Confident kindhearted communication
The world’s global language has become English, with more than 350 million native speakers and 430 million speakers in other countries. It is the language most spoken and understood around the world. Yet France, has the lowest level of spoken English amongst all EU countries.
The ability to communicate fearlessly and kindheartedly in English allows one to exchange with anyone in the world. It opens the door to broadening one’s perspective, points of view, and understandings, it brings about a universal growth mindset, a curiosity, and compassion that will define future generations.
Being in an immersion situation where you have no other choice but to speak English in order to get by is the key to learning it and becoming fluent. Being self-conscious can be a major obstacle to learning to speak English, especially when the attention is focused on the child trying to learn and his/her “mistakes” and “improper accent”.
In real life, children learn as they go, they learn through fun and spontaneous interactions, they learn effortlessly; when speaking becomes a mean rather than an end, the natural learning process can take place, fearlessly, confidently.
At Fabrique Bilingue, we communicate only in English. We create situation immersion where bilingual and English-speaking kids come together with children wanting learn English to play and create things together. The adults in charge are here to facilitate everyone’s learning. The focus is on what we do together and how we interact. English is our mean to communicate, play, and create. English is fun, alive, enjoyable.
We offer all sorts of fun English immersion sessions that we call Playdates, at Fabrique Bilingue or in your classrooms. We provide help for teachers, educators, and school directors who wish to create and implement an English bilingual curriculum – tailored to their own style and needs – in order to help the children reach English fluency faster and with ease.
Problem solving skills through project-based learning
Life has always been about adapting to change. The comfort and stability gained since the 50s briefly made us think otherwise but we quickly realised that nothing could be less true; to be able to adapt and problem solve together is key to our survival. As the world changes fast, solutions to all sorts of challenging situations need to be found. More than ever, learning to stay calm, figure out what you already know or need to learn, being resourceful and creative, and planning and following through with it, working together with others in good faith throughout the process, these are all skills our children must master to face the future.
Project Based Learning is the ideal format to develop these skills, which is why Fabrique Bilingue is committed to using PBL throughout the Playdates, but also to helping other educators, teachers, and directors enjoy the processes and rewards of Project Based Teaching.
About me
Marie bourdier ertoran
Learning is my life.
To provoke and facilitate learning is my passion.
I have been and still am a documentary film maker, a mother, a teacher’s assistant, a teacher, and an educational project consultant. All of it in the name of learning.
My teaching career started with teaching filmmaking to teens but for the past 10 years my work focused on Preschool and Elementary Education and bilingualism.
Upon moving back to Bordeaux I decided to focus on what I love most and what I believe to be some of the most important skills we can offer future generations: Confident kindhearted English communication, problem solving skills and cooperation.
Pedagogical journey
Through my experience studying and teaching over the past 17 years, I have developed solid skills and beliefs in Child-entered, Project-based pedagogies. From John Dewey to Jean Piaget and Lev Vigostky, from Maria Montessori to Celestin Freinet and Loris Malguzzi (Reggio Emila approach), and even Rudolph Steiner, all these brilliant and influential educators pointed to the fundamental truth that learning must make sense; it must be directly connected to the experience, the reality, and the desire of the learner. It is fueled by the realization of the gap needing to be bridged in order to achieve a desired goal. Learning happens best when the desire to learn comes from the learner. In other words, learning happens best when it is learner-directed and not teacher directed.
One of the most growth provoking experience I had as an educator did not happen in the classroom, but at home with my own child. I was butting heads with my oldest while living in San Francisco and trying to “teach” him French at home. These painful and recurring situations forced me to face the gap between the theories I believed in and my own practice.
To bridge the divide I had to consciously create a new paradigm in which power and control was released and I had to respect 3 rules I created for myself:
- 1-learning must be enjoyable.
- 2-Learning must be connected to the child’s natural desire to learn.
- 3-The teacher/educator utmost intention is quality of presence and an ability to constantly adapt to ensure rule 1 and 2 are respected at all times.
With this new framework my son and I allowed ourselves to venture into the here and now of learning together, using our enjoyment of the process as our compass.
I was learning how to truly help him, learning to be a better educator, he was learning about French grammar and his own learning process and growth.
This experience challenged me to become the mindful teacher I always wanted to be.
Such is the spirit of Fabrique Bilingue: we are dedicated to making English accessible to all in an enjoyable and liberating way. We aim to offer support to educators on their journey to implementing a more bilingual and project-based curriculum.
Looking forward to supporting you on your journey towards richer, more joyful bilingual education, warmly,
Marie Bourdier Ertoran
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