in the beginning anyway. Teaching products aimed at kids tend to be better products for novice learners…for some reason we forgot teaching strategies when students are adults and just assume they know how to do things.
- Break sentences down and learn them just like you did when you first learned how to read and write in your native language. Meaning, learn what is the noun, pronoun, subject, verb, article etc. of a sentence. Break it apart and learn it piece by piece. This is why I think it’s easier to learn all of the pronouns (subjects) first before moving on to verbs. Sentences start with a subject so you should learn those first.
- Pronunciation is one of the
hardest things to learn, especially if the sounds are very different than your native language. I don’t find reading written pronunciations
helpful (unless I write them out myself in a way I understand). I have to listen to a
pronunciation while reading the letters/word at the same time. My brain doesn’t
“get it” if I only see the word or only hear it…I need both together. One of
the fastest ways to check the pronunciation of something is to type it into a
Google search. If you pull up the English to French Google translator (just
click the arrows in the middle to switch to French to English) you can type in
any word and then it has a little sound icon next to it (on the right hand side), which when clicked
will give you pronunciation audio. *Obviously make sure your computer's speakers are on first.
- If something is not sticking, try learning it in a different way. Don't get stuck on something that isn't working. Get creative. It doesn't matter how weird or silly something is, if it helps you learn something use it! There is no room for pride when trying to learn a new language.
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