Coucou les French learners,

C’est l’automne, fall is here!

Les berges de la Seine en automne, c’est beau !

Here is a little poem written by Isabelle Jaccard entitled Feuilles d’automne (you can listen to it here):

J’ai regardé les feuilles rouges,
elles tombaient

J’ai regardé les feuilles jaunes,
elles volaient

J’ai regardé les feuilles brunes,
que le vent poussé

Rouges, jaunes, brunes,
chacune dansait.

In Portugal we switched to winter time on Sunday. Although It’s actually easier to get used to this time change than the time change in spring, it still affects sleep (especially when you have a baby!), appetite, mood and energy! BUT let’s STAY POSITIVE.

SO it is time to get into a NEW routine to get some MORE French INPUT because #inputaloneissufficient

Profiter de l’automne

ENJOY the new season!

Se promener et écouter du français

Admirer les couleurs magnifiques de la forêt, chercher des champignons en famille…

Whilst having a walk, enjoying the fresh crispy air and stepping on crunching leaves, LISTEN to FRENCH. My weekly suggestions playlist is a good start. If you are already an intermediate learner, find a podcast about a topic you will enjoy.

Over the weekend, dear YouTube recommended me, le Précepteur, a very interesting podcast about philosophy. Cela me passionne ! We started listening to it with my older boys and they we talked about philosophy. The pace is slow and very comprehensible so you could also listen to it if you feel like some food for thought.

Rentrer chez soi bien au chaud

Le plaisir de rentrer dans un chez-moi chaud après une promenade dehors, se sentir bien au chaud sous une couverture ou dans son lit…

Nice and warm under the duvet

Whether you are back from a lovely walk or whether it is a rainy day, stay warm at home and ENJOY a good book.

If you have never read in French, start by reading a GOOD STORY on the membership. They range from

• Baby stories for beginners;
• Infant stories for advanced beginners;
• Teen stories for intermediate learners;
• Adult stories for upper intermediate;
• Senior stories for advanced learners.

Then you can take a French reader and/or listen to the audio book at the same time. That way you get to match the French intonation with the spelling. There are new wonderful readers to download for free on the Stories First Foundation thanks to Claire Walter amazing work!

Organiser un SPA à la maison

Se relaxer à la maison, créer une ambiance SPA, prendre un bon bain moussant…

Days are getting colder and rainier! The prefect excuse to have a SPA day at home and to RELAX.

Now you may think it is a waste of time… NOT at all! It is the prefect opportunity to get some more French input. Whilst taking a bath listen to French music, to an audio book or to a podcast.

TRUST me, it works! On Saturday morning it was cold and dump and so after my yoga session (in German!) I ran a bath and listened to Slow German. PARFAIT !

TIP OF THE WEEK

Take every opportunity to LISTEN and READ in French.

YOU ACQUIRE FRENCH WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU HEAR AND READ.

And just for fun, Caroline de Maigret shows you how to quarantine the Parisian way :-)))

QUOI DE NEUF ?

The NEW Marie & Médor series is underway! Did you watch Marie and her dog, Médor going out for lunch? Marie wants to connect to the restaurant’s WIFI bur somehow she can’t! Let me know if you got la blague, the joke?!

When you are a member, you get to read and listen to Marie & Médor adventures in the present tense AND in the past tense.

AND here are the new stories and exclusive video from Russia!

• Une histoire vraie: l’ours Mansur, the true amazing story of a little bear who got adopted;
• Oncle Mitya et les voleurs de cheval, a Russian short story written by Léon Tolstoï. It comes with an exclusive video!

There is also the NEW PDF Book about 20 REAL LIFE French speaking famous people who changed the world. These are the 20 scripts from the series Culture francophone : Qui est ? on my YouTube channel.

BUT when you are a member, you get to download it for FREE (as well as all the other books!!!) SO JOIN us NOW!