FRENCH FOR BUSINESS – EMMA T.

​

​OVERVIEW

33-year-old Emma runs a small independent company. When she contacted me, she was a complete beginner, keen to learn French to develop business relationships in the future with French companies based both in France and in the UK.

​

BELIEFS

'I want to learn, but the thought of speaking in French is quite scary'

'We, British people are bad at languages'

'English vocabulary and French vocabulary are very similar'

​

BESPOKE COURSE

I created a programme tailored to Emma's tastes and interests (horse riding, fiction, and gardening), making sure that not a week would go by without her listening to a recording, writing sentences about her favourite activity/movie/country, etc., reading a simplified book, practising grammar points, and using as much language as possible during our conversations.

 

Exploring topics she already knew (so that comprehension is easier) to practise her French helped Emma gradually relax and grow confident. She enjoyed learning about French cultural dos and don'ts and about French culture and history. 

 

She soon learned about false friends and how to use the language points she was learning, and not English, to speak French. A month into the class, Emma was astonished that she could already make conversation and realised that British people are not bad at languages but are badly taught languages at school. 

​

KEY LANGUAGE POINTS

Mastering key tenses (présent, futur proche, futur simple, conditionnel) at beginner level, acquiring conversational tools, and learning technical vocabulary used in her line of business. 

​

IMPACT

Emma said that the biggest surprise was how playful language learning was, even when grammar was involved. And that she felt safe and supported during our lessons, which then gave her the confidence she needed to have a go and speak. 

​

'It's not about translating from English, but about constructing sentences in French using what I know.'

​

'Having a structure and a learning plan has helped me relax and learn better.'

​

'I'm looking forward to learning more tenses, more vocabulary and, dare I say, more grammar!'

​

​