Imagine walking into a French class where everything – from "Bonjour" to "À bientôt" – happens in French. Not just the structured lessons, but every small interaction. It’s immersive, natural, and gives you a taste of real-life French. Native teachers often create this type of environment, however being a native doesn’t automatically make someone the best teacher. True immersion that benefits learners takes skill, precision, and a deep understanding of teaching techniques. A native instructor’s judgment and ability to select just the right materials make all the difference between feeling overwhelmed and achieving real progress. We'll explore the teaching situations you may be encountering and dive into the concept of comprehensible input. Read till the end to find lots of recommendations and tips!

What you get vs what you should get

Learning the language while using the language is the heart of the native teacher’s approach in a language class. Let's compare what usually happens in a French class vs what should ideally happen.

Typical situation: you learn useful phrases, thematic vocabulary, you have speaking tasks, written tasks, tests, and essays to write, but then, your communication outside the precise “learning” frame is not happening in French. It means you don’t “speak” French; there’s no interaction. Yes, you achieve different tasks and acquire skills in French, but the first and most important skill you need is not practiced: you don't speak French. This is often the case with high school lessons, or when the teacher is not a native speaker.

Immersion situation: you do everything you usually do in a language class, and the communication situations all happen in French. It means you get used to hearing and speaking in French in real-life situations. Closing the window or door, going to the whiteboard, standing up, going to the toilet, highlighting words, writing a sentence for the class, checking your timetable, asking questions about homework or schedules… All these things can be done in French very quickly if you’re immersed enough.

In the language teaching world, not everybody agrees on the benefits of full immersion, and some will argue that for immersion to work like magic, you need to be willing to listen. This is not always the case in a high school setting, where learning is not a choice. However, this is more of a debate on the teacher’s side, and what matters for you as a learner is to choose what works best for you.

It can be frightening to find yourself in a learning environment where the instructor is not using your native language or a language you know. Depending on your experience of language learning and your learning style, you might be more or less comfortable with that.

But, if it’s a first experience, and you don’t know what’s best for you, I highly recommend going for immersion and trying it out. I’ve seen it work magic... IF and only IF your teacher is qualified enough to have the right judgment. Yes, you can be (and should be in my opinion) fully immersed, but too much stuff you don't understand will just make you stop listening.

Can you learn French with a teacher who’s 100% speaking French?

Well, yes and no. A person speaking fluent French might be very knowledgeable, but it doesn’t necessarily make them a qualified education professional.

In order for immersion to work, the exposure needs to be gradual, and comprehension should always be checked. This requires a level of mastery from your teacher that you need to look out for. If they speak too much, too fast, with too many new words and completely new concepts, you’ll end up overwhelmed, exhausted, and eventually lose all motivation. This is where the type of content and the amount of information being presented to you needs to be chosen wisely.

Now, what is comprehensible input?

Comprehensible input has been theorized as a way of being exposed to the language progressively and according to your level, in order to challenge your skills and knowledge just enough for you to learn without feeling like it’s too difficult or impossible to learn.

Let's see an example : after a few beginner lessons, you should probably have acquired the basics of introducing yourself, talking about your hobbies, and your tastes. At that point, your teacher could choose to show you a street interview with subtitles, in slow French, featuring natives sharing their hobbies and interests. You will be challenged by a few new words, the pronunciation, and the street sounds around, but the vocabulary is already mastered, and you will feel confident enough to face the task.

Another example is cartoons. Around A2 level, French cartoons are an excellent example of comprehensible input. Not only do they bring you back to childhood, but the characters usually speak pretty slowly, you have a LOT of visual clues to guide your understanding of the situation, a lot of repetition, and there always will be words that are new, but the context is usually enough to get them, so you have a challenge while feeling confident at the same time. These are my personal favorites: Monsieur Madame, Simon Super Lapin, Bienvenue chez les Loud.

Feeling confident is the key element here. If you feel like a failure all the time and that everything is too complicated, it will very obviously lead you to give up on French, and this is the opposite of what we want.

If you’re living in a French-speaking country, it’s very important to implement a reasonable amount of comprehensible input in your daily life to balance the amount of absolutely non-understandable situations you might face day-to-day. Yes, you have to struggle, be ridiculous, and fail in communication situations to learn, improve, and eventually succeed. And yes, the baker might speak too fast, but eventually, you’ll understand her if you keep trying. But this constant, uncomfortable feeling of not being understood and not being able to communicate clearly HAS to be balanced with easy, achievable, just-a-little-challenging situations if you don’t want to end up discouraged.

Comprehensible input can be a piece of content with a reasonably difficult French level, but it’s not just about the language itself. The type of content, the context, the visual clues, and your past experiences are your tools here.

Let me list a few examples:

• You have a favorite book that you’ve read a bunch of times in a language you already know. You almost know the story by heart; it contains no surprises. This is typically a very good choice of comprehensible input in French. The words will be new, but you will make sense of them fairly easily since you know everything in the story. Easy French books and bilingual books are also a great choice for a start.

• You go to a museum to see an exhibition. The leaflet you’re handed at the entrance comes in French and English. You will force yourself to read the French version while always having the English translation available when you feel insecure about new words. This is a way to challenge your understanding (slight difficulty) and to feel confident at the same time.

• You choose to switch all your devices and apps to French. Most of the words you encounter are completely unknown, yet you know where to click and how to navigate your device. Here, your muscle memory, your ability to read visual clues such as symbols, as well as your past user experience, will be your guides, making the experience only slightly challenging.

Keep in mind that the definition of comprehensible input is highly personal and will vary based on your age, experience, and language habits. It’s interesting to question your own ability to understand things out of context. How much of a sentence do you need to know to feel comfortable understanding it? Do you need to know 80% of the words? 60%? If it depends on the context, which situations are the easiest and the most challenging for you? At what point do you feel completely lost without any clues?

Self-confidence plays a huge role in your experience of learning French. The more you know yourself, the easier it will be to navigate the learning process.

For more suggestions of French content check out 6 ways to include French in your daily life, and my French resources recommendations.