“Before the AIM, I was ready to throw in the towel as an immersion teacher. Using the traditional theme-based approach to teaching FSL, I wasn’t getting the results I wanted for my students. After an entire year in French, the students could name fruits and vegetables but had a very difficult time making complete sentences to express themselves in their second language. I was frustrated and fed up! Then I attended a two day AIM workshop and I knew that I had found THE solution. After only a couple of months using the AIM, my students were speaking French to express their needs and feelings! They were engaged in their learning and best of all, they were enjoying themselves and feeling very motivated to speak French. Using the AIM in my classroom has made teaching a second language fun. Both my students and I have enjoyed great success using this method. Having taught in immersion settings for 20 years, I can honestly say that the AIM is the most effective method I have used to teach French as a second language. I highly recommend it!”
“The fact that AIM is perfect in an immersion context seems to be a well kept secret! I’m hoping that writing this will help to spread the word. After teaching using the AIM in a Core French context for many years, this is my first year using it with immersion and quite honestly it is incredible.
Today I saw my students for the first day after our two week Spring Break. They came in literally bursting with language. I teach Kindergarten and at the beginning of the year, there were a few who could say “bonjour”, a few who knew “chat” and an even smaller group who proudly told me they could say “Je m’appelle”.
At this point in the year, I have 22 students who speak confidently in French.
By early January, one of the Grade 1 immersion teachers who also has a child in my class told me that her child’s French was BETTER than 90% of the kids in her Grade 1 class.
By Spring Break, the average student in my Kindergarten class spoke better French than the average Grade 2 immersion student at my school. My weakest student also spoke better French than the weakest Grade 2 student.
A couple of months ago, after chatting with the other Kindergarten teachers, I made the decision that I would copy what the English track teacher was doing with her students instead of what the French immersion teachers were doing with their students. I am therefore currently working on the equivalent of the English Language Arts programme instead of the French Language Arts programme as my students have enough language to be able to handle it.
A substitute teacher who worked in my class in February wrote that my kids were “super avancés”. She had previously worked for about 30 years as a French immersion teacher so I trust her opinion 🙂
The basic concept is that even my “weak kids” (who are weak with their letter knowledge etc and can’t sit still) can STILL speak French. The language just flows when they speak. When I speak, I can say a whole paragraph and then they will stop me and ask what one particular word means. Actually when you compare them with “regular immersion kids” they are quite different. (e.g. My students expect to understand every word more or less. Regular immersion kids just listen and then guess. My students know they can always ask how to say something. Regular immersion kids stall or simply say the word in English and then continue. I can tell you fairly precisely what words my students know and don’t know. In a regular immersion class, the teacher guesses based on what the kids do.) I would like to start documenting things a bit more and it’s quite interesting.”
“I have been teaching French Immersion Kindergarten for almost 13 years. Three years ago, I was introduced to AIM language learning and decided to give it a try. This program is truly a GAME CHANGER! By the end of Kindergarten, my students are now able to express themselves with pride and confidence. I recommend this program to all French Immersion teachers!
Thank you, Wendy, for creating such a powerful tool for educators!”
“I also wanted to share a testimonial from one of our customers. She teaches K in my former school and was in yesterday. She’s a young (late 30s), very dedicated teacher with a young family. She said that until last year, teachers were telling her that she always looked tired and unwell. Last summer she took AIM’s Institute in Victoria and started using AIM in her classroom in September. She is so happy with the success of the program and how much it has changed her life 🙂 On behalf of all those teachers who have experienced this kind of success because of the work that you have done, thank you!”
“Teachers of FSL understand very well “WHAT” they are supposed to be teaching. They have embraced the New Curriculum, the concept of Action Oriented Tasks, and the need for more Spontaneous Oral Interaction among students. The Accelerative Integrated Method, or AIM, is the only method that gives teachers the “HOW”. AIM enables teachers to increase students’ confidence and proficiency in order to be able to interact spontaneously in authentic tasks as outlined in the new curriculum.”
” This is my first year using AIM and I love it…and more importantly, my students love it! Everyday I get bombarded by my students who rush up to me asking all kinds of questions in French because they are so excited to be able to speak French. My colleagues frequently tell me how they enjoy hearing our French classes ringing down the hallways. AIM has truly changed they way I teach!
“The AIM is the teaching programme we all wish we had thought of! It makes so much sense and is satisfying for both those who deliver it and the learners who embrace it with such enthusiasm. Thank you for creating a way of learning that is so successful. ”
“My Core French classroom is now a unilingual (French only) environment. Pas d’anglais is a rule that is never broken by my students or me. Their enjoyment of French has skyrocketed and after 20 years of teaching, I feel rejuvenated! Teachers, consultants and administrators from across the province come to my classroom to watch the method in action. A visiting teacher recently told me that my Grade 4 Core French students (in the 2nd year of AIM) speak French better than her Grade 4 French Immersion students (1st year French immersion).”
“The joy in my students’ eyes, their much-improved learning of a second language and the passion I have found every day in following something that I love is what AIM has brought to my teaching”
“The AIM is the teaching programme we all wish we had thought of! It makes so much sense and is satisfying for both those who deliver it and the learners who embrace it with such enthusiasm. Thank you for creating a way of learning that is so successful.”