The fide exam preparation idea and coming up with a method goes back to a few years, that is: 2017. I can assure you it was not something I intended to do initially. I created the Geneva Language Exchange Group because my francophone speakers wanted to practice English with English speakers. Once the group was created it became clear that the need for innovative French teaching methods is far greater than English. I met all sorts of people who wanted to practice French and even though I recruited native speakers to help foreigners speak French, I needed a method. So I started looking for a method. I opened lots of existing French textbooks but I found most of the material a far cry from how English is taught. We even tried a method that taught “street French”, French that was actually spoken around us by native speakers in Geneva. However, the quest for material was quite frustrating because that material simply didn’t exist. Then I inscribed to more French classes at C1 level to experience French classes once again on myself. And it didn’t work. I didn’t learn anything and it was not the fault of the teacher. The books were written in a way that any vocabulary or grammar point is explained too briefly: two exercises at most. Unless one is a genius, there is no way that a normal person would be able to use the new words instantly.
It dawned on me that we cannot speak proper French because French is not really taught as a foreign language. A French course always focuses on endless grammar. If you are a good student you will end up being able to conjugate without actually knowing how to speak or having the vocabulary to just name “that thing”.
So if I wanted to come up with the material that is down to earth, focuses on vocabulary and pronunciation as well as being able to simply take part in real, normal conversations, I had to turn to a totally different direction. And this is when I found the fide method that at least promises to teach you real French and not Molière.
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