French the Natural Way

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

Thank you to all the community members who took the time to share their thoughts about the Senior Stage. Your feedback is invaluable, and we’ve listened carefully.

As a result, we’ve decided to pause the Senior Stage for now. We will introduce a new geography course exploring the beautiful regions of France soon!

Rest assured, the 20 sessions of grammar foundations through literary texts from the Senior Stage remain available if you want to delve deeper into French grammar.

Click here to access the Senior Stage!

Introducing “Le balcon de l’amour“: A Charming Movie Talk for Beginners

My Dear Man & I are thrilled to unveil our latest resource for French beginners!

It is a delightful love story based on a cute animation set in a Parisian building with a view of the Eiffel Tower.

This resource is inspired by the Movie Talk method, an approach developed by Dr. Ashley Hastings in the late 1980s.

Hastings developed MovieTalk while teaching English as a Second Language at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He came up with this idea to effectively develop students’ listening proficiency by combining visual storytelling with teacher-guided narration and description.

The core principle of MovieTalk is to provide high-quality comprehensible input embedded within the flow of a coherent, interesting story.

By narrating movie scenes in clear, simple language while pointing to various parts of the picture, you can comprehend new words and grammatical structures easily.

Click here to view the story!

To make the most of this resource, first, read and listen to the story, focusing on understanding the gist.

Next, watch the video to check your comprehension.

Finally, try narrating the story, either as you watch the video or from memory.

Advanced Learners: Dive into “Mémé dans les orties“

When you are an advanced French learner, My Dear Man & I are excited to present a passage from the novel “Mémé dans les orties” by Aurélie Valognes.

This heartwarming story follows Ferdinand Brun, an 83-year-old grumpy widower whose life takes an unexpected turn when he befriends his young neighbor, Juliette.

Aurélie Valognes, a bestselling French author known for her humorous and touching novels, beautifully captures the intergenerational friendship in this work.

The title “Mémé dans les orties” plays on the French expression “Il ne faut pas pousser mémé dans les orties,” which literally means “Don’t push grandma into the nettles.” This idiom is used to warn against going too far or exaggerating.

Click here to see the text!

Read and listen to the text, then try your hand at answering the comprehension questions.

Don’t worry! We’ve provided elements of the answers to guide you.

A Testament to the Power of Optimal French Input

Just today,  Mr. Doffing shared in our Community Chat:

“You’ve created an amazing resource here Alice and you are a phenomenal teacher. The proof is in the pudding… I started with zero French about a month ago, and now I’m reading the infant stage stories and enjoying every sentence… No homework, no studying flashcards, just pure comprehension and acquisition. It’s a real pleasure to learn this way.”

Thank you for being an integral part of our French learning community!

Cordialement,

P.S. Come and connect with other members in the community during a live Community Session. Click here to join!

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

Today, I’d like to have an honest conversation about our Senior Stage, designed for advanced French learners.

To be frank, My Dear Husband and I are grappling with some challenges in this stage. Initially, our goal was to teach French grammar through literary texts and incorporate history and culture sessions.

Click here to view the Senior Stage!

However, we may have overreached, resulting in sessions that are perhaps too complex for many of you.

The Pascal Predicament

Recently, we received an insightful comment from @TallyK, one of our dear members, after reading a text by Blaise Pascal on imagination:

“Alice, je comprends ce que vous dites, mais je trouve le texte impossible à comprendre. I have gone back and listened to the stage before, but find the jump to historical text rather unsurmountable. Every text in the Senior stage is full of words I’ve never seen before.”

For context, Blaise Pascal was a 17th-century French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. His writings, while profound, are indeed challenging even for native French speakers due to their complex philosophical nature and archaic language.

Click here to know more about Blaise Pascal.

In response to @TallyK‘s concerns, I suggested focusing on comprehensible input by continuing to read and listen to more accessible stories.

You can explore philosophy books written in simpler terms by authors like Frédéric Lenoir or Jacqueline de Romilly, who often explain philosophical concepts more accessibly.

You should return to complex texts later, once a stronger foundation in the language is established.

It is absolutely essential to enjoy texts within you current comprehension level to maintain motivation and progress.

Your opinion matters

After much deliberation, my husband and I have come to the conclusion that it might be better to discontinue the Senior Stage in its current form.

We’ve completed 20 sessions so far, and we’re considering pivoting to a new series of sessions focused on the geography of France. Each session would explore a specific region of France, delving into its culture and history.

Now, we’d like to hear from you, our valued community members. We have two options before us:

1. Continue the Senior Stage, completing all 31 planned sessions.

2. Conclude the Senior Stage and embark on a new Geography of France course.

Your input is crucial in helping us shape the future direction of our program.

We want to ensure that we’re providing the most beneficial and engaging content for your French language journey.

Thank you for being an integral part of our French learning community. We look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Cordialement,

P.S. Come and connect with other members in the community during a live Community Session. Click here to join!

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

Thank you to all the dedicated members who joined our Wednesday Zoom live session.

Your enthusiasm and active participation made it an incredibly productive reading session. Your commitment to French is truly inspiring!

Click here to watch the replay!

Here are 3 simple steps to read French texts efficiently and make the most of your reading sessions.

Step 1: Focus Solely on Comprehension

When approaching a French text, your primary goal should be comprehension.

This focus is crucial because language acquisition occurs naturally when you understand the message being conveyed.

