In the Amandiers district of Uzès, we learn English in a fun way

“Head, shoulders, knees and toes…” At the coffee shop Amande & Co This Thursday, November 30, school children get out of their chairs and dance along to an English nursery rhyme. Karen Moulton uses a variety of methods to help these children from the Amantiers district immerse themselves in Shakespeare's language. Since the start of the school year, this American teacher has come to give every week English lessons for teenagers in primary and secondary schools.

Notebooks and pencils fill the large desk in the room, and Karen must listen quietly as a student presents “my family” to the blackboard. Despite this, the course is far from academic. Approachable but firm, the author takes over the page with a warm smile and careful makeup “fun” Very intensive learning. As she sorts through the picture cards, the fifty-year-old woman says: “We have to learn them.”

To hear the testimony of Melissa Huro, who marveled at the progress of her 8-year-old daughter, Azealia, is a philosophy that works: “She speaks a lot of English at home now and is trying to find new words!”.

The course is a victim of its success. The number of 10 students per slot is quickly reached, with a waiting list of more than seven children.

“You must dare to be wrong!”

As part of her work as a linguistics “business coach” Karen applies a golden rule to all ages, including her adult students. Having lived in France for 36 years and arriving in Uzès last July, crossing the Atlantic, he laments the lack of English in France. “The French are afraid to make mistakes, we must dare to speak, dare to make mistakes!”.