The reason why I love teaching adults so much

Tutoring is not all about teaching a language.  Far from it!  It’s about 2 people who meet with a common interest where one is lucky enough to share his or her knowledge on one subject.  It’s about 2 people who are going to exchange, talk, laugh and enjoy each other’s company while learning new skills.  It’s about 2 people sharing for one or two hours stories, experiences.  Because all my lessons are personal, targeted to my students’ expectations and tailored to suit their unique lifestyle, I get to have an insight for that brief moment into their life and they, too, share my own life and the struggles of a sleep-deprived hence coffee addicted mother with young children (that’s me far too often!!).  It’s not just a student and a teacher, it’s 2 people with their own life and background who are just talking and sharing…even though that happens in a different language!  And what? Moaning in French about your noisy neighbours or your not so beloved mother-in-law is still speaking French: it’s communicating, it’s exchanging ideas, expressing yourselves, it’s having a conversation with someone a bit like you, someone willing to listen and correct you if needed.

 Why would learning French be only a matter of rehearsing the rules of agreement of past participles?  A language is first and foremost a communication tool, and I insist it’s for COMMUNICATING!  You didn’t conjugate that irregular verb the proper way?  And what?  You think the wicked witch is going to come and give you a slap on the hand?  Naughty, naughty!!!  Honestly….who cares?  The guy in front of you understood you; you’ve got your point across?  Well…well done, pat on the back!  That’s all you need really!  Most of my adults students just want to be able to get by in France to avoid the usual “Oh ces Anglais!  They can’t be bothered to at least try to speak our language!”….Well, you tried, you succeeded…. You can be proud of yourself!  Not everybody needs to be perfectly bilingual, not everybody needs the most impeccable grammar.  Most of us just want to enjoy this French “joie de vivre”, then I say enjoy, forget about the mistakes.  IT DOESN’T MATTER!  Talk, and talk and be merry!!!

Unlike my GCSE or A-Levels students, who let’s face it, have no choice but to master the ins and outs of the “oh not so wonderful” French grammar, adults have the choice.  They have the choice to learn for pleasure, not just because there is this goddamn exam at the end of the year which terrorizes them!  That’s why it is such a delight to teach to adults because they do it as a hobby, because they have reached that stage in their life where it’s a choice, a pure pleasure!  It is actually a relief for me to see that people later in their life are actually coming back to French, full of regrets for having given up after their A-level or GCSE….those had taken their toll on them and had transformed a pleasant language experience into a form of torture.  And don’t think I am not a fervent fighter for the teaching of foreign languages; I even think they should be told as young as 3 years old, from birth wherever possible.   But that’s a whole other debate! 

So for you adults still wondering whether to get back on that French horse….I say let’s go for a ride together, it will be fun, you will enjoy it!