By evadumonteil Last updated: February 19, 2023

Looking for Peer Support? Head Over to These 5 Amazing French Teacher Forums

Being a French teacher is fun and incredibly enriching, but it has its challenges too.

We all need somebody to lean on.

Sometimes you just want to share your thoughts with like-minded teachers who understand your joys and struggles.

Enter French teacher forums.

Forums are fantastic places to bond over common experiences, exchange ideas and ask for advice. Backed by technology, they provide platforms for professional educators to express themselves, grow, learn and make friends along the way.

Keep an open mind, be yourself and enjoy intelligent discussions with French teachers from all over the world. Who knows where your messages may lead you?

So, without further ado, here’s everything you need to know about these vibrant online communities.

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What to Ask on French Teacher Forums

Ask career advice. Forums provide a safe environment to discuss your teaching career. That’s because they often guarantee full anonymity and gather fellow educators from various backgrounds and experiences.

It’s not unusual to come across individuals who have decided to move for their careers and have taught French all over the world. You could find tutors, language consultants and teachers who were promoted to managerial positions within their schools. This can open your eyes to a wealth of opportunities that you haven’t considered before. Asking for career advice can help you explore new options and decide on the best trajectory for you.

Get teaching tips and strategies. If you’re looking for a place to converse with experienced French teachers who are willing to share their methodologies, you’ll love French teacher forums. Forum members are often open to helping other instructors with their best practices, ideas and suggestions—that’s their way of giving back and spreading their passion for the French language.

Don’t be bashful about asking for more information on a particular method or strategies to teach a particular point. Forum participants will do their best to help you out!

See product reviews. Are you interested in introducing a new French teaching resource to your classroom but don’t have enough information to decide whether or not your students will benefit from it? That’s another question to ask on French teacher forums.Personally, I always recommend FluentU.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language lessons.

Members will give your their honest feedback on the textbooks, apps, books and movies that you’re considering, as well as suggestions on how to best use them in class.

Get ideas to improve student performance. Helping students achieve positive results with French is what your classroom is all about. It can be disappointing to see that your passion, hard work and enthusiasm doesn’t pay off the way you expected. Such a concern is shared by numerous teachers worldwide.

Ask for help and ideas to increase your students’ performance in the classroom. If you’re new to a certain grade or AP French classes, reading specialized posts on French teacher forums can help you quickly identify common problems and develop strategies to address them more efficiently.

Find ways to boost parent engagement. Involving parents in homework and studies can greatly benefit your students’ success. It can also validate your teaching skills while ensuring that your efforts are reinforced outside the classroom.

Many teachers believe in the value and necessity of engaging parents, while others give this less emphasis. Regardless, bringing this topic up on a forum can help you sort out your own thoughts on the matter, as well as steer you in the right direction with plenty of concrete, actionable insights.

Peer Power! 5 French Teacher Forums for Collaborating with Fellow Educators

American Association of Teachers of French (AATF)

The site of the AATF itself doesn’t include a forum, but members are encouraged to use the association’s Facebook and Twitter communities to interact and exchange ideas. True, this won’t offer complete anonymity (unless you use a pseudonym on Twitter), but it’s arguably one of the most active and vibrant French teacher forums there is.

To get started, simply sign in to your social accounts, then comment on posts or write your own. You’ll quickly see that fellow educators will jump in to share their opinions. Discussions range from cultural activities to teaching ideas, French events and job listings.

While the community is maintained in the French language, visitors often post in English. Head over to the Visitor Posts section to the right of the homepage to engage directly with members who’ve contributed previously.

Teacher.net

This is another rich community forum where you can meet and exchange with professional French teachers.

Usually a very animated place, the chat board welcomes educators from all over the world looking for mentoring from veteran instructors. The site also offers live chatrooms and classifieds for teachers of all subjects.

Users must register for a free account in order to post or comment, but all the old notes are publicly available and you’re free to browse them without an account.

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)

The ACTFL is a community of 12,500 educators and education professionals based in the U.S.A. While not specifically geared towards French language teachers, it’s a great place to meet and network with passionate educators. The site also offers access to studies, research documents and events that may be of interest to you.

The forum itself is active, professional and insightful. Expect lots of teacher-specific information with questions as diverse as personal development, technology in the classroom and AP classes.

However, only recent posts are public and only members of the ACTFL can participate in discussions. To join, you’ll need to sign up for a basic account and pay a fee, but know that membership is worth it. In addition to having access to the teacher forum, it’s a great affiliation to list on a resume.

College Board AP French Language and Culture Teacher Community

This is the official community for teachers of AP French Language and Culture courses.

If you’re teaching AP French, then this is the best place to engage in lively discussions on everything AP-related. It’s a fantastic forum where you can grow with and learn from other professional educators currently teaching this course and preparing students for the big exam. You’ll have access to discussions, top resources and teaching strategies to help your students get the highest scores possible.

Posts are organized into topics and including questions about the AP French curriculum, strategies, materials and more. While discussions are geared towards the AP French exams, the community welcomes all French educators.

To get started, register for a free account.

Reddit Teachers

They say there’s a subreddit for everything, and they’re right.

True, Reddit Teachers isn’t solely dedicated to French teachers, but it’s a solid place for discussions on all things teaching. It boasts a strong community of nearly 40,000 members from all over the world.

You’ll appreciate the honesty and activity on this forum. It doesn’t get better than this if you’re looking for support, candid discussion and direct help on any questions about teaching, from your first teaching job interview to your wardrobe as a male teacher.

To get started, simply create a free account. It’s incredibly simple and only a username and password are required—you don’t even need to provide an email address. If you’re looking for anonymous discussions, this is a safe place to participate.

We hope that you enjoy these French teacher forums as much as we do!

You’ll quickly see how easy it is to get hooked on these forums.

That’s what happens when you learn and meet new friends!