In this article Henry discusses the subject of learning to speak English as a young French professional and what he would like to see from a language school, were he in the process of learning.
I did not do well at school and school did not do well for me
Supposing I were an average young French professional and needed to improve my English. The odds are I would feel under pressure because my job would require me to speak at least some English, and the job market is increasingly closed to people that do not make it beyond school English – anglais scolaire, as one says in France.
In all likelihood, I would have already studied English at school from 1 to 3 hours a week over a period of 6 to 10 years, therefore I should theoretically be bilingual. But let’s be logical: if I was a part of those (less than 10%) whom leave school with a real B2 level in spoken English, I would not be thinking about improving my English now! My current level as an average young French professional would be somewhere around the higher A2 range, with a decent ability in written English and marked deficiencies in spoken English. I would be, as they say somewhat bloqué (blocked), meaning my mind blanks out when English is spoken at me, depriving me of any possibility to respond.
Spending so much time studying English with such an obvious lack of results left a strong legacy. I would be plagued by intense unpleasant feelings associated with learning English, a high sense of personal insecurity and the certainty that my mind is somehow inadequate. English lessons made me regress back to the age of three when I was still struggling with complicated words. Learning English would bring to mind distressing memories of English teachers attempting to force me to speak, despite the huge blank hole right in the middle of my mind… English teachers reprimanding me about obscure grammar points and fellow students giggling at my obvious confusion.
Oh, how I hated English classes! Eventually I found a way of sitting passively at the back of the class and making the teacher understand he would just waste his time on me.
Not just vocabulary and grammar: The perfect language school
Supposing I were an average young French professional and I had done the rounds of most of the traditional language schools, I would find them vastly friendlier than the secondary school system. I would notice that they cater to some of my needs at least, like learning in smaller groups and providing time for speaking practice.
From my experience, it was quite obvious from the start that none of these traditional schools were willing to cater to my two most pressing needs: (i) to overcome the legacy of 10 years of English at school, and (ii) to transform me into a proactive and efficient language learner with a positive outlook on myself and my capacities. Even though the teachers seemed friendly, professional and motivating, their focus would still have been on grammar and vocabulary, albeit somewhat business focused and geared towards more practical use than what was taught at school.
This is why I started dreaming out loud; what would the language school of my dreams be like? How would it be different from the existing language schools? How would it provide an adequate answer to all the negative experiences that I had accumulated?
Positive strokes
The first thing that sprung to mind about my perfect language school was that it would provide direct access to the teacher! I didn’t want to be one in a crowd any longer. I didn’t want to sit passively at the back of the class any longer. I wanted all those things I missed out on previously: the teacher’s personal guidance, contact, feedback and reinforcement. I would need to feel welcome when I walked into the school and I would enjoy having somebody with whom to discuss my progress and my short-term goals. I would not want to be pampered like a child though, that would somehow throw me back into the role I know best: the passive absorber and non-retainer of language tuition.
I would expect the teachers to help me become an efficient learner. Because let’s face it, if I was a good language learner, I would not need English classes at the age of 25! The only learning strategies I know are primitive, like attempting to learn long lists of vocabulary and then pray that the right word springs to mind at the right moment when I need it (it usually doesn’t). I’m also likely to make requests that are not really helpful, like asking teachers to correct my every word, because that is how I was taught at school and what I have been lead to expect. Come to think of it, if I knew how to learn English I would probably consider vocabulary and grammar quite secondary and easy to acquire.
I would need the school to provide me with plenty of opportunities to practice what I am learning immediately. And yes of course, I would like to practice with Anglophones, not just French people who speak excellent English. Because let’s face it… speaking the language is about meeting different people – it’s not just about syntax and oral comprehension.
E-learning with a human touch
Unfortunately, I am aware that teachers are really expensive human beings, all the traditional language schools said so! Those providing cheap teachers only provided untrained students and/or larger group settings, so it was back to square one.
Traditional language schools introduced blended learning, with a mix of learning with a teacher as well as a computer, and this brought the price of the course down. As an average young French professional, I felt highly distrustful of a computer teaching me English. For one thing, the whole concept would feel reminiscent of the solitude experienced at the back of the English classes at school. Furthermore, what do computers know about speaking? And how could they possibly satisfy my needs for human interaction?
So yes, I might not be able to afford pure 100% teacher time, but I recoil at the idea of machine learning. However, if there was a teacher in the language lab with me, somebody to greet me when I arrive, to answer questions as I go, provide insights and challenges, and transform me into a better learner etc. maybe then, I would not mind learning online and sharing my teacher with all the other students in the lab.
And yes, if I was to be taught by both humans and computers, I would prefer the flipped classroom format. Which means precious teacher time would be prioritised to cover what I struggle most with: speaking practice.
A change of outlook
My first goal as an average young French professional would probably be to scrape by in English just enough to get those jobs I cannot get without basic fluency in the language. I would probably consider the whole process of getting there quite distasteful and my first inclination would be to interrupt my learning as soon as I have achieved my goal.
But if I was learning English in the language school of my dreams, could I possibly actually enjoy the time I spent there? And have such a good experience that I might actually want to reassess my goals and extend my tuition to become a fluent English speaker?
Rethink the English language business
However, I am not a young French professional. I am a French citizen and the owner of a network of language schools in France. From those vantage points, the situation of EFL in France looks more like a double disaster.
As a citizen and a taxpayer, it is obvious that huge amounts of resources are squandered throughout the national education system on inefficient approaches to teaching the English language. I know that the existing organizations for teaching English to adults are essentially focused on technical aspects (teaching vocabulary and grammar). Teachers are not trained to address the emotional problems of failed learners. Pedagogues know more about English grammar than about the ins and out of memory, editors of e-learning platforms have reduced the act of learning English to a set of technical steps, and nobody seems to address more fundamental issues surrounding the teaching and learning of the English language.
– Does one become any less “French” if one starts speaking good English?
– Does one’s life change if one becomes a fluent English speaker? And if so how?
– How does one unlearn negative learning strategies and replace them with improved approaches?
– How does one get over all the negativity instilled by failed learning at school?
Addressing these issues are, in my mind, the real challenges for the EFL industry in the years to come.
Read Henry’s last article on Flipped classrooms: smooth and happy training machines?