French teacher from Carlow launches affordable grinds platform
Teacher Nicola Rowan has created a series of affordable grinds online for French students
A CARLOW French teacher has launched a new online learning platform which aims to provide affordable grinds for higher-level leaving certificate French students.
FrenchExam.ie was set up by Nicola Rowan, a state examiner and French teacher who wanted to combine serious exam preparation with a more approachable style.
Her main aim when designing the programme was “affordability,” given the notable rise in the popularity of leaving certificate and junior cycle students availing of grinds outside school.
“Kids just get grinds willy-nilly now but a lot of families also can’t afford them,” says Nicola, noting that the cost of grinds can now exceed €50 for an hour-long session.
“It is 36 weeks of lessons and they are anywhere between 35 and 45 minutes long. It works out a little over a fiver per lesson, which, hopefully, can give everybody the same opportunity,” Nicola says.
The programme, she says, is like having an “extra teacher” at home to provide guidance, which is particularly pertinent for languages as many students may be unsure how best to approach studying them.
Considerable work has gone into developing the programme, with Nicola creating the website herself from scratch after getting the bug while putting one together for herself and her husband’s travel guide .
After completing the website in May, Nicola used her time off during the summer holidays as a teacher in Cro to begin recording the programme’s lessons. Each lesson took two hours to complete once editing was included, with further time dedicated to research and note-taking.
“It took me the guts of three months, I would say, and that was from working 12 to 14-hour days,” explains Nicola.
Having compiled a comprehensive collection of notes, Nicola subsequently brought the material together in a new book called , which is designed to help students develop their essay-writing skills rather than simply learning essays off by heart.
This is her second leaving certificate study guide, following her first publication and is available to purchase through the FrenchExam.ie website.
In addition to her writing, Nicola runs a social media account called ‘Madame Nicola’ on which she shares humorous French content to make learning French feel less intimidating.
Videos include classroom observations and mistakes that French teachers typically come across, which Nicola refers to as “grammar crimes.” Further information about the 36-week programme and Nicola’s books is available at FrenchExam.ie.
