Since I started in 1973, my main concern has been the number of people who fail at French, and so never experience the pleasure we have found in it. I've observed this as a teacher, local authority officer, inspector and adviser, and my conclusion is that failure starts right at the beginning when pupils don't fully understand what they're doing.
I've posted my thoughts on my site and the Youtube link below, and tried the approach over Zoom two days ago with a very difficult 9 year old whom I'd been asked to help with reading and spelling. Here's how it went.
Me: Do you do French at school?
He: We did, but it's stopped.
Me: Could I show you some French?
He: (with a little prompting from mother, who sits in) OK, I suppose.
Me: French people like their spoken language to flow, but their written language to be precise. So, if I say Je ai, (written on Word, using shared screen) which means I have, does it sound smooth to you or jerky?
He: Jerky.
Me: Yes. So what they do is take away the last letter of the first word and replace it with an apostrophe (Fr pronunciation), making J'ai. (I do this on the screen). Say j'ai. (he does). Does apostrophe look like an English word?
He: Apostrophe (En. pronunciation.)
Me: Yes, it's a shared word, we just pronounce it differently. A lot of French words are shared with English. Now, I'd like you to look at J'ai again, and when I take it off the screen, write it with your finger on your sleeve. (He does)
Me Did you get it right?
He and Mum Yes.
Me. Now, let's think you have one of these things. I use shared screen to show a Clicker grid (more of this on request) allowing the composition of several sentences with Je, J', ai, un and chat, chaton. perroquet, chien. We'll have a cat, chat. What letter don't we pronounce in chat?
He: The t
Me: Where is th t?
He: At the end of the word.
Me: That's good. French people often don't pronounce a letter at the end of a word if it's going to stop the language from flowing. Now please write chat on your sleeve (I minimise screen so he can't see it. He does.) Did you get it nearly right?
He: I got it all right.
Me. Well done. Now French, like English, uses what I call companion words - we'd say a cat, they say un chat. We wouldn't say I have cat, would we?
He: No.
Me: Now, you've got a pencil and some paper. Do you think you could write J'ai un chat?
He: Yes.
Me. (minimising screen so he can't copy) Have a go then. (He does.)
Me: Did you get it nearly right?
He and Mum. I got it all right.
Me: Well done.
He: But I've got two cats.
Me: French for two is deux (I write it). What letter don't we pronounce at all in deux?
He: (after some hesitation). x
Me: Where is it?
He: At the end of the word.
Me: Good. (I write J'ai deux chats in Word) Can you see what I've added to chat when we have more than one?
He: s
Me. Good, just like English. Now, do you think you coiuld write that now, or would you rather practise it for next week?
He. Practise for next week.
A suivre...