[NIFL-ESL:10577] RE: literacy issues

From: Ujwala Samant (lalumineuse@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Nov 18 2004 - 17:49:06 EST


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From: Ujwala Samant <lalumineuse@yahoo.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-ESL:10577] RE: literacy issues
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Hi All,

Last year, my family and I moved to France. My son was
almost 10 then. He spoke French but was extremely weak
in French writing as he had spent the past five years
in the US. He started school in a French school and
they offered a separate course for all non-French or
French expat students called FLE=Francais Langue
Etrangere. These children were given special French
classes to catch up with French as a language, French
for communication. They were tested regularly and the
programme was conducted and coordinated with the class
teacher, so there was systematic feedback between
them. Children were moved into regular French
language/subject lessons only when the FLE teacher and
the class teacher agreed that the child would be able
to manage. Since this is a French school, the teaching
for all the other subjects is in French. 

He had students who spoke no French, some French and
others who like him spoke French but had been educated
in a different language. School started in September,
and by the January term he was no longer in FLE. There
were students who stayed longer in FLE, and others who
left before he did. The classes were
conversational,they played games, had excursions
during FLE, and were project based.
Outside FLE, they were in regular classes with their
French classmates. From what my son (and his nemesis
in FLE, a French girl raised in England) told me, the
FLE gave them the confidence to speak French and also
understand better what was going on in class. He said
that the Japanese students had the hardest time. Of
course being ten he couldn't tell me exactly why they
had the hardest time. One of the Japanese mums
confirmed that it was the pronunciation that they
found difficult, and the fact that they socialised
with Japanese families outside class.

Cheers
Ujwala Samant





		
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