This year, I have the privilege of teaching FSL (French as a Second Language) to Grades 1-4 students. My approach is based on that of Intensive French, which is a neurolinguistic approach to language acquisition. This approach makes a distinction between "internal grammar" (implicit competence) and "external" or "conscious" grammar (explicit knowledge). In first language acquisition, internal grammar precedes the learning of external grammar.
During class, I aim at creating an environment for students to develop an "internal grammar" which is acquired through the development of oral language by modeling after the teacher. Last week, Grade 1 and 2 students learned four colour words: bleu, vert, jaune and rouge (blue, green, yellow and red.) It is important to note that the words were not taught as isolated words but were learned in the context of a sentence, in this case, J'aime... (i.e. I like...)
Grade 3 and 4 students continued to consolidate their speaking skills on how to introduce their family by saying J'ai _____ frères. J'ai ______ sœurs. (I have ____ brothers. I have ____ sisters.) They also reinforced their knowledge of the different body parts by responding to the command: Touchez la tête (Touch the head). Again, the vocabulary is not introduced as isolated words but as part of a sentence. Over time, not only will students build a list of vocabulary but they will also have access to a number of common sentence structures which enable them to converse with others.
As I said two weeks ago, "little by little, the bird makes his nest." Be courageous and start speaking one or two French sentences a day!
