Teaching French Pronunciation from Day 1

French students must learn to pay attention to pronunciation and to practice it intentionally. The worst pronunciation errors are avoidable, through care, attention, and effective coaching.

While I was supervising students at an after school event, Jayden went out of his way to introduce himself.

“Hi Mrs. Bartels! I’m Jayden. My friend Erica is in your French class. She loves your class!”

“Hi Jayden,” I greeted him. “Why aren’t you taking French?”

Jayden shook his head and grinned. “Sorry! French is too hard for me!”

I get this a lot. French has the reputation of being hard - at least, harder than Spanish. This is a misconception in my view, as I find Spanish grammar more challenging than French (read why here). But over my career, I’ve consistently encountered this perception. I believe French pronunciation is a huge contributing factor, as it is not intuitive for English speakers.

One key to mitigating this challenge occurs in the first weeks of French study. Thoughtful coaching in these first critical lessons can help students establish good pronunciation habits that will carry them through years of study.

Here’s how I approach teaching pronunciation to French beginners.

French pronunciation rules are significantly different than English. Therefore, when students start with written French, they often establish anglicized pronunciation patterns that are difficult to break. To avoid this, begin the first several days of instruction with only oral French. Add the writing system after students have mastered between twenty to thirty oral words, which can be used as a basis for teaching French orthography.

I like to start students out with the numbers from 0-10. We learn the numbers verbally (see how here) and work on them for several days until students really know them well. Sometimes I even give students a speaking quiz on the numbers before I ever show kids how they’re spelled.

“I don’t care how much trouble you have with the /r/ sound; EVERY student can pronounce ‘pas’ correctly (with a silent ‘s’). EVERY student can pronounce ‘timide’ correctly (with ‘ee’ vowel sounds).”

Some students want to take notes; I discourage this at the beginning, but if kids are determined I instruct them to write the numbers phonetically for now.

Once we know the numbers very well, I give students a list of the number words in random order. I ask kids to figure out which number is which.

Some are easy: kids quickly identify zéro, un and neuf.

Some have silent letters: deux, trois, and sept.

Some illustrate key vowel sounds: six and dix.

Some numbers are quite different from English spelling rules: quatre, cinq, and especially huit.

Students figure out this last category through elimination, and this exercise opens the opportunity to highlight several important points of pronunciation: notably, the /i/ sound, the silent /h/, silent last letters, and the nasal vowel in “un”.

Focus on what students CAN do.

A lot of kids worry they can’t make a French /r/ sound. Of course, this is very difficult for English speakers. I’ve worked hard on my /r/ sound, and French speakers can still tell I’m an anglophone.

One time I was on the street in France and a guy asked me “Quelle heure est-il?”

I answered, “Treize heures trente.”

He said “Vous êtes anglaise?”

I was so annoyed! I only said three words to him! How could he tell I speak English? I asked my French teacher, who told me, “C’est à cause de ton /r/”. Ugh. Horrible.

On the other hand, he understood everything I said to him. I’ve never had someone not understand me because of my American accent. (at least, not since I achieved working proficiency). And, I AM American. I’m not trying to pretend I’m a native speaker. Accents are charming, right?

So I tell my students this story. I encourage them to make /r/ a long-term goal. I don’t want to hear any hard anglicized /r/’s – they can at least try, and it will get easier with practice. In the mean time, let’s focus on what we CAN pronounce correctly, which is really quite a lot!

Hold students accountable for the pronunciation they CAN do.

I don’t care how much trouble you have with the /r/ sound; EVERY student can pronounce ‘pas’ correctly (with a silent ‘s’). EVERY student can pronounce ‘timide’ correctly (with ‘ee’ vowel sounds). If you are pronouncing the final /s/ in ‘pas; and replicating the English word ‘timid’, you weren’t attentive enough to the pronunciation rules of French and therefore you will lose points on the speaking assessment. But, I won’t take off points for an imperfect /r/ sound… as long as you attempt a soft French /r/.

“I’ve never had someone not understand me because of my American accent. Encourage students to focus on what they CAN pronounce correctly, which is really quite a lot!”

French pronunciation isn’t necessarily intuitive; therefore students need to learn to pay attention to their pronunciation and to practice it intentionally. The worst pronunciation errors are avoidable, through care and attention. Build developmentally appropriate pronunciation into your rubric and make it part of students’ grade. If a student wants an “A”, they need to practice and master the pronunciation of the words they are learning.

Next week I’ll share some specific French sounds you can address with your students, and some tips and techniques for teaching them.

In the mean time, what are the most common pronunciation errors you hear from students? Share in the chat!