I’ve been writing classroom materials for nigh on 50 years, as a classroom teacher for around 33 of them. When I was teaching I did so for a few reasons: The textbook resources didn’t match what I wanted to do with a particular class. I enjoyed the creative side of it. To share with colleagues - not so much as a prime reason, but it was a desirable outcome. In the old days we used Banda machines and Gestetners, OHP transparencies, flashcards and, later, the photocopier. Nowadays I work mainly with Word and PowerPoint, sharing with teachers around the world via frenchteacher.net. So I now have a pecuniary reason for writing materials, as well as enjoying it. So what things do I know about resource writing, and - by extension- what principles do I apply? I often come back to the foundation of second language learning, i.e. interacting with comprehensible input. So a fundamental consideration is: does this resource supply input and the opportunity to use it for communication? T...
This information is from The Connexion, a newspaper we subscribe to and which I’d recommend for English first language users living in France. French teachers may enjoy them. I got Chat GPT to summarise. Around 150 new words will appear in the 2027 edition of Le Petit Robert, reflecting how the French language continues to evolve alongside social, technological and cultural trends. According to Le Robert, the dictionary now contains 300,000 words and meanings, 150,000 synonyms and antonyms, 75,000 etymologies and 35,000 literary quotations. Editors decide whether a term deserves inclusion based on three factors: how frequently it is used, how widely it appears in media and public discourse, and whether it remains relevant over time rather than being a short-lived trend. Many of the newly added words highlight changes in modern society, online culture, food and technology. New culinary entries include aquafaba , the liquid from cooked chickpeas often used as an egg substitute, as w...