Dear French Story Listeners,

Every Saturday, I bring you a new French story.

One you can truly settle into, no memorisation required.

Just your ears, your imagination, and a tale that carries you somewhere beautiful.

This week’s story is Le vase au fond du lac, an Armenian tale of a tyrannical king, a devoted son, and a golden vase that nobody can reach.

Who will solve the mystery? Watch and find out.

👉 Watch the story on YouTube: https://youtu.be/z_3I0wTQh5Y

A gentle practice: narrate in the first person

Narration, retelling a story in your own words, is one of the most powerful ways to truly absorb what you’ve heard.

This week, try it in French, in the first person.

Become the boy. retell the story in your own words, but in the first person, as if you were living it. In French, say je — I.

Je cachais mon père dans la montagne, au fond d’une grotte… (I was hiding my father in the mountain, deep in a cave…)

J’ai demandé à mon père : Papa, pourquoi ne peut-on pas attraper le vase ? (I asked my father: Papa, why can’t anyone catch the vase?)

Je suis monté dans l’arbre et j’ai attrapé le vase d’or. (I climbed the tree and I caught the golden vase.)

You don’t need perfect French.

You need your voice, your memory of the story, and the courage to begin.

This is how French becomes truly yours.

A word from one of our learners

Here is what Laura Vega shared on Trustpilot:

“The best way to learn a language! My kids and I have been using Alice’s site for years. They were in French school when they were little and had many trips to France. But we’ve been away from that for a few years and now they are in high school. We’ve forgotten some of the language. We use AliceAyel to freshen up our French language skills as needed. Her methodical storytelling — building on vocabulary and phrases used from one lesson to the next — makes learning fun and easy. We really enjoy it — and it works!”

That is exactly what this is for.

Whether you are returning to French after a long pause, or quietly building it for the first time, you are exactly where you need to be.

À bientôt,
Alice 💕

P.S. This week’s story comes with the full text, vocabulary list, and audio so you can read and listen at your own pace. It’s all waiting for you right here: Read & listen to Le vase au fond du lac → — a membership gives you access to every story in the library, plus our private Telegram community. Come join us. 🌿