Décollage - méthode de français langue étrangère pour débutants
The Décollage project was designed by a South African team of teacher-researchers to meet their students’ need to identify with the teaching resources used in French as a Foreign Language (FLE) classrooms—not only with the characters featured, but also with the places where those characters are located. For this reason, the Décollage textbook aims to highlight South African cultures by offering characters, situations, and explanations in which learners can see themselves reflected. The fictional journey proposed in this method enables learners to discover certain African and European countries where French is spoken. This manual seeks to promote a variety of Francophone cultures, as well as the learner’s own culture of origin.
This colourful manual, enriched with images and icons, is intended for absolute beginners, but it does not adhere to any specific language reference framework. Décollage aims to meet the requirements of school and university curricula in South Africa. It follows a communicative and inductive approach, inviting learners to discover grammatical rules through examples or problem-based situations. It is therefore an active learning approach, meaning that the learner takes an active role instead of being a passive recipient of knowledge. The vocabulary in this manual is rich, varied, and drawn from different Francophone countries. Placing the learner at the centre of their French learning journey, Décollage promotes plurilingualism by encouraging learners to engage with the French language without excluding their primary language of reference. Furthermore, the instructions for the discovery activities are written in the first person. This “I” draws the learner into the book.
Décollage includes eleven units. Each unit, or Escale (Layover), has four lessons, a Carte culture (Culture Map), written or audio trigger documents, comprehension activities, Précision langue (Language Focus) boxes, activities for noticing and hypothesising about grammatical structures, Points grammaire (Grammar Points) to clarify rules, and a Survol (Overview) of the lesson in English.
The Survol explains the metalanguage and grammar rules to enable learners to study independently, without relying on a teacher or other third party. This important grammatical component aims to provide learners with tools that make communication possible, without placing too much emphasis on flawless communication or constant correction. The Survol is followed by communicative and grammatical reinforcement exercises. The clear and precise explanations of the grammatical metalanguage and language rules are intended to support students in a university context where the ability to discuss and analyse language is expected.
Décollage is published in an interactive PDF format. This format allows users to enter answers, make notes, or add annotations in the active fields and to save these changes on their device (smartphone, tablet, computer). In this way, each person creates a personalised copy that can be accessed at any time.
This teaching material is accompanied by around sixty audio files. Learners have the opportunity to hear different voices and accents, which prepares them to interact with speakers from various backgrounds.
Ready for take-off?
The editorial team invites you to climb aboard and let yourself be carried away by this exciting linguistic and cultural journey, rich in discoveries and lasting learning.
