The French Made Simple Method

A human-centric approach to language teaching designed for real classrooms.

For teachers who want clarity, consistency, and creativity - without added workload.

The French Made Simple Method explains how storytelling, music, and cognitive science are combined to support engagement, confidence, and long-term retention in beginner and intermediate language classrooms.

Why the FMS Method exists

French Made Simple was not designed to be more entertaining.
It was designed to solve three structural problems commonly found in language classrooms:

Attention is fragile

Students disengage when input is passive, abstract, or disconnected from meaning.

Memory is overloaded

Vocabulary lists and isolated grammar rules don't transfer to long-term memory.

Teachers are overwhelmed

Planning time is unsustainable, and coherence is hard to maintain across units.


The FMS Human-Centric Method

A structured approach to language learning built around how humans pay attention, make meaning, and remember.

The FMS Centric-Human Method is a repeatable lesson design that combines story, music, emotion and cognitive science - within a structure teachers can rely on.

It is designed to support engagement, confidence, and long-term retention - without increasing cognitive load or planning burden.

It is not a collection of activities.
It is a system.

The method is embedded within complete, ready-to-use lessons, so teachers can focus on teaching rather than translating theory into practice. These are complete lessons - designed to embody the method.



The 4 foundations of the FMS Method

Emotion

Learning sticks when students feel something. FMS lessons create emotional hooks through story, character, and music.

Story

Language is always contextualised. Students encounter vocabulary and grammar through narratives, not lists.

Music

Rhythm and melody encode patterns naturally. Songs reduce cognitive load and strengthen recall over time.

Repetition with purpose

Structures reappear naturally across lessons. Students revisit language without boredom or mechanical drilling.
The method does the heavy lifting - not the teacher.
SIMPLE. PREDICTABLE. CLASSROOM-READY.

What does an FMS lesson actually look like?

Every French Made Simple lesson follows the same cognitive flow, so students know what to expect and teachers don't have to reinvent their planning.

The creativity is in the content. The structure stays consistent.

Starter

Activate prior knowledge

Students begin with retrieval of language/notion they already know.
This creates immediate success, focus, and confidence - not cognitive overload.

Input through narrative song

New vocabulary in context

New vocabulary and structures are introduced through music, narrative, and characters.
Meaning comes first. Rules emerge naturally.

Guided practice

Patterns made visible

Students practise through structured listening and speaking tasks.
Repetition happens without drilling, and reluctant speakers feel safe to participate.

Meaningful task

Language with purpose

Students use the language to express ideas, not just complete exercises.
This is where engagement and motivation rise.

Return & revisit

Memory strengthened over time

Language resurfaces across future lessons through recurring themes, characters, and stories.
Nothing is taught once and forgotten.
This is the FMS Human-Centric Method in action.


Designed to work over time

The French Made Simple Method is designed to be reused, adapted, and build upon - not replaced every half term.

Because lessons follow a consistent cognitive structure, students develop familiarity and confidence over time, while teachers reduce planning load and improve curriculum coherence.

Departments can integrate the method gradually, aligning it with existing schemes of work and professional judgement rather than replacing them wholesale.

The method supports consistency without uniformity - structure without rigidity.



How the FMS Method fits into real school contexts

French Made Simple is not a scheme of work and it is not designed to replace existing curricula.

The method is built to sit within the structures schools already use - GCSE, IGCSE, IB, or local programmes - while improving how language is introduced, practised, and retained.

Teachers use the FMS Method to:
  • Adapt lessons to their exisiting schemes of work
  • Reuse a consistent lesson structure across different topics and year groups
  • Reduce planning time without lowering expectations
  • Maintain professional judgement and flexibility in the classroom

Departments can adopt the method gradually, trial individual lessons, or use it as a shared planning framework - without committing to a full rewrite of their curriculum.

French Made Simple supports consistency without uniformity: a shared cognitive structure that leaves room for teacher voice, context, and creativity.



How the FMS Method is delivered in practice

The French Made Simple Method is delivered through a growing library of ready-to-use classroom lessons following the national curriculum.

Each lesson includes:
  • A fully structured PowerPoint lesson
  • A narrative music video (story-based video)
  • Carefully sequenced activities aligned to the FMS cognitive flow

These lessons are designed to be:
  • Taught straight away, with no adaptation required
  • Used flexibly within exisiting schemes of work
  • Revisited and reused as part of a coherent curriculum over time

Teachers can use individual lessons, selected units, or whole sequences - while keeping full control over pacing, emphasis, and classroom delivery.

The method lives inside the lessons, so teachers don't have to translate theory into practice themselves.
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