WHY WE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND FRENCH IN SECONDARY SCHOOL.

REASONS WHY WE HATED FRENCH IN SECONDARY SCHOOL.

I remember my Secondary school days, I had serious issues with French language even though I did French for 3 years (JSS1 – JSS3), I did French for 3 years I didn’t study French, I did French and believe me, I didn’t learn a thing. I didn’t Understand French for the following reasons;

• I did little French in Primary School but I didn’t know it was a Language.
• My Primary School teacher took all subjects including French which he knew absolutely nothing about and the Headmistress was cool with it.
• I didn’t know I was supposed to speak French because I wasn’t told to.
• In a Week, we only had an Hour to spare for French
• It didn’t make sense to me  

These points listed above made French learning as boring as hell, it got to a point that me and my mates even composed an anthem

Français ede ke de oro ko ro ti iya ati baba bi o gbo 

It simple means a crazy foreign language I knew Nothing about

The worst part of the whole drama was that Monsieur was a Striker, he has a rubber band tied to the tip of his cane and that made his strokes really painfully. He Lacked all the qualities of a good Nigeria French Teacher

• He was not fun
• He was not a Nigerian, he was from Togo. Some might disagree with this but the truth is apart from being able to speak French you need to be fluent in English, you also need to create a connection with the students and you should be able to explain in such a way that they will not feel lost, make them feel at home when teaching them a Foreign Language. A Sound French Graduate will be able to understand the needs of students and he or she should be able to know their learning limitations in addition, he should be able to explain somethings better using the Local Tongue.

Here are some solutions to some of the problems mentioned earlier.

• Students should be allowed to watch short French videos with French subtitles. They need to hear the language, in the process, they will fall in love with it and this will motivate them to want to learn.
• Teachers should sometimes communicate with students in French. This might sound weird but they need to understand that it’s a language you’re teaching that means it goes beyond just writing on the board.
• Schools should create more time for French classes
• French Teachers should not be allowed to punish students
• French Teachers should learn to stop repeating only the language basics. If you teach English literature what stops you from teaching French literature ? If you teach well and progress ,the students will move with you.