The Wave Method ®
The product of thousands of hours of private English instruction, the Wave Method ® is a unique pedagogical approach inspired by a few simple convictions about what makes advanced adult language learning both rigorous and efficient.
If our program represents the more or less universal training sequence through which all of our clients pass, our method serves as the engine that drives the day-to-day work of the coaching, ensuring its adaptedness to the particular needs of each student.

Spontaneous exchange
At Wave, we consider spontaneous oral exchange to be the most accurate representation of one’s true level of foreign language mastery. This is why we organize our coaching around a dynamic, conversation-based approach.
By creating an environment where oral comprehension and expression are simultaneously engaged, and spontaneous speech rapidly traverses a range of topics, our clients learn to confidently navigate the flow of any English exchange, whether it concerns work or the weather.

Leveraging the source language
There is a commonplace to the effect that foreign language speakers shouldn’t translate in their heads, but should somehow bypass their native tongues and spontaneously produce the target language.
The reality for multilingual people, however, is that unconscious acts of translation are constantly occurring, whether we like it or not. For our francophone clients, this gives rise to what is sometimes playfully referred to as “Franglish”: involuntary mistakes whose origin is a kind of conflict of interest between French and English.
At Wave, rather than demonize the tension between the source and target languages, we leverage it, turning each instance of “Franglish” into a powerful training moment. By thoroughly illuminating the origins of these repetitive errors, we arrive more rapidly at their resolution and produce a better-anchored result.

Following the data
It’s only natural that adult language learners sometimes have the impression that target language is utterly opaque and abstract. But your training approach shouldn’t be, because language mastery is finally quite straight forward, with the right approach.
Each of your sessions with Wave will result in detailed notes, carefully taken by your coach in the course of the session, that any mistakes of grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary. By creating an “acoustic mirror,” this approach demystifies the work of language learning, resulting in a customized grammaire, so you’ll always know where you are in your English language learning journey.
Jus as importantly, this concrete record of our work will allow us to monitor several key metrics that will provide objective measures of your progress, to complement the equally important subjective impressions.

Muscle memory
Language isn’t the exclusive province of the human mind, but a network of micro-interactions between brain and body. That’s why the Wave Method ® adopts the athletic model, treating each training session as a series of volleys between coach and client, whose aim is to reprogram the reflexes that give rise to “Franglish.”
By progressively adding resistance in the form of new grammar problematics, vocabulary and turns of phrase, we also challenge our clients to expand their range and become more versatile and supple in their spontaneous English language expression.
This whole-body orientation allows our clients to stop thinking about English and devote their attention to the task at hand. It also frees them from a baseless and unproductive thinking whereby the very normal challenges of language mastery are pathologized into moral failure.


Book your complimentary consultation
Each of our collaborations begins with a complimentary consultation during which we’ll discuss your needs, provide an expert assessment of your current level in English and answer any questions you might have about our services. Schedule yours today.