Learn French Through French Classes… Really The Best Way?
ByI was asked about French classes recently… whether or not they are effective in learning French. I think they can be effective as long as you don’t only rely on the classes to get you fluent.
It is important to remember that many French classes move very slowly are focus a lot on grammar exercises and vocabulary lists. This is a very slow way to learn a new language like French. Additionally, many classes don’t even cover enough grammar and vocabulary to get you to fluency anyway.
What you need to do if you are serious about learning a new language like French is to make sure you do outside study and review. This will move you along faster and you can use the class to your advantage by incorporating it into a larger French study plan. Additionally, you will be able to use your French teacher, a great resource, to help you if you have any questions during your self studies.
What I would recommend is not that you do boring grammar exercises and read textbooks like you are already doing in class, but rather do something fun like watch a French movie or read an interesting French book. When you come across an unknown word, note it down and learn it later. If you don’t note it down, you will almost inevitably forget it and have to look it up again when you come across it. So, note it down and then make sure you review it later in order to memorize it for the long term.
In this way, by using real, fun materials outside of class, you will be immersing yourself in French and substantially increasing your vocabulary and grammar comprehension in the language. You will find that you will quickly surpass even the best students in the class simply because you are putting more hours into the language and since you are having more fun, you are more likely to remember what you learn.
These introductory concepts should have you on the way to fluency a bit faster than if you had just relied on the class. However, if you are serious about learning French to an advanced level, you should definitely check out the book I’ve written on language learning.
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