More about my French MOOC

http://www.loecsen.com/travel/0-en-67-2-3-free-lessons-french.html

Last week I started this blog with the old stereotypical saw about how embarrassingly monolingual Americans are. A few days later, this article caught my eye as a direct contradiction.  http://languageboat.com/2013/08/30/crushing-the-stereotype-about-monolingual-america/

"Of course," I chastised myself.  Not all Americans have to learn another language in order to become bilingual; they are fortunate enough to acquire another language through much less painful means - family, playmates, friends, significant others, co-workers, employers and employees, social activities, or residence in a foreign country. Ah, how I envy those non-monolingual Americans.

My focus is egocentric; I have to work at having other languages.  My latest effort is the French MOOC that I signed up for at Carnegie Mellon University under the Open Learning Initiative.  I would like to give you an idea of what the course experience has been , in case you might be inspired to join me.  Also, I want to ruminate about who might benefit from a MOOC.

First of all-the basics.  The course is absolutely free.  You need an Internet connection and a set of earphones (not even a microphone really). You also need to set the keyboard to US-International so that you can do diacritical marks, like accent marks. The enrollment is done in a few simple clicks without having to reveal your life story.  Every time you return to the course, you can start where you left off.  There is no instructor, no homework, no tests, and no grading, just you and your conscience.  No one tracks your progress or nags you.  The only deadlines are those that you set for yourself.  Sounds great, huh?

The only downside I have found so far is that I am having trouble making the course a priority in my life. Days pass without me entering the course.  E-mail and social media beckon.  They take so much less brain energy and give me warm, fuzzy feelings.  The MOOC is like a patient but persistent teacher. tapping her foot.

The MOOC includes the four traditional language skills.  You can learn to understand French (my goal), pronounce French (oh, my American accent!), read French (my best skill), and write French (not easy!). There is a cultural section also. The current lesson talks about beauty products, so this is everyday culture, that is rather interesting to me.

Each lesson includes a series of short videos of conversations that you can play over and over, which I often feel the need to do. The third time is usually the charm for understanding.  Then there are many short exercises of varying types that help you internalize the language of the videos  Most of the exercises are contextual and therefore fairly engaging. There are a few old-fashioned fill-in-the-blank exercises for verb forms.  Grammar explanations are kept to a minimum, considering the complexity of grammar.  The wrap-up activity asks you to apply the information to yourself.  For example, I now need to write a description of myself and my family members in French.  I have been procrastinating as usual.

Who might benefit from a MOOC?  I wouldn't try one if I had no background in the language and no contact with any other learners or native speakers.  But I am finding that this MOOC is a thorough  review of the French that must be buried somewhere in my brain.  And it doesn't hurt that I have an upcoming trip planned to French-speaking Canada.

But back to the many Americans who are already bilingual.  I think a MOOC might be especially attractive to them, especially if they want to strengthen reading and writing skills, plus add to vocabulary.

Tomorrow is my first French conversation class at our local university.  I'll let you know how it goes.

http://www.loecsen.com/travel/0-en-67-2-3-free-lessons-french.html