Teaching La Francophonie

French is the official language of 32 countries around the world and is used in a social or educational context in many more (“Francophonie”). So why aren't we reflecting this diversity in our French classrooms? The answer is simple: most French textbooks distributed across Europe and North America fail to acknowledge this diversity and, instead, focus on metropolitan France and what is considered standardised French. This focus on continental France and the standardised language of instruction may seem like the easiest way to teach the language to beginners; the problem remains, however, that those students who do not continue taking French courses after fulfilling their language acquirement never have the chance to learn about the diversity of the French-speaking population, or that the language differs based on the population speaking it. The goal of this website is to acknowledge the great diversity amongst French speakers, and to identify and explain some of the cultural and regional differences that can be heard in French spoken outside of the Hexagon.

This website explores la Francophonie as well as l’Académie française and the standardisation of the French language in depth. The purpose of this material is to demonstrate that there is no one way to speak French, and to introduce some notable differences in how French is spoken around the world. There are two mini-lessons included that focus on differences of spoken French throughout la Francophonie; the information in these mini-lessons is partially research-based, and partially based on my own experiences and knowledge from living abroad. Lessons will be written in French and translated into English, so as to be made accessible to all levels of French-language learners. These mini lessons were designed to expand on course material and can be added as supplements to corresponding lessons.

Link to the website