This past term, I’ve begun facilitating MFL French storytelling sessions. At first, being presented with the task of telling two fairytales completely in French to an audience of children only just beginning to learn the language seemed impossible. How could these children possibly understand what I’m talking about when they’ve only just learnt to count to 10? I went into my first session a little nervous, despite the Freshwater team’s advice and resources, but I came out AMAZED. Not only were they following the story, but they were also repeating phrases, learning new vocabulary and some students even joined me onstage and acted out some parts of the story with confidence!

. . . Later the same week, I was curled up in bed, scrolling through my beloved Tiktok algorithm – which, by now, has definitely picked up on my interest in teaching and education – that I came across one Tiktok that explained it all in simple terms . . .

Arguably the most efficient way to learn a second language is through ‘comprehensible input’, a concept developed by linguist Stephen Krashen. His theory is that learning a language works best when you’re exposed to vocabulary that is slightly more advanced than your current skill level, yet still understandable because it includes familiar words and context clues. And that’s exactly what we do with our storytelling sessions – we use familiar traditional tales such as Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood, so the children can easily  follow the plot, and we keep coming back to the key phrases: “un, deux, trois”, “les trois petits cochons”, “les trois ours feroces”, etc. This means figuring out the meaning of unfamiliar words is a lot less intimidating, and they might even figure it out themselves.

Another aspect of Krashen’s theory is consistent and concrete ‘input’, or exposure to language, which is why the facilitator will not speak in English until the end of the session. We take a kind of panto-style approach of over-acting and miming parts of the story, to make it really clear through movement and characterisation rather than feeding the story in English.  We’re giving them *just* enough to understand the story, using these techniques and basic French words, and balancing that with *just* enough new words for them to come out of the session with a wider vocabulary.

Not only do we get a room of shocked faces at the revelation that we speak English, but the fully immersive French experience is what makes these sessions work so well. Our incredible resources coordinator also provides us with the most detailed, beautiful props that makes our job that much easier – if in the story, “il y a une pomme”, then you better believe our props bag will have an apple for me to show! By the end, when the children realise they have watched and understood two full fairytales in French, they look delighted and pretty chuffed with themselves! It reminds me what a joy it is to learn a new language.

I hope to see some new French students soon! Bonne continuation et bonne journée!

About the author: Audrey Corno

Audrey started working with Freshwater in September 2023 and has already built up an impressive portfolio of workshops; you may have met her as the Earth Explorer, Magical Toy Museum curator or, of course, delivering stories entirely in French!