I have been teaching French for over 35 years, at the elementary, college and university levels. In 2006, I started to teach Arabic at the university of Windsor. Presently, I am teaching French and Arabic at the same University and I am tutoring. I am the author of more than 40 texts used in many schools in Canada and United-States. I speak 4 languages. My approach to teaching a Second Language is simplified in the word SKURT: (Say it, Know it, Use it, Read it and finally Trace it or write it.)
I put a lot of emphasis on Vocabulary at first rather than on Grammar. I feel that if you speak a Second Language properly, you are applying the Grammar rules without knowing. But If you learn the rules of Grammar first and you do not have the proper vocabulary to apply them, you will be frustrated. I am not saying that Grammar is not important. It is but Vocabulary should have the priority at the beginning. Remember how we teach our little kids to speak their mother tongue. Verbally first. And there is no difference between a child and an adult when it comes to learning a Second Language.
How I teach the vocabulary is reflected in a series of dialogues written by me at the level of my students, in which humour plays a major role. These dialogues encourage the student, whatever his or her age, to speak the language correctly, learn the vocabulary in context and read with intonation and expression. In my view, psychology is extremely important in learning a Second Language. You have to feel at ease in a Second language class in order to continue to progress. If you laugh at the Characters who are used in the dialogues, you learn from them, with them and through them the correct and relevant vocabulary needed to understand the Grammar rules.
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