By prioritizing comprehension, you allow your brain to process the language in a natural way, similar to how you acquired your native language as a child.

Remember, your goal is to understand the main ideas and overall message, not to translate every word.

Step 2: Grasp the Gist and Let Go of the Unnecessary

As you read, aim to understand the overall meaning of the story.

When you encounter unfamiliar words, ask yourself if they’re essential for comprehending the main plot.

It’s important to become comfortable with not understanding every single word. In real-life conversations with native French speakers, you won’t catch everything, so developing this skill now will serve you well in the future.

If you believe a word is crucial for understanding the story, first try to deduce its meaning from the context. Then you can consult the glossary. It helps build your inferencing abilties and reduces reliance on translations.

Step 3: Narrate to Reinforce Understanding

The final step in efficient French reading is to narrate the story after you’ve finished reading and comprehending it.

Narration involves retelling the story in your own words, either orally or in writing. This was championed by Charlotte Mason, and is a powerful tool for deepening your understanding of the text.

If you are a total French beginner, start by narrating the text in your own native language. Little by little, you will narrate using French words and sentences. Speaking and writing French will come naturally as your comprehension of the language grows.

#trusttheprocess

Here is what Margot, our Dear Member does :  she narrates French stories to her orangutan’s friend!

Meet Xavier! His favourite story is “the blue cat” from the Baby Stage!

I encourage all of you to implement these three steps in your French reading practice.

And please share your experiences with our community in the chat or in the story comments. To participate in the Community Chat, click here!

Your insights and progress will inspire and motivate others on their French journey.

Happy reading, and à bientôt!

Cordialement,

P.S. Come and connect with other members in the community during a live Community Session. Click here to join!

 

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

Mark your calendars for next Wednesday’s free live Zoom session, our monthly community reunion.

Wednesday March 5
4pm UK / 5pm France / 11am EST / 8am PST

Everybody is welcome! Click here to join.

We’ll be delving into the captivating Québécois legend of Rose Latulipe, a tale perfectly suited for Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

Together, we’ll read and discuss this intriguing story about a young woman who dares to dance with a mysterious stranger on the eve of Lent.

Connect, acquire, and enjoy French!

• Immerse yourself in authentic Francophone Story.
• Acquire new vocabulary in context.
• Boost your French through an engaging approach.
• Connect with fellow French learners in our vibrant community.
• Have fun while discovering more about Québécois culture!

Welcome to our new members

This week, we welcomed many new members!!!

And I am delighted to introduce @Panagiotis, who recently joined our community from Greece. He posed an excellent question about using subtitles when watching French videos:

I am super baby level. Do you recommend using French subtitles the first time watching the videos?

My advice:

Initially, try watching without subtitles to train your ears to recognize French sounds and intonation. Your goal is to grasp the gist of the story through context, visual cues, and simplified language.

However, if the content proves too challenging, feel free to use French subtitles as a temporary aid.

Remember, enjoying the process is crucial to maintaining motivation. As you progress, gradually reduce your reliance on subtitles.

The primary objective is to understand the overall story and acquire French naturally through exposure to comprehensible input.

Join us next Wednesday!

My Dear Man & I are thrilled by your dedication to acquiring French and I can’t wait to see you at our upcoming session!

Everyone is welcome, so feel free to invite friends , colleagues and family members, even if they’re not current members. Click here to share the invitation!

It’s the perfect opportunity to experience firsthand why our approach is the most effective way to make real progress in French.

Together, we can create a vibrant community of French language enthusiasts!

Cordialement,

P.S. Come and connect with other members in the community during a live Community Session. Click here to join!

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

This week, Claire asked me:

My kids are using your program and we were wondering if there are songs anywhere in the program that they can learn? I have looked but don’t find them, please let me know if there are videos for this.

I love this question because songs are a great way to acquire French.

Songs and in particular, children’s songs use simple, repetitive lyrics that make it easy to remember new words.

For example, the popular song “Une souris verte,” tells a playful story about a green mouse running in the grass and what happens when it’s caught.

Click here to listen to the song and acquire the lyrics!

The catchy melody and rhythm help you internalize vocabulary and pronunciation.

The song’s repetitive structure will make you sing along and speak French without feeling overwhelmed.

Songs also provide cultural insights and create an emotional connection to the language, making the acquisition process memorable and enjoyable.

Find all the songs in the Diaporama (Slideshow) section. You can follow the lyrics and understand them with the slides. Click here!

French expression explained

When you are an intermediate to advanced learner, you can listen to the podcast I recently recorded with Noelia Noble, a French and Spanish teacher originally from Venezuela who now lives in Bordeaux.

In this episode, Noelia asked me to explain the French expression “être le dindon de la farce.”

Listen to the podcast by clicking here!

This colorful phrase literally translates to “to be the turkey of the farce,” but its actual meaning is “to be the fall guy” or “to be the butt of the joke.” It’s used to describe someone who has been tricked or taken advantage of in a situation.

Thank you for being part of our community

My Dear Man & I want to express our gratitude for your dedication.

Your enthusiasm and commitment to improving your French are truly inspiring.

If you’ve found our program helpful, spread the word to friends and family who might also benefit from our French program.

Together, we can create a vibrant community of French language enthusiasts!

Cordialement,

P.S. Come and connect with other members in the community during a live Community Session. This week, Sheila read Charlotte’s Web in French, it was awesome! Click here to join!