My method · 2 of 3 · Tailored French lessons
A syllabus built from the student's daily life.
Every learner arrives with a level, and also with situations where they would like to feel more at ease. I build the programme from there, and let it move as the sessions go.
The CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, places their skills. Their daily life decides what we work on.
The principle: understand the needs before building the syllabus
Before setting out a progression, I try to understand the situations in which the student uses French, or would like to.
That might be answering an email, making an appointment, taking part in a meeting, talking to their children's school, following an administrative procedure, or simply feeling more comfortable in a conversation.
I also look at what costs them the most effort today: the situations they avoid, the ones where they search for words, and the ones they still ask for help with.
From there, we choose a few priority goals. The syllabus is built around those needs, then adjusted regularly as the student progresses and as new situations appear.
What it looks like in the room
- The goals stay in view. We know what we are working on and why, and we reassess it regularly.
- The material comes from real situations wherever possible. An email, a form, a conversation, a presentation or an administrative errand can become the starting point of a lesson.
- We work on few goals at a time. The idea is to leave the student enough time to understand, practise and reuse what they learn.
- The CEFR accompanies the progression. It places the skills and gives landmarks, while leaving room for each student's own priorities.
At the start of the course
- A conversation to understand the student's context, habits and goals.
- A short speaking activity, to see how they understand and how they express themselves.
- A written activity suited to their level and their needs.
- A look at the different skills in French, and a few concrete goals for the weeks ahead.
The same level, very different needs
Two students can both be at B1 and still need very different lessons.
One may want to take part more easily in company meetings, and present their ideas precisely.
The other may above all want to talk to their children's school, handle administrative matters, and join everyday conversations more spontaneously.
The level is a starting point. The syllabus then takes shape from the situations in which each person wants to gain independence.
From a need to a syllabus
Goal
Feeling more at ease with the children's school.
A student wants to understand what the school sends her, and to take part in those exchanges more easily.
The lessons can then work on making an appointment, talking with a teacher, the vocabulary of homework, understanding the messages the school sends, and explaining a difficulty her child is having.
Those same situations let us work on the vocabulary, the grammar, the listening and the pronunciation she needs.
The aim is that what is learned in the lesson can gradually be reused alone, in the real situation.
A syllabus that changes with the student
- 01
The goals set at the start give a direction, but they are not fixed.
- 02
I reassess them regularly, according to the student's progress, the difficulties that appear, and the new situations they meet in daily life.
- 03
Sometimes a student starts with a fairly general wish, for instance to speak French better, without yet knowing precisely what to work on. The first lessons then also serve to observe, and to narrow the priorities down step by step.
And in a company?
For training inside a company, I also take into account the organisation's goals, the professional context, and the situations the participants actually meet.
The aim remains to define skills concrete enough for each learner to see their own progress, and to use French more easily in their working day.
A lesson plan shows how a concrete need becomes a lesson: a goal, activities, materials, and a progression thought out for the student.
See the lesson plans