Have you ever met someone who studied a language for 3 years in high school and doesn't remember a word? Well, in the context of France it's more like 12 years and remembering 10 words. That language, of course, tends to be English. English is now introduced as an option to 7 year-olds. Before that as early as 5, you can even find schools offering "language sensitivity", wherby pupils learn some English through osmosis. Yes, English is a BIG business in France from the cradle to the grave. A whole ministry of national education has vowed to get everyone to become bilingual or trilingual. And I guess it is crucial for talking to people from other European countries who nowadays almost always prefer English to French, German, Russian or any other European language. So literally there are millions of opportunites for ESL in France. You want a job you can find one.Yette uuuh, een spat of old, nobadiie sames two now eat. (translation: Yet, in spite of it all, nobody seems to know it). If you don't know French no way to understand their English. But there is worse, much much worse! I teach the GOOD students in elite private colleges.
I've had a lot of time to mill this over this complete failure in language training. I've taught at university to majors and minors, and to the others who have it as a mandatory subject in their curriculum (engineers, nurses, psycholgists, literature and math majors, architects, law students... you name it). I've taught children of every age, teenagers, adults in continuing education, also night classes, day classes and those so-called seminars to professionals (bankers, lawyers, businessmen) all seemingly urgently needing to learn it. You name the group, I've had them. Soooo. What's wrong?
Well, first of all, no one takes it that seriously. Studying: well after they've done everything else they need or don't need to do; listening to English: class is good enough, if not 'dubbed movies, series' are much better! really they are!; reading: say what?; writing: well, they laugh, throw their head back and say that writing in French is hard enough; pronounciation: didn't you know- they say- strong French accents are sexy! ... English is not so discreetly seen as less important than any other subject at school (even gym): importance, or as the say coefficient, is 0, whereas math is like worth 10. Also in school, there is basically a pass/fail system, no grading like A,B,C,F or its equivalent etc... and to fail, really you need to be wrong on a test almost half of the time, missing 49% of the vocab, verbs, comprehension,...everything. Put all of this together (no grading, no worth compared to other subjects, no interest) and English really is not so crucial at all. From the age of 10, they know it... So passing notes, talking to neighbors, playing with cellphones, doing crosswords, zoning out (children as well as 40 year-old adults) is fine and dandy in English class.... It's l'exception. Finally, add the long fall, winter, spring, summer breaks, and the fact that the principals, directors,heads schedule English in 2 or 3 hour blocks usually on Friday afternoon (very pedagogical I might add) and the result is that year after year, the students are passed on to the next level knowing zilch.
Second, the methods made by the experts hired by L'éducation nationale defy, or appear not to acknowledge anything I have said in the preceding paragraph. Their methods, exercises, exams and texts for high school (so just imagine college!) are so difficult they come systematically with keys because teachers and native speakers cannot figure them out. Students consistently read 19th century British literature like the Brontë sisters, translate Shakepearian sonnets from English to French, have vocabulary lists with words I have never heard of, and fill in exercises to distinguish'--say --start from begin, and too from also... And by the way, they learn by heart transition words like "to my mind" or "evermore" but still cannot answer a simple question like "how are you?". With every poem on the traumas of the American Civil War written in dialect and essay on "how to distinguish dipthongs from tripthongs", the hatred of English grows and the vow not to learn it. Most French people say in the same sentence that learning English is important, but taking classes is pointless
Finally, everything I have stated is obvious for anyone. Nevertheless, there is no appetite to change this or anything else in France. Many of my classes have been a sham!, an silent understood entente cordiale between administration, students and myself. It goes a bit like this: to the administration: "I will apply the program you have. It really sucks and no one will learn anything with it. You know that too. However, I will apply it and smile"; to the students: "don't cause me problems and I'll give you the correct mark to pass you on to the next level, whatever that is. I know you'd rather be anywhere else, than here and doing this, but we cannot help it. I won't betray your secret that you have learnt 0. And when I pass you, the administration will celebrate it, will be acclaimed by the "beautiful people" in high up places, and you on might go on to get good jobs somewhere. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll get a raise....
Funny enough I might meet adults years later in professional seminars who have come out of this education process, and it's still the same old song: fake class, fake studies, fake method, fake knowledge, fake progress. Then... you recommend me, I'll recommend you. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
The moral of our story: Beware of Frenchment with 15 years of English.
Rontay
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