Edmond AUFFRET Tutor Interview

Q. Hi Edmond. Would you introduce yourself briefly to the Cafetalk community?: A. I was born in the West of France in the region called “Bretagne” (Britanny) in a city by the seaside called Lorient. This city is quite famous for the Interceltic Festival that we have every year during summer.I graduated from high school with a diploma in French literacy and foreign languages (English, Spanish and German). I also started to learn Japanese by myself with textbooks as well as with songs and anime. Then, I moved to Paris where I studied Japanese language and civilization and met with Japanese people to exchange language. As Paris is a multicultural city, I was used to speak English quite everyday as my friends were from all around the world.
Q. You are from France, but you have also spent some time in Japan and Spain. Can you tell us a bit about your life in each country?: A. When I moved to Tokyo, I first lived in Minami-Azabu and then in Sasazuka. I started to work as a model (I appeared in a book written by Yamada Amy and with pictures by Kobayashi Maruto). This was also, at the same time, that I started giving French and English classes in a private school in Nakano. I also lived in Barcelona for 7 years. I was working there as level 1 and 2 in an IT helpdesk for a French company (Air Liquide) and gave French classes in 3 different private schools. I took intensive classes of Catalan and got the B2 level diploma. I wrote a short essay about my life there and it got published in a book that included a DVD and got interviewed in Catalan.
Q. What are you usually up to when you’re not teaching on Cafetalk? Do you have any special hobbies or interests?: A. I’ve always loved reading books. Lately, I’m reading a lot about topics that I deal with during the lessons as the French identity, for example. I’m always curious to know more about every kind of topics. I also listen to a lot of music since it inspires me a lot when I am producing my own music. I love to discover new singers or bands and knowing more about their backgrounds. As for the music I make, I also got a diploma to get the basics of the community management in order to learn more about the way to promote myself on social reds. Furthermore, I watch a lot of series and movies to keep on studying foreign languages in a funny way.
Q. You are also a musician! A singer-songwriter, in fact. Can you tell us a bit more about your life as a musician?: A. I started writing lyrics and producing electro music and music videos in 2002. I write lyrics in all the languages I speak (French, English, Japanese, Spanish, Catalan) and sometimes mix them all together (like in the song “Amour d’hiver” for example). In 2009, I started releasing singles and albums on digital platforms (iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc) as well as in physical formats. For the moment, I released 7 albums and 7 singles. This year, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of my productions, I plan to release a best cover album as well as two best song collections (one for the international market and one for Japan only). I’ll be re-recording all the vocals in a professional studio.
Q. Speaking four languages you seem to be an avid language learner yourself. In your opinion, what is the most important thing to keep in mind when studying or teaching a foreign language?: A. When studying or teaching a foreign language, I think the most important thing is that it has to be fun so that you don’t even have the impression that you are studying something. I call this the “passive learning”. That’s actually how I learnt so many languages (through songs, movies, TV series, reading books). It helps you memorizing a lot of new vocabulary and see in which situation you can use the expressions in the most accurate ways.
I think it’s also important to learn in a relaxing way and be regular about your studies. Even if it’s just once a week, it has to become a habit to always learn a foreign language at the same day, same time so that it becomes a routine. It’s also a really good training for your brain because the part of the brain which is used when you learn a foreign language tend not be used very often so it’s really important to work it out as you would do with sports.
Q. You offer students on Cafetalk the option to learn French using “Chanson”, meaning (old) French songs. How can a student imagine that type of lesson?: A. That type of lesson is planned this way: First, we focus on the oral understanding as I send the lyrics of the songs but with blanks that the student has to fill. Once all the blanks have been filled, we start reading out the lyrics and concentrate on the pronunciation. The two next lessons are to analyze and translate the full lyrics so that you can understand every single part of it. This part is focused on the writing understanding this time. It’s also important to make the difference between the poetry/lyrics way to use the words and the actual oral way of saying it.
Q. Among all of the lessons you offer, which of your classes is your favourite, and why do you think your students will benefit from taking that lesson?: A. I don’t have a particular lesson plan that’s my favourite because it actually depends on the goals of my students and I always loved to prepare lessons adapted to the goal and expectations of each of my students. As for the regular lessons, I think it best suits the real beginners (best way to start learning French from scratch and in an intuitive way with a perfect balance between the oral and written parts) or the intermediate/advanced students who want to keep on mastering the French language. For the DELF/DALF preparation, my lessons are adapted to the points my students need to better and I have official mock exams to get prepared so that on the day of the “real” exam, my students are ready to get the best scores! So far, my students all got the diplomas for levels A1, A2, B1 and C1 and are not feeling nervous anymore once they followed my plan of preparation as we are doing it the exact way the real diploma has to be prepared so that it has no more secret for them. As for the “chanson” program, I really love to do this one too because I think it’s a fun way to learn a language through songs and you don’t even have the impression to be really studying though you learn a lot about the oral, written and culture. As music is my passion, I’m happy to share my knowledge about the world of music. Finally, the intensive lessons are more orientated to the students who need to better their French for work reason or if they plan to go on vacations in France and need basic expressions to be able to speak with the French people.
Q. Finally, would you like to leave a message for your current and future students?: A. I’m looking forward to teaching with new students and show them that my 7 years of experience teaching French really works! It’s always a pleasure to share culture and knowledge from all the countries in the world. As I speak Japanese, I can, of course, provide the first lessons and explanations in Japanese and then, we’ll be slowly switching to the French language only once we both feel confident enough to do so. You’ll be surprised to see how fast you’ll start speaking French with me without even realizing it! À bientôt!