EFBA teachers and assistants Back to School orientation took place throughout the week of September 9th. A Back to School preparation? What for?

To train new hires to the EFBA method. And to refresh the memory of the returnees 🙂

 

 

What is the EFBA method?

French is often described as a difficult language to learn. Is that the case? Not really! In the long run, motivation and regularity will make a difference in the process of learning a foreign language.

At EFBA, we put in different ways to practice French by supporting the motivation of children in their learning by using several means:

  • Small group classes 
  • Small group classes are beneficial for the socialization of children. They accept the normality of growing up bilingual as soon as they discover that they are not the only ones and that their situation is valued by school institutions. Also, small group classes provide kids with motivation to make friends.
  • A gentle pedagogy
  • Education that is too academic may produce short-term results, but it may disgust children. At EFBA, we believe that it is better to stimulate their motivation and their desire to learn French because the children’s desire to learn is always coming back to the surface. Our pedagogy is playful and adapted to extra-curricular time.
  • Play Based learning
  • Children develop their imagination, learn how to make their own toys, and play with words. Our goal is to offer the children of the San Francisco bay area thousands of opportunities to learn and use the French language so that they grow up loving many languages.
  • Immersion learning
  • The pedagogy to quickly learn French is based on total immersion in the French language. Our teachers speak French all the time: during playtime, during classes and during breaks.

    For non-French speaking children, teaching aids are adapted to communicate through gestures or images.

    The majority language is used only in cases of imminent danger, conflict or grief of the child. And of course to communicate with non-francophone parents about the progress of their children!

Training for new hires…

The EFBA family is growing! We had the pleasure of recruiting and welcoming new motivated teachers and assistants. We are also opening new classrooms this year in Livermore, San Ramon, Milpitas and Half Moon Bay.

The profiles of our newcomers are diverse and we like it at EFBA, it promotes multiculturalism! Some of our teachers have never taught before. But all of them have one thing in common: a happy personality and a desire to pass knowledge on to children!

To enable our new teachers and assistants to succeed at EFBA, we called on our most experienced teachers. They were able to share their experience and have provided several training sessions on playful pedagogy, immersion, positive discipline, class management etc.

Thanks to everyone who shared their knowledge on these types of topics and in particular thanks to Nadia Bodin, Simone Bloch, Sophie Stockholm and Nadia Chamberry!

And mandatory topics for everyone!

The After School program offered by EFBA is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) since May 2014.

The WASC is an official academic body responsible for accrediting public and private schools in the United States. The WASC accreditation assures or reaffirms that the organization in question provides quality education to its students.

Being accredited, EFBA provides evidence of a trusted institution in language learning. This is why EFBA commits to delivering certain trainings to its staff every year, whether these training courses are imposed by the WASC, or because EFBA considers them mandatory for the safety and well-being of children and staff.

Our teachers and assistants are particularly trained on topics such as the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace, mandated reporter work, CPR, natural disaster and active shooter preparedness.

 

One last word: THANK YOU!

Thanks to the speakers for sharing their knowledge, thanks to the participants for their motivation and for conscientiously absorbing the information, and thank you to the EFBA administrative team without whom this event could not have taken place.

Finally, thank you to our donors for:

  • Coffee to awaken our consciences: Peet’s and Starbucks
  • Lunch to fill our bellies: HomeGrown
  • Pastries to motivate us: La Boulangerie
  • Goodies and small gifts as tokens of appreciation and in particular:
    • Reusable water bottles – yes, at EFBA we want to contribute to the reduction of waste: Cupanion Bottles
    • Ice packs for lunchbox students: Bentology

 

 

If this article made you want to participate in the EFBA mission and if you want to join our association as a teacher and / or assistant please visit our career page to know more about our open opportunities.

 

Stay connected with us!

Follow us on | Facebook | Instagram | #efbaschool

 

 

 

 Save as PDF