Teaching French & English

TEACHING ENGLISH TO FRENCH SPEAKERS

This very short introductory paper briefly points out some of the major difficulties the French have in learning English and the English French. It also hazards some recommendations regarding the teaching of these languages. Suggestions are of a general nature, inasmuch as there are various levels of acquired and expected competencies for various age groups with various objectives and learning environments.

"As a world language, French is holding its own surprisingly well in the face of constant competition from English" (Harris, 1988, p. 209). Fortunately for the learner of French, the language is evolving rapidly both in its lexis and its grammar--and, in fact, in its phonology. The one major problem for the novice student, however, is that most French courses and learning methods are still steeped in the anachronistic dictates of the AcadTmie Frantaise and of classical grammar books. Indeed, "traditionally grammars have been prescriptive, based on certain norms of 'good' or 'accepted', and as such they have been incomplete since they do not describe the language as spoken or written by many of those who use it" (Judge & Healy, 1995, p. xxxv). Another problem is that "Nonnative speakers of French can reach a point in their knowledge of the language where they feel comfortable with standard formal speech. However, they are liable to get themselves into hot water when confronted wi

. . .
he French determiners accord with both gender and number; e.g. la maison, le chapeau, les oiseaux; and also ma femme, mon mari, mes enfants. The major difficulty is that gender is grammatical rather than natural. There is, in fact, no natural reason why le verre should be masculine and la bouteille feminine. To complicate matters further, some nouns have both masculine and feminine genders; e.g. un aide (a helper) vs une aide (the action of aiding). And some nouns add a suffix to determine gender; e.g. un chien, une chienne; un chat, une chatte; un pTcheur, une pTcheresse; un menteur, une menteuse. Clearly, verbs with their tenses and moods constitute a formidable hurdle. The subjunctive is of particular difficulty. Yet, this mood is also used in English (e.g. "If I were you, I would be..."), and has its raisons d'Otre ("Si j'Ttais toi, je serais..."). The teacher should not tackle verbs as if they were an unsurmountable obstacle to be confronted with rule memorization; rather, she should use all tenses and moods in context and have students read, write, listen, and speak meaningfully in active participative situations. French pronunciation is the Achilles heel for native English speakers. One problem, for example, is the schwa,
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Approximate Word count = 2589
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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