"Encourage Them. Don’t Pressure Them." Florence McNeal on Teaching French in Charlotte!
- Horse Education Group
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
At the British International School of Charlotte, French and Spanish are not electives. Every student takes both, beginning at 18 months old. In year seven, the equivalent of sixth grade, students choose one of the two, and that language follows them until they graduate.
The school draws students from 18 different countries, and many of them arrive speaking none of the three languages spoken in the building.
On the newest episode of The Crafty Polyglots Podcast, host Dr. Felicia Eybl sits down with Florence McNeal, who is starting her fourteenth year teaching French there.
From France to Charlotte, by way of a part-time job
Florence is a French citizen. She and her family moved to the United States, upstate New York first where she began as a substitute teacher, then taught in Maryland. When she arrived in Charlotte, she was looking for part-time work.
"The only school that had a part-time job was BISC," she says. She applied, thinking she’d see what happened. The part-time schedule was perfect at the time. She’s full-time now.
Today she teaches French from year two, first grade all the way through the school’s International Baccalaureate students.
The first few months are overwhelming. Then something clicks.
What happens to a child who arrives at BISC speaking Danish, or German, or Italian, and nothing else?
"The first few months, it seems very overwhelming," Florence says. "But some are doing it so well, it’s incredible."
She’s talking mostly about the youngest students. "When we see them in the corridor, they know they have to say bonjour to me, and to the Spanish teacher they have to say hola. They don’t make any mistake. It’s incredible how children can embrace the different languages."
Her conclusion is the one language educators keep arriving at: "The younger you start, the better it is."
Why French, specifically
Florence is candid that she pushes French, she’s French, and she teaches it. But her argument for it is a practical one.
"French is a language spoken especially in the big international organizations," she says. "The Red Cross. The Olympic Games. Doctors Without Borders."
Then she offers the detail that stops the conversation: at the United Nations headquarters in New York, she says, the signage outside each room appears in French first, with English underneath. Dr. Eybl’s response "Wow, I didn’t know that" is probably most listeners’ reaction too.
For students who might go into international business, Florence argues, that’s not trivia. That’s a door.
What IB French requires
BISC has run the International Baccalaureate for eight years, and Florence says her students have all passed.
The preparation is serious. Listening assessments require students to recognize French as it’s actually spoken across the francophone world, Canadian, Belgian, and African accents among them. "Sometimes it can be tough," she admits. Her workaround is to invite parents in so students hear voices other than hers, including speakers from places like Senegal and Cameroon.
The curriculum covers the francophone world broadly: Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Algeria, Morocco, French Polynesia, Belgium. Higher-level students must read a book written by a French or francophone author in the original. "Not a translated book," Florence emphasizes.
Exams are sat in May. Results come the first week of July.
On the fear of speaking
Asked how she helps students overcome anxiety about a second language, Florence gives an answer rooted less in technique than in atmosphere and she’s quick to say she rarely encounters real anxiety at all.
"Everyone makes mistakes," she tells them. "Don’t be afraid. I make mistakes myself. We learn by our mistakes."
The small classes help enormously, she says. So does simply noticing a student who isn’t ready. "Come on yes, you can do it. Say it. Nobody is going to judge." Sometimes, she says, all it takes is a small tap on the back.
How she measures success
Not the exam or at least, not only the exam.
"When I can see they are so happy to speak French with me," she says, "and to tell me so many things in French."
She talks about the relationship between teacher and student as the real engine. "Even if he doesn’t remember the vocabulary, at least he will remember the teacher."
The stories that reach her come from families. A little girl heard her father mention a trip to Canada and announced that in Canada they eat poutine. Older students who came back to tell her they’d gone with their parents that week to a French pastry shop "I just said it," Florence notes. "I did not push them to go."
And the one she returns to: a family who went to Paris and came home astonished. Their son kept telling them, "Madame McNeal told us this."
"That makes me happy," she says.
Her advice to parents
This is the part of the conversation worth handing to any parent considering a language program.
"Encourage them. Don’t pressure them. If you pressure them, that’s when it doesn’t work. Just encourage. And just ask them what did you do in French today?"
Her most actionable suggestion costs nothing. Pick a movie your child already loves a Disney film they know line for line and watch it together with the French audio on.
"Even if the parents don’t understand French, it doesn’t matter," she says. "The child will be very happy."
A small school that knows everyone’s name
Asked if she wanted to add anything, Florence didn’t reach for a pitch.
"I’m very happy where I work," she said. "It’s a small school, but everyone knows everyone. Every student knows the name of every student. It’s really like a big family."
She also offered an open door: anyone with questions about the British International School of Charlotte is welcome to ask her.
The Crafty Polyglots Podcast is hosted by Dr. Felicia Eybl. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and share this episode with a teacher or parent who’d love it.
Warmly,
Olivier GIRAUDO
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