Michel Thomas, the language master

Michel Thomas  was a polyglot linguist, language teacher, and decorated war veteran. Originally from Poland, he later lived in Germany and then had to move to France to flee the nazis during the war. Picking up new languages wherever he moved to, Michel Thomas put his skills to the service of the French Resistance. He also worked as a spy for  U.S. Army.

After the war, Thomas emigrated to the United States, where he developed a language-teaching system known as the Michel Thomas Method. I studied this method and convinced of its quality, decided to use it in my French classes. Michel Thomas took the time to figure out the most useful things to teach in a language and the best way (the simplest and most comprehensible) to impart the knowledge to a student. What is also unique about his method is that he teaches students in their mother-tongue, building logical bridges between the language they already know and the one they are learning. And it works. Students feel confident that what they are taught makes sense, this enables them to make constant progress, which in turn gives them a sense of achievement and the desire to keep learning.

Michel Thomas died in 2005. Luckily for us a few years ago, he had given the BBC exclusive access to a class he agreed to give in London. Watch these videos and see Michel at work!