“Real language acquisition develops slowly, and speaking skills emerge significantly later than listening skills, even when conditions are perfect. The best methods are therefore those that supply “comprehensible input” in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are “ready,” recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production.” – Stephen Krashen, 1982
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Comprehensible Input
In this course, our goal will be to acquire French language. “Aquiring” a language is very different than “learning” a language. Acquiring is something that happens to you instead of something that you make happen. When you learned how to speak your first language, you acquired it naturally by listening to other people speak it around you for a long time; not by studying it. Therefore, almost all of our class time will be spent using French—not using English to talk about French—and the focus will be on listening and reading instead of speaking and writing. Those skills will come naturally as you take in more and more French by listening and reading.
This is a Comprehensible Input French course which will use methods and strategies that are based on Dr. Stephen Krashen’s Input Hypothesis. In particular, we will use the TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) method of language acquisition that was developed by Blaine Ray and based on the work of Dr. James Asher.
We will focus our class time on the acquisition of high frequency structures (the most frequently used words in a language); between three and six new target structures each week (you will learn more than this, but will only be assessed on the target structures). We will use these structures in class discussions, stories, and cultural explorations and you will be expected to recognize them when you read or hear them, and in time, be able to produce them in speech and writing.
Adapted from documents by Martina Bex ● www.martinabex.com ● The Comprehensible Classroom
In this course, our goal will be to acquire French language. “Aquiring” a language is very different than “learning” a language. Acquiring is something that happens to you instead of something that you make happen. When you learned how to speak your first language, you acquired it naturally by listening to other people speak it around you for a long time; not by studying it. Therefore, almost all of our class time will be spent using French—not using English to talk about French—and the focus will be on listening and reading instead of speaking and writing. Those skills will come naturally as you take in more and more French by listening and reading.
This is a Comprehensible Input French course which will use methods and strategies that are based on Dr. Stephen Krashen’s Input Hypothesis. In particular, we will use the TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) method of language acquisition that was developed by Blaine Ray and based on the work of Dr. James Asher.
We will focus our class time on the acquisition of high frequency structures (the most frequently used words in a language); between three and six new target structures each week (you will learn more than this, but will only be assessed on the target structures). We will use these structures in class discussions, stories, and cultural explorations and you will be expected to recognize them when you read or hear them, and in time, be able to produce them in speech and writing.
Adapted from documents by Martina Bex ● www.martinabex.com ● The Comprehensible Classroom
