French Mentoring
I am now on a career break and traveling the world, but always willing to help people wherever I am (currently, Montreal). Here is some information on the type of lessons I offer.
SPEAK AND BE CONFIDENT!
I’m a teacher of French as a second language with over 13 years experience in schools like Université de Montréal, Alliance Française de Shanghai, and Shanghai American School. I have also worked as a private tutor and hosted language exchange workshops. Over the years, I’ve taught pretty much all levels and age groups, but nowadays I specialize in helping adults become more comfortable speaking.
I am now traveling but would love to meet people on the road and help them a little: if you have learned French before and wish to improve your fluency, spontaneity, grammar and pronunciation, I can help you! I’m currently in Montreal, Canada. I’m a native French speaker and language enthusiast.
Method: My method involves real communication in a fun, friendly and respectful atmosphere. Private conversation lessons can be more or less structured, depending on your needs. In my group lessons, I like to use fun, task-based communicative games and activities. I also like to provide interesting materials to read, especially as a way to improve pronunciation, and songs as a fun way to improve listening skills. My aim is to help you remember and activate what you’ve learned before, and then polish it. I don’t teach formal classes with a lot of grammar and memorization: you will learn by doing.
Pronunciation: I love to work on pronunciation (and listening skills, as they’re linked). This does not only involve the individual sounds of French, but also how they come together in a sentence: liaisons and “enchaînements” are very important, as well as rhythm, intonation, accentuation, and more advanced phenomenons such as the dropped “e”. You can check out my links for important skills that will help you understand French and sound natural!
Grammar: My view on grammar is that it’s useful for people who want to understand how the language works, but ultimately, it’s the actual practice that will make them fluent. If you’re learning to swim, at some point you have to jump in the water! That being said, I’m skilled at explaining grammar in the simplest way possible – then I’ll gently push you in the water! 
Error Correction: First of all, you should know that research on second language acquisition has found that a lot of mistakes correct themselves over time, just by practicing, so it’s not necessary to correct everything, all the time. That being said, I will skillfully correct your most important mistakes, and remind you if you make them again, so you can learn.
Find out more: Whatever your needs, please contact me and we’ll see how I can help you! Before accepting a new student, I like to first meet in a cafe for a chat, to see if we’re comfortable working together, and also to assess your level. This is at no charge to you. Please email me for more information!
h e l e n e . c o r m i e r (at) g m a i l . c o m
“Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language – natural communication”
Stephen Krashen
