Language Teachers

laurenpedro123

I'm in my final year of a French degree and while my comprehension is very good, writing is good, I find that holding conversations are difficult and therefore by the time that I graduate, I definitely wouldn't feel fluent at all.

I had undertaken the degree as I would like to teach French but without living in the country for a few years and then making strong efforts daily to maintain the language, I would envisage that it would be difficult to be fluent / retain fluency.

For language teachers out there, would you say that you need to be completely fluent in order to teach the language? How do you keep up your level of the language (especially for those teaching more than one language concurrently)?

Many thanks

teach88

I wouldn't think that it would hold you back hugely. If you're in final year and have done well in your exams, you probably know all the grammar and vocab but you're just lacking confidence with oral conversation.

Have you lived in France at all? You should probably take a look at this if not: http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/_fileupload/Registration/AutoQuals/Autoquals%20updated%2010th%20January%202012.pdf

On page 10 is the Teaching Council's requirements for French teachers. Bullet point no. 4 states that to teach French you need "Residential experience of at least three months in France or other country where French is the vernacular." I did a year in France as part of my degree so, to be honest, I don't know how strictly this is applied but knowing the Teaching Council....

ahahah

Im a language teacher and I lived in the country for a year after degree and post dip. I would recommend this as you really should have a good oral command of the language for teaching.

unknowngirl!!

I qualified last year as a French teacher. During my degree I spent my the end of 2nd year and all of 3rd year living in France and the following summer in Belgium.

With a good standard, but not fluent, you'd be fine for JC and OL LC French. I'm teaching HL LC French this year though and without a very strong command of the language I don't think it would be possible. Preparing students for their orals and correcting their written production requires an in-depth knowledge of the language and you often have to explain little points on the spot.

In terms of getting a job your language skills will more than likely be tested as I was half interviewed in French and half in English!

Au Pair during the Summer or go live in a francophone country for a year.. It'll stand to you! Don't go into the classroom with doubts about yourself.

chippers

From another angle - I work in a spanish public school and all the english teachers here are native spaniards. By and large I find that those that have lived abroad in an english speaking country for a decent length of time to be so much clearer in their english. Thankfully the majority of teachers are in this category. But then there are others who have primarily only learnt their english in spain and they butcher the language - saying the right words but pronouncing them incorrectly / speaking english with a spanish accent / getting the structure of sentences wrong etc. I don't know how the kids are expected to progress when the teacher doesn't have a full grasp of the language.

linguist

I think I should commend the OP for having the honesty to raise this issue, particularly as she (I'm guessing) probably knew that not all the responses might be easy to read. I might add that fluency is not an easily defined concept. Most people have good and bad days and of course not everyone is a great conversationalist socially.

However, I completely agree with unknowngirl in particular. At higher level senior cycle you will be dealing with a certain proportion of candidates who will be very high achievers and will be fighting for A1s and A2s. Many of these students will have invested in their French studies significantly (periods in France, Euro Languages College etc.) They will gauge very quickly whether the teacher is up to the task. Quite aside from that, the syllabus objectives and grammar/vocabulary required at that level simply cannot be bluffed.

If I could make a general observation - which is not intended to seem personal - it is easy for university students to look back on secondary school as being easy or at a low level. However, it is anything but in senior cycle. Our top students - of whom there are a few in most schools - have a most impressive grasp of French and I'm sure most other subjects as well. I suppose that I am a little surprised that you've gone this far in French without, apparently, making the efforts one would associate with a specialist and presumably an enthusiast in your subject area.

I think my advice to you would be to plan on spending some time in France or another French speaking country post-graduation. If possible do some further study when there (maybe an Alliance Francaise qualification) and then go for the PGDE afterwards.

laurenpedro123

Many thanks everyone for your replies which are very helpful. I think total immersion is defnitely the way to improve fluency. From my situation I am in my late 30s so I come from a time when it was too expensive for my parents to send me to university and therefore I did all my under and post grads at night while working full time. I've three young children now and am working and doing the French degree part-time so unfortunately I can't go abroad (although I would absolutely love to). My partner is French and I watch French TV, listen to French radio and speak with him all the time at home (and have online pen-pals) but I suppose I am very conscious of my weaknesses and it is that which I'm trying to address. I'll continue to work hard this year and hopefully my confidence will improve (as one poster kindly mentioned - I do have the grammar and vocab and am averaging a high 2.1 / 1.1, it's really just the conversational confidence I need to feel that I have complete fluency). Many thanks everyone and much appreciated.

SS19

I've recently done the dip and I know people were in it who did not spend a year in France. Initially you only teach 1st or 2nd yr students so that would be fine but long term but I would definitely advise going for a holiday at least.

@Unknown girl...you said you had an interview half in English, half French...I have one next week and was wondering what did they ask you in French? Trying to be as prepared as possible.

gagiteebo

I teach French and German. Look everyone has their good and bad days but I really think you have to have lived in a country where that language is spoken for a significant period of time. I lived in Germany for a year and France and quebec for around 4 years. Does it mean I know everything? No certainly not but it has given me a big advantage. Watch French telly, have you checked out les revenants on channel 4? It's excellent
Also you will learn as you go along.
Well done on speaking up, I think this is an issue for many teachers and not just those who teach languages. I know some who wouldn't be confident teaching a certain area of their subject.
Good luck :-)

vamos!

I understand the situation and think you should do a course to improve your confidence. I teach two languages and have spent lots of time in one country and very little in the other. I would consider myself to be fluent in one and ok in the other. I have taught both to LC Higher level. I think if you are incredibly prepared, you will handle it. I have also found that even JC stuff gets easier the more you do it. I had forgotten silly words like dishwasher and lawn in both languages but have now taught the first year course in both languages a few times and know these words now. It's probably a silly point to make but practice really does make perfect. Also, the FTA are running a French course for teachers in the AF next week I think. Check out the AF webpage. There are also subsidised residential courses in france at Easter.

playedalive

I would say that, from the point of view of a secondary school student, it is easy for a high achieving student to notice when a language teacher is not confident at oral language. I had a French teacher who hardly ever spoke French in my Leaving Cert class. He was great at written expression, but I had to go to classes for oral language in the Alliance Francaise.

I think a 'confident fluency' in the language is essential. I have just finished my degree in languages (French and Spanish). I have spent little time in France (about 2 months for my degree) but have lived with French people in Ireland. I would say that living in a semi-immersed environment helped me to speak French with a decent fluency. Having a French partner would definitely make a difference for you. You could always try meeting French people for conversation exchanges on http://www.conversationexchange.com. I found this helpful through my degree.

Having said that, I have lived for roughly six months in Spain and I'm quite confident in oral Spanish with no strong foreign accent. Being honest, I would say my Spanish is stronger than my French because I have been to Spain many times. Nevertheless, I have met people who speak English fluently without ever living in an English speaking country (Norwegians and Chinese people who speak English with an American accent from the TV). So it can be done if you immerse yourself as much as possible.