Hunfalvy Bilingual Secondary School

Initiation à l’ANL, « Approche NeuroLinguistique » de l’enseignement des langues étrangères 

2022-1-HU01-KA121-SCH-000062316

"The project was funded by the European Commission. The views expressed on this website do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission."      

Course organiser:
French in Normandy

Rouen (France)

17-21 / 07 / 2023 

REPORT

Where was I and why (what was the motivation)?

In the framework of the Erasmus+ programme, I took part in a one-week methodological training in Rouen, France. I chose Rouen because, on the one hand, I wanted to get to know Normandy better and, on the other hand, the French In Normandy language school offered a course on a subject that was not offered by any other training centre.

About the course

The course I chose introduced me to the Canadian Approche Neurolinguistique (ANL) methodology, which shows how to make language learning more effective by involving more neurons in the process. The method was developed primarily for teaching French to illiterate immigrants. The method is based on the principle of always starting from a verbal approach, i.e. reading or writing always begins with an oral introduction. The expectation is to teach ready-made panels in the form of question and answer (e.g. what's your name, what did you eat this morning). Nothing should be written on the board, learners should memorise turns of phrase by ear, so writing does not affect good pronunciation. Grammar should not be explained either, but learners should be able to grasp the rules on their own, recalling their childhood language learning. Questions and answers should always be in complete sentences and only the perfect grammatical and pronunciation form should be accepted. It goes without saying that communication is only in a foreign language, no translation.

After the theoretical introduction and the basic principles, we experienced the essence of the method on our own skin, as we were taught an introduction in Chinese. After explaining the theory of the oral, reading and drafting phases, we had to develop and deliver a few lessons in pairs to students who knew very little French.  On the last day, we had to design a mini-project in which all three phases appeared.

In my group I was with Czech, French, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian, Spanish and Ukrainian teachers. We had a very good atmosphere during the lessons, and in the afternoons we also did activities together.

Ha hazajöttem, hogyan fogom hasznosítani az iskolámban?

Although my own students are neither illiterate nor immigrants, I believe that the method taught can definitely be useful for complete beginners, and that at a higher level it is not a bad idea to return to oral communication only again and again.

Afternoon programmes, EU principles

In the afternoon, I explored the Gothic buildings and medieval timber-framed houses of picturesque Rouen. At the Fine Arts Museum, I saw Monet's series of paintings of Rouen Cathedral and Hudon's famous Voltaire sculpture. There is a beautiful castle, a World War II bunker, a harbour and a beach. In Giverny I visited Monet's house and the garden that inspired so many of his paintings. 

Normandy does a lot for the environment. Rouen not only has a botanical garden and many parks, but also residents are greening the street in front of their houses by planting shrubs and flowers, creating green walls and placing flower boxes. In the parks, grass and weeds are allowed to grow high, partly to retain as much moisture as possible and thus cool the environment, and partly to provide food for bees.The city of Rouen is committed to preserving biodiversity, so they do not write "weeds" and do not pollute the environment with spray products, they want to restore the natural flora. Advertising, lower prices and better positioning in shops will encourage consumers to choose products grown or produced in the area, reducing transport distances, fuel consumption and storage time. Free public transport in Rouen on Saturdays and cheaper intra-regional train tickets on weekends. The aim of these measures is to encourage more people to use public transport instead of driving.

Short conclusion

I would recommend everyone to take part in a course abroad, as you not only enrich yourself linguistically, culturally and in your outlook, but you also gain contacts abroad that will benefit your students in the future.