subject: Tackling the Challenge of the French Classroom [print this page] Learning to speak French means attending a classroom in French. This is called immersion and it teaches language by forcing students to use a new vocabulary to address the world and the objects and people in it. This is challenging, to say the least, and teachers are always looking for something new and more effective that they can use to teach these lessons. Some of the most innovative products on the market work by using very old techniques in very new ways. If you're familiar with musical theater, you have an idea of how these programs work.
The difference between learning to speak French from musical theater and learning it straight from a book does have comparisons. Consider how easily most children will understand the plot of Dickens's Oliver Twist if they see the musical version, "Oliver!". The songs and the story are all interwoven together and, because they're so connected, children are able to make the leap of understanding required to grasp this complex story. Compare that comprehension to what you would get by trying to teach them directly about class relations and the culture of orphans in Victorian England and you can see why the music makes it more palatable.
Where running a classroom in French is concerned, you can make the lessons much easier in the same way. A catchy tune can communicate how to use simple words and phrases correctly much more effectively than a dry academic lesson ever could. This makes it possible to expand the child's vocabulary very quickly and to help them to understand why and how certain phrases are used at certain times. Music is a language of expression and learning French in this way makes it truly come alive.
Musical theater is a very effective way to make complex things easier to understand. Children tend to love music and teaching them to speak French by teaching them to sing songs is a great way to foster their interest in the language beyond an academic one. When they learn to sing, they learn to use the language to express themselves and that is the foundation of fluency. With a bit of work, which comes via the fun of listening to the story and following the narrative, you can help to create a classroom in French where children love to learn and where what they learn sticks.
Tackling the Challenge of the French Classroom
By: Dr. Dennis Dunham
welcome to Insurances.net (https://www.insurances.net)
