The French Toolbox: How to Learn Vocabulary and Grammar so it sticks

Subject: French
Level: Secondary
Age Group: 14-16 and 16-18
Order Number: 9220

How to learn French Vocabulary and Grammar so it sticks.

Do your students know how to learn vocabulary and grammar so that it really sticks? Do they have a toolbox of different learning strategies that they can use to help them remember both the easier and the more complicated aspects of French Grammar? Do you students know how to make learning French creative and personal to them? Do they know how to make dry grammar really memorable?

Most course and textbooks ignore the how of learning, assuming that we all know how to learn a language. The assumption is that students ‘just have to go away and learn it’. The methods outlined in this resource pack have been tried and tested over many years with excellent feedback and results from learners of all abilities. The ideas in the toolbox can also be adapted for other languages. It suits learners on Higher GCSE, A Level and other intermediate/advanced level courses and could be adapted for use with beginners.

Topics covered include:

Developing a visual grammar

Mnemonics for grammar and vocabulary

The gender of nouns

Tenses, especially the present tense

Making grammar playful

Developing memory via critical thinking, visual categorisation and mapping

Translation difficulties

Personalising learning

The resource is written by a French teacher, former Head of Department, writer and trainer, with thirty years experience of teaching languages and learning skills.

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