You started lessons with your French teacher and you went from not being able to string two words together to being able to chat in French.  “Amazing,” you think, “this teacher is brilliant and I can’t wait to take more lessons with them.” While we are always delighted to hear that you have enjoyed your lessons, continuing with that same teacher is not necessarily the best strategy.

According to a journal published by ‘Apprentissage des Langues et Systèmes d’Information et de Communication’ in a study conducted by The University of British Columbia where 924 students were polled, they found that having “multiple instructors can be especially effective at meeting high level learning goals.”

Reference: https://journals.openedition.org/alsic/3864

Get out of your comfort zone

The beginning of your language learning journey is often where the progress feels fastest (moving from zero to ‘something’ feels more tangible than moving from ‘something’ to ‘something more’), but this doesn’t necessarily mean that your first French teacher has a set of special skills the likes of which no other teacher can come close to. Your learning needs change as your level does, and this can be a good time to assess whether continuing with the same teacher is really pushing you to progress.

When learning a language there is often a difficult balance to strike between ‘comfort’ and ‘authenticity’.  You need to be comfortable enough to speak and to make mistakes (mistakes are one of the most important tools in language learning), but if you are too comfortable then you very often don’t have authentic interactions.

Students who learn with only one teacher during their whole learning process typically end up acquiring so-called ‘classroom language habits’, such as speaking at a slower pace, using very simple vocabulary, or avoiding complex structures. In order to avoid this, it is vital to be a little less comfortable and a little more authentic. This is a situation which can be forced on us, in Citizenship interviews, DELF exams, or even just high-stress interactions in our day-to-day life in France.  The best way to prepare for this is by having authentic interactions with several teachers during your language training.

Accents and expressions

Have you ever noticed that when you spend a lot of time talking to the same people, you end up picking up their expressions?  If you do this for long enough, you may even find that you pick up some of their local dialect phrases or even their accents.  This is because everyone has an ‘idiolect’: the speech habits that are unique to that person. While this isn’t a problem in your native language, as you instinctively know how to adapt your tone, register and expression for different audiences, these instincts are likely to be missing in your second language.

This is why it is essential to ensure that your French interactions include a range of accents and expressions (as well as different ages and genders), so as to ensure that your spoken French interactions are as broad as possible.  While you can meet some of these needs in your day-to-day French interactions, having the chance to work with a range of different teachers, each with their own idiolect, is too good an opportunity to turn down.

Teaching and learning styles

Pedagogy lies at the heart of your training, and each teacher has different pedagogical styles, different teaching experience, and different specialities.  While there are strengths in all of these different styles, and while you may have your own preferences, the strongest approach is to combine these.

Working with different teachers gives you the ability to learn the same thing in a different way, and to consolidate what you have already learned in new contexts.  It can also provide you with a range of learning strategies, recommendations, and resources – broadening your knowledge base as well as depthening it.

How to put this into place?

There are many ways of ensuring that your French training gives you access to different teachers. This can take place within one package of lessons: a group teacher and a private teacher, having your lessons covered by another teacher during staff holidays, or taking Conversation Workshops with one teacher while taking private lessons with another teacher. You can discuss these options with us when you enquire about your training package.

If you are a repeat student coming back to us, it could be a good idea to ask for a change of teacher when scheduling your next batch of lessons.

At PDS Formation, all of our teachers are native French speakers, qualified language teachers, and have a good level of English.  During and after every course, we ask for student’s feedback so as to ensure that all of our teachers are offering high quality lessons adapted to your needs.

Our teachers also share information with each other, using your Student Tracking Forms (to which you have access throughout your lessons) so as to ensure that if you start lessons with a new teacher they have a clear picture of your objectives, your strengths, your weaknesses, and your learning preferences.  We will also ask you to complete a pre-training evaluation before embarking on a package of lessons, which will further help to inform your teacher about your learning needs.

CONCLUSION

We understand that it can be scary to take a leap outside of your comfort zone, but we’re sure that your French level will thank you for it!

If you want to find out more, just contact us or check out our courses.