I can still remember my first year of French.
I was in the 7th grade.
My teacher was Mrs. Ford. (Doesn’t sound very French, does it?)
She gave us a lot of vocabulary tests.
On the left side of the page was the French word.
On the right, you had to write the English word.
chambre __________
magasin __________
ciel ___________
merde __________
After many more years of that, I finally visited France.
I was 22.
My friends were being practical and starting careers or going to graduate school.
My plan: move to Paris and work as an au pair.
My host mother met me at Charles de Gaulle airport.
After she said “Bon jour” I don’t think I understand another word.
Flashforward three months, and I’m interviewing for a job at a hostel. (The au pair idea turned out not to be one of my better ideas…)
The interview is in French… and I get the job!
I learned more in those three months than I had in six years in the classroom.
That’s when I first discovered the power of moving the classroom.
Ah, but I can hear you thinking, “Yeah, but I can’t move to London!”
Well, living abroad isn’t always the solution.
I’ve met many students who were living in the US or UK, stuck in their native-language communities, and not improving their English at all.
I’ll tell you how you your English can improve just as fast — maybe even faster than — someone living in the US or UK.
That’s tomorrow.
Moving the classroom to real life