Dear French Story Listeners,

This week I began a new adventure with Vladimir, whom I’m coaching to speak French with more ease and spontaneity. Maybe that sounds familiar? 😊

We started with an exercise that has shaped good speakers for over two thousand years: the Mythos, or fable.

The Mythos is the first of the Progymnasmata, the classical exercises once used to train young orators.

In ancient Greece, speaking well mattered a great deal. Citizens had to argue in the assembly, defend themselves in court and persuade their neighbours.

Teachers knew no one could deliver a whole speech on day one, so they created a ladder of small exercises, from simple to complex.

Students began by retelling a fable and slowly climbed toward full speeches of their own.

The practice is simple: listen to a short fable, tell it back, read it aloud, and draw out its moral.

Those of you who use narration with your children will recognise a kindred spirit here.

✨ How a fable builds your fluency

• The ideas are already there. You don’t need to invent anything, so all your attention can go to finding the French words. That’s exactly the reflex we’re growing.
• The words start coming faster. Each retelling invites your mind to reach for words a little more quickly, until it no longer feels like searching.
• Your speech finds its shape. A fable has a beginning, a middle, an end and a moral, so you naturally learn to organise what you say.
• You learn to step back. Summing up a story’s meaning in one sentence is the first step toward sharing your own ideas.

🐓 This week’s story: Le coq et la perle

This week, I’d love for you to try it with me.

Watch Le coq et la perle for free on YouTube 👉 https://youtu.be/2P0aAHukvOU

Then retell the fable aloud, to yourself, a friend or your children.

And ask: Quelle est la morale ? (What is the moral?) There’s no wrong answer.

Be gentle with yourself and enjoy the story.

Words to treasure 📖

raconter une histoire = to tell (a story)
Je pense que la morale est… = I think the moral is…
Il était une fois… = Once upon a time…

Steady, joyful practice is what carries you. Keep going. One fable, one retelling at a time.

Alice 💕

P.S. Want to go deeper? Members can read and listen to the full script of Le coq et la perle, so they can follow every word and retell it with confidence 👉 https://www.aliceayel.com/resources/le-coq-et-la-perle/