Comments on: Methods of Learning French… http://ladamedragon.com/blog/methods-of-learning-french Ottawa, French language courses, translation Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:13:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Lyne Des Roberts http://ladamedragon.com/blog/methods-of-learning-french/comment-page-1#comment-1021 Lyne Des Roberts Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:25:00 +0000 http://ladamedragon.com/blog/?p=2363#comment-1021 Bonjour Oliver, I think you have a pretty good idea of what learning French implies! I mean learning French for the purpose of using it in daily interaction with Francophones. It is something that can't be done overnight and especially not with the type of resources found on the net promising fluency in a few weeks. I'm sure collecting all the words you hear and putting them into context helps alot... I will certainly have a look at your website: I'm always looking for complementary tools my trainees (and readers) can use to improve their learning process... Thanks for stopping by and leaving your input! I really appreciate it! ;-) Bonjour Oliver,

I think you have a pretty good idea of what learning French implies! I mean learning French for the purpose of using it in daily interaction with Francophones. It is something that can’t be done overnight and especially not with the type of resources found on the net promising fluency in a few weeks.

I’m sure collecting all the words you hear and putting them into context helps alot… I will certainly have a look at your website: I’m always looking for complementary tools my trainees (and readers) can use to improve their learning process…

Thanks for stopping by and leaving your input! I really appreciate it! ;-)

]]> By: Oliver http://ladamedragon.com/blog/methods-of-learning-french/comment-page-1#comment-1020 Oliver Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:14:49 +0000 http://ladamedragon.com/blog/?p=2363#comment-1020 I just stumbled upon this blog and I found this post quite interesting. I too get sick of all the promises and claims made by online courses. I've been living in France for over a year now and still have a long way to go before I'll be able to consider myself even semi-fluent. I have tried a lot of different approaches to learning French, but so far the only two things that have actually resulted in noticeable improvements have been traditional french courses and one-on-one language exchanges. One thing I started doing this year with my french course (currently at the Sorbonne in Paris) is learning all the new words I came across during class along with the actual sentence the word was used in. To do this, I ended up making my own website (www.vocaber.com) which has actually made this task quite possible. Seeing the vocabulary in context over and over again acts as a constant reminder of what was covered in the class. I just stumbled upon this blog and I found this post quite interesting. I too get sick of all the promises and claims made by online courses. I’ve been living in France for over a year now and still have a long way to go before I’ll be able to consider myself even semi-fluent. I have tried a lot of different approaches to learning French, but so far the only two things that have actually resulted in noticeable improvements have been traditional french courses and one-on-one language exchanges.

One thing I started doing this year with my french course (currently at the Sorbonne in Paris) is learning all the new words I came across during class along with the actual sentence the word was used in. To do this, I ended up making my own website (www.vocaber.com) which has actually made this task quite possible. Seeing the vocabulary in context over and over again acts as a constant reminder of what was covered in the class.

]]> By: Lyne Des Roberts http://ladamedragon.com/blog/methods-of-learning-french/comment-page-1#comment-961 Lyne Des Roberts Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:02:38 +0000 http://ladamedragon.com/blog/?p=2363#comment-961 Thank you so much for this explanation Diane! ;-) I'm sure it will enlighten some of my readers. Actually I have no clue of what are the requirements for proficiency in our Canadian schooling system. I bet you know more than me on that subject! And I cannot really use the Public Service of Canada's own requirements (A, B and C) since they don't really make sense outside the governement. Yet none of these levels is considered more than functional (I would call them novice, intermediate and advanced... higher than that, we then speak of "bilingual"!)... The Québécois are traditionally not tolerant of unilingual English-speaking Canadians, based on the fact they SHOULD be able to understand and speak the other official language. But they don't have the same attitude towards their American neighbours, only because they consider them as "foreigners" who never really had the opportunity of getting exposure to French. Hopefully there are signs of Spring in Michigan also... here, the day is simply gorgeous... and this week will be sunny and warm! À la prochaine! Thank you so much for this explanation Diane! ;-) I’m sure it will enlighten some of my readers.

Actually I have no clue of what are the requirements for proficiency in our Canadian schooling system. I bet you know more than me on that subject! And I cannot really use the Public Service of Canada’s own requirements (A, B and C) since they don’t really make sense outside the governement. Yet none of these levels is considered more than functional (I would call them novice, intermediate and advanced… higher than that, we then speak of “bilingual”!)…

The Québécois are traditionally not tolerant of unilingual English-speaking Canadians, based on the fact they SHOULD be able to understand and speak the other official language. But they don’t have the same attitude towards their American neighbours, only because they consider them as “foreigners” who never really had the opportunity of getting exposure to French.

Hopefully there are signs of Spring in Michigan also… here, the day is simply gorgeous… and this week will be sunny and warm!

À la prochaine!

]]> By: Diane http://ladamedragon.com/blog/methods-of-learning-french/comment-page-1#comment-959 Diane Sun, 15 Mar 2009 06:11:13 +0000 http://ladamedragon.com/blog/?p=2363#comment-959 I flee from the word "fluency." Way too fuzzy! I use the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines. Students are rated on a scale of novice, intermediate, advanced, or superior. It's pretty specific about what you should be able to do in the language & how at each level. In fact, each of the levels is further subdivided by low, mid, and high. And then, of course, you might have a different proficiency level in different modes (speaking vs. reading for example.) Although it sounds a little discouraging, my level 2 high school students typically leave my class still at the novice level. (Though hopefully most of them will be at the upper end of that.) And that's perfectly normal. Some natives never reach the very highest level, since that is an EDUCATED native speaker. And some highly educated speakers might not reach the very highest level simply b/c of an accent. But honestly, I wouldn't care about an accent! Of course, most people wouldn't have the foggiest idea of what I was talking about if I threw out a proficiency level. I do prefer the term bilingual over fluent though. As far as your comment about the patience extended to us anglophone Americans in Quebec . . . absolutely :-) I attended school in Quebec, but my English-speaking Canadian classmates expressed having a different experience than I did. Honestly, I've NEVER been more warmly welcomed & kindly treated as when traveling in Quebec City & the Saguenay region. As always, an interesting post! I flee from the word “fluency.” Way too fuzzy! I use the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines. Students are rated on a scale of novice, intermediate, advanced, or superior. It’s pretty specific about what you should be able to do in the language & how at each level. In fact, each of the levels is further subdivided by low, mid, and high. And then, of course, you might have a different proficiency level in different modes (speaking vs. reading for example.)

Although it sounds a little discouraging, my level 2 high school students typically leave my class still at the novice level. (Though hopefully most of them will be at the upper end of that.) And that’s perfectly normal. Some natives never reach the very highest level, since that is an EDUCATED native speaker. And some highly educated speakers might not reach the very highest level simply b/c of an accent. But honestly, I wouldn’t care about an accent!

Of course, most people wouldn’t have the foggiest idea of what I was talking about if I threw out a proficiency level. I do prefer the term bilingual over fluent though.

As far as your comment about the patience extended to us anglophone Americans in Quebec . . . absolutely :-) I attended school in Quebec, but my English-speaking Canadian classmates expressed having a different experience than I did. Honestly, I’ve NEVER been more warmly welcomed & kindly treated as when traveling in Quebec City & the Saguenay region.

As always, an interesting post!

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