Generally, once someone enrolls in a French class, they expect to learn French right away. Some might simply leave it up to the teacher to hammer the words and verb conjugations into their head. But if you want to be different and get the most of your French classes, then it will be important to do your part, also.
As soon as you enter the class room for the first time, start meeting others in your class and getting to know them. You might not think this is necessary to learn French. After all, your goal may not necessarily be to just socialize, right? The fact is that knowing these people will make it easier to interact and communicate with them. Your learning experience will be much more pleasant.
If the class goes in the traditional way, the teacher will start with a few basic French words. To learn French, start thinking correctly about these first few words and you will set a precedent that will carry through all your language learning.
To accomplish this, look at the object and think the French word. Don’t think the English word and then translate it in your head. That’s a terrible habit to get into and it won’t help you learn French much either. If you start out learning correctly, the rest will be easier.
Certain things when you learn French are just easier than English. For example, your teacher will soon get into going through the alphabet. Pay attention to this. The sounds of the French alphabet are very difficult, as French phonetics have many sounds that English speakers are just not used to. That’s the beauty of French. If you want to learn French, it will become a lot easier if you master French phonetics.
To learn French, you must also learn to conjugate verbs. Learn the standard Frence conjugations. As you learn new irregular verbs, write down their conjugations. Then, assume that every verb is a regular verb unless you know otherwise. This is a matter of doing your part - whatever method works best for you to memorize a process. For most people, repetition is the key!
Many classes these days, especially adult classes, are conversational classes. It is an advantage to learn French this way because it prepares you to interact directly with people once you finish. There are some ways to make your conversational class go better.
Listen to the other speakers when it isn’t your turn to talk instead of day dreaming. People often make the mistake of thinking so hard of what they want to say that they get lost to the conversation that is going on. If you listen properly, you will then have to speak without premeditation, as a result, but this may help you to think faster in any situation as you learn French. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, it’s a part of the process!
Remember, even though it’s a conversation class, it doesn’t mean that you can’t take notes. You don’t want to spend too time with them, though. Concentrate on the conversation to learn French, but take the time to jot down words or phrases that you want to remember. You can write them down later, or better yet, speak them into a recorder.
Merely being enrolled in a French class doesn’t guarantee that you will learn French. You need to bring your entire self into the process and be ready for anything your teacher throws at you. If you follow this guideline, then you will no doubt learn some French by the end of the class.