Understanding…
mastering
grammar
What do you think of the
french grammar?
It’s hard to learn, all the long lists for this and that, and then the very long lists of exceptions too.
Too often we don’t understand why we have to apply one rule rather than another.
Anna, Wolfgang, Maria, Oliver, Jessica, Ben, Kate…
Sometimes, the more you think, the more you hesitate between contradictory solutions. It’s discouraging, you end up feeling stupid.
It’s very frustrating: often, even if I know the right rule, I don’t think to use it when I need to.
Charlie, Emily, Michael, Bettina, Hans, Jana, Paul, Luna, Mark…
“Many of you said similar things to me over 20 years ago, when I started teaching French as a foreign language.
At that time, one thing became clear: for certain points deemed ‘complex’, traditional grammar doesn’t provide sufficiently effective tools to produce acceptable sentences or texts. »
Dr. Muriel Barbazan
What your words tell me…
The weaknesses of commonly
taught grammar
In terms of knowledge
Grammar as it is taught does not make it easy to memorize knowledge: you have to learn a lot of complex rules and too many special cases.
Dubious contexts are avoided as much as possible… which may help avoid an error, but still doesn’t clarify the grammatical issue…
As a result, we’re unable to install a global, mastered system in our memory.
At the “Know-how” level
Even if we think we’ve understood how to use the rules we’ve learned, we’re often confronted with contexts of use that seem vague and ambiguous.
All too often, we feel we haven’t thought of the right rule at the right time.
As a result, we often feel frustrated and discouraged. How on earth can you express yourself in French while analyzing and prioritizing in real time all the contextual elements that are supposed to trigger grammatical choices?
And you, who consult the FLE.solutions website…
What do you think of grammar?
What’s the most difficult to understand? And to use?
- Past tenses?
- Subjunctive and indicative ?
- Concessions ?
- Indirect discourse ?
- Expressions of condition and the conditional / use of SI ?
- Avoir/ être and the past participle ?
- Present participle and gerund ?
- Passives ?
- The infinitive proposition ?
- Negation?
- The question and interrogative pronouns ?
- Gender and plurals of nouns?
- Articles?
- Adjectives and adverbs ?
- Pronouns ?
- The relative subordinate ?
- The place of words in the sentence and the speaker’s intentions?
- The impact of text construction on the choice of grammatical tools (connectors / verb tenses…)?
- Another of these traditional chapters or another question altogether?
What my courses can do for you…
Guide you in rebuilding a more coherent and functional system
At the “Knowledge” level
We start from what you know, and I guide you to transform your knowledge into a coherent and consistent system.
In other words, the rules we keep and the rules I give you must enable you to understand “how it works” and “why it works the way it does”. Our human brains work much better when we understand the meaning of what we’re learning. And when we also understand the meaning of our mistakes.
read more…
Learning dry lists of contexts of use is highly unprofitable, because it’s cognitively unsuited to practice.
We therefore need to (re)construct a system adapted to the mental activities that guide the production and comprehension of texts (beyond grammar exercises and exams!).
In this process of redesigning and developing your knowledge, cognitive psychology serves as both a driving force and a safeguard to guide the process of optimizing your knowledge. And the results of my research provide the material for what needs to be reformulated linguistically (the grammatical rules I give you).
The aim is to install a flexible, functional system in your memory, free of unproductive rules. An efficient system, adapted to your project and your use of French.
At the “Know-how” level
The personalized training I offer will lead you to an increasingly flexible mastery of your grammatical system as it settles into your memory. You’ll see your autonomy gradually assert itself, and you’ll feel an increasingly clear and functional understanding of French grammar taking shape. A practical overall understanding, which should also enable you to zoom in on precise details at will, and make fine use of grammatical tools. In French practice as in literary analysis or translation, if that’s what you’re aiming for.
read more…
As with the vast majority of my students, your progressive mastery of active skills will undoubtedly include moments of amused relief when you understand the reasons for your former difficulties.
Here too, an easy-to-implement cognitive insight will be a great help in freeing up your practice.
The aim is to end up feeling free enough to simply forget you’re using grammar!
Exploring
another way of
approaching
grammar…
understand
at last!
You’ll understand and gain confidence
From the very first lessons, you’ll be relieved to see that you already have a much better grasp of the meaning of grammatical uses that seem complicated today.
And you’ll see your memory of rules gradually build up into a coherent system.
The aim is to be able to think of the right rule at the right time. Eventually, you’ll be able to make the right choice automatically, without thinking about it.
Who can benefit from a grammar course?
My grammar courses are aimed at students and professionals of all levels and profiles, since the programs are personalized and built according to your objectives – the studies you’re doing, for example, and of course your language level and the level you’re aiming for (passing an exam with a specific syllabus or learning as quickly as possible the grammar necessary and sufficient to be at ease enough with your French colleagues or friends).
My explanatory language is obviously adapted to each individual’s profile: it’s not a question of learning grammatical terms (you often know quite enough of those), but of understanding how to use them, and transforming this understanding into know-how. In the same vein, practice exercises are based on texts with no vocabulary difficulties for your language level: the aim is above all to concentrate on how grammar works.
Of course, if you wish, you can also practice the use of the grammatical tools studied in literary texts, to prepare you for translation tests in your exams, for example.
Want to talk about it?
“Ask me any questions you may have about my courses. Talk to me without hesitation about your needs or even your concerns! If you’ve had an unpleasant experience with grammar, it’s normal to have doubts and questions.
See you soon! ”
Dr. Muriel Barbazan
FLE.solutions 