Outstanding Teacher Biography: Michel Thomas

Michel Thomas - Language Teacher

Learning is something that I enjoy. Continuing to learn also provides me with the opportunity to try out new Learning techniques before I try them with my students.

At the moment, my goal is to reach A1 of the  CEFR level in German. According to Deutsche Welle, who are sponsored by the German government, this can be reached with about 75 hours of German study. This is a big challenge for me, as language learning was something I have not done since I studied German (hated it, dropped it as a subject) for a year at age 13.


However, with all my knowledge of how learning works and techniques that I've since gained, I'm hoping this is enough to push me through my weakness for languages. I'll share my techniques here.


First I used Michel Thomas German Foundation course. It doesn't teach too much vocabulary, but Michel makes the language really come to life and makes grammar simple. He is a wonderful tutor. For people who do not know the story of Michel Thomas, he was a decorated WWII hero who spoke many languages. Following the war, he opened a highly exclusive language school in LA, where he taught film stars. Before his death, he released audio language lessons.

Following his death, other courses were made using his method, such as Chinese. However, I don't believe these were as good. However, the courses in French, German, Italian and Spanish have the amazing man himself. If you use these, you will have an excellent foundation in the language:




Michel Thomas French

Michel Thomas German

Michel Thomas Italian

Michel Thomas Spanish

If you want to find out more about the life of life and methods of Michel Thomas, with the man himself, have a look at this YouTube video. It is from a BBC documentary where they challenged Michel to teach French to a group of young people who had little or no language experience. The results were spectacular.