Parlez vous Francais? (Do you speak French?)

One thing is for sure, there will be no English spoken in Holly Vittetoe's French class.

The Westwood Middle School world language teacher practices an immersion technique to help her students better learn and retain the language. Even in the hallway outside of class on March 9, Vittetoe's instruction to her dozen students begins in the romantic language of Paris, although mixed with a bit of English.

But once the threshold is crossed entering her room, it's all French - which the students speak fairly well considering they only do it 47 minutes a day a couple of days a week.

For years, Vittetoe said she looked for a better way to teach language than the traditional book and recitation method she learned in high school - and then forgot. Last year she went to a conference where a language teacher from Sedro Woolley showed a video of one of his students speaking the language better than Vittetoe had seen any of her students do.

"I thought 'What's he doing different?'" Vittetoe said.

The answer was AIM - Accelerative Integrated Methodology. The technique, developed in the 1990s by Canadian teacher Wendy Maxwell, teaches "vocabulary through visual, auditory and kinesthetic tools," according to the AIM website.

Vittetoe researched the technique and enrolled in a training session, held July 5-8 in Toronto. She picked up the materials beforehand and went through them, but nothing really worked, until she attended an actual class.

"I tried a little bit (before), but thought 'I'm not getting it," Vittetoe said. "Then, I went, did a class like they do class and I began to get it."

Vittetoe has a simple guideline for her students while in class.

"Say what you know, if it's not that important, don't say it," she said. "Try to say it, and I will try to help you say it correctly."

The Westwood students are divided into teams of four students each, but as they enter the class, they are greeted by Vittetoe who asks them something in French. They are to answer with the correct response, and then she gives them a playing card that determines where they sit for the day.

From there, instruction is interactive, beginning with a video the students sing and dance - somewhat - to. Throughout the instruction, Vittetoe uses hand gestures to illustrate words and phrases in French, something that is also part of AIM.

There is a counting exercise, a sentence/gesture exercises, which is incorporated into a workbook exercise followed by some recitation, a spelling-bee type of word competition and more video. The class ends with a game, in this case, "hide the eraser."

Through it all, Vittetoe tosses students a "pince" (look it up) as a reward for success. Students put the pinces in their pockets or pin them to their clothing and collect them as part of a class competition.

All the while, not a word of any language other than French is spoken.

Vittetoe said the class has proven popular, with former students asking her if they can retake the course just to participate.

"It is fun," she said. "The kids are engaged and they love it."

They even use it outside the classroom. Student Elissa Jones said she took Vittetoe's class because she's always liked the language and she hopes to travel someday.

"I'll use it (outside school) to confuse people," she said. "And also to challenge myself, like with numbers."

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.