My method · 1 of 3 · The communicative approach
Students speak from the first lesson, beginners included.
The communicative approach to teaching French starts from a simple idea: a language is also learned by using it. So in my lessons with adults I make room for speaking right from the start, through concrete situations pitched at each student's level.
The principle: use the language before analysing it
In my lessons, French is first of all a tool for understanding, answering, asking, telling a story or reacting. Even at beginner level, the student quickly starts producing their own sentences, with whatever means they have.
Grammar and vocabulary remain essential, but they are there to support the use of the language: we look at a structure, we understand it, then we reuse it in several contexts.
Progress is built that way, through interaction, repetition and the student's growing autonomy.
What it looks like in the room
- The student speaks from the very first lessons. Even with little vocabulary, they gradually learn to do a great deal with what they already know.
- The situations we work on come from real life. Making an appointment, explaining a problem, joining a conversation, dealing with paperwork or recounting an event.
- Vocabulary and structures come back regularly. Something met today reappears later in another context, so that it is genuinely reused.
- French remains the main language of the lesson. I can lean on another language now and then, when it unblocks an understanding quickly.
In the room
I do not correct every mistake the moment it appears. I favour the ones that get in the way of being understood, or that match the aim of the lesson, and we come back to them together. The idea is to correct without constantly interrupting the flow of speech.
A method that adapts to the student's level
The communicative approach does not mean leaving a student out of their depth in the name of immersion.
With a true beginner, or when a situation calls for speed, I can rephrase, translate here and there, use a visual aid or break an instruction down further.
The aim is not to speak French at any cost. It is to build, step by step, the conditions in which the student can use it on their own.
In practice, inside one lesson
Take a simple aim, with a student at A1 level.
The aim of the lesson
Making an appointment over the phone.
We start by watching and listening to a few useful turns of phrase: introducing yourself, explaining why you are calling, proposing a date, asking for something to be repeated.
The student then reuses them in a guided exchange, and after that in a freer role play. I note the difficulties that keep coming back, and we go over a few points together at the end.
From one lesson to the next, the same phrases reappear in new contexts. The aim is not just to know them, but to be able to reach for them when they are genuinely needed.
What the communicative approach does not mean
Getting the student to speak does not mean asking them to fend for themselves.
- Grammar does not go away.It is worked on when it helps the student understand better or express themselves better.
- Correction does not go away either.I simply choose the moment when it will be most useful, without systematically interrupting the flow of speech.
- And speaking French is not an absolute rule.With a beginner, a translation, a picture or an explanation in another language can sometimes save a great deal of time.
So the communicative approach does not set practice against learning the rules. It tries to make sure that what is learned can genuinely be used.
A method makes even more sense once you see it applied. My lesson plans show concretely how these principles play out in a French lesson.
See the lesson plans