Coucou les French learners,
j’ai survécu à la canicule ! I survived the heat wave… Well, to be honest I did not have to survive it because where I live now there was no heat wave, pas de canicule ! J’ai de la chance ! I am lucky.
This is a play on words: It is really really ( = carrément ) hot. Un manchot is a penguin.
Qui est en vacances ? Who is on holidays? Pas moi, not me. If you have been following me, you may have noticed I was out and about filming a lot. I took a week off online teaching last week to have more time to do more videos for the series Au Portugal on my YouTube channel.
We are also working hard (with my Dear Man) to add many more interesting resources to the membership. Our goal is to build a big database of French stories, articles and podcasts to have access to.
Evidemment !
Do you know this popular song by French singer France Gall ?
The only way to acquire French naturally without stress is to listen, listen, listen and read, read, read. Olly Richards, another famous polyglot, posted an excellent article yesterday about reading versus reviewing. Evidemment, he cites Stephen Krashen who recommends large amounts of Self-Selected Reading!
When you read many different texts and books, you review the new words and structures unconsciously without effort, c’est magique !
When you become a member, Les suggestions de la semaine encourage you to read and listen to one story a day and a bonus reading/audio for the weekend. As the week goes by, the language in the text becomes more advanced. You also have access to the audio playlist so you can listen to comprehensible French from anywhere!
Have a peak at this week’s suggestions.
Take your French to the next level. Become a member. Join here.
#inputaloneissufficient
FAQ : Foire aux questions
Thank you for all the great comments on my YouTube channel and on the membership. It is SO encouraging to have a community of motivated French teachers, MERCI <3
A number of good questions have been asked and I thought I would share some of them with you, as you might be interested as well.
Etudier les histoires ?
Felipe Silva asked me after watching the story La Rolls Royce et le chien rose:
“Alice, how do you recommend that we study yours histories? Watch 2 times, writing the words that we don’t know? Do you have some example?”
Here is my answer: “There is no need to “study” to acquire another language. When you were a little child, you didn’t study your own mother tongue (I guess Portuguese?), you acquired it naturally by listening to the people around you. Same here, your brain is wired to acquire any languages by just listening. When you understand what you hear, your brain processes the new language and remembers it without effort. So you can watch the stories just once or as many times as you want if you like a particular story. The same as when you were a child and you asked your mum or someone else to tell you a story you enjoyed time and time again. The more you listen to French, the more you will understand, the more you acquire new words.”
Dictionnaire ou pas ?
This other question by recent member, Alister Thomson is a frequent and excellent one:
“I just joined your community a couple of days ago and am having a great time. I have a question about the material. Since I am a beginner, how do I find definitions,or explanations, of words and phrases I don’t know?”
Here is my advice: “I am so happy you are a member of the French the natural way community! I suggest you start with stories that are well below your fluent reading level. Don’t look up words in the dictionary. Skip over parts you don’t understand. Why? Because it helps you get used to reading in French; since you should know most of the words already, you hardly have to think about them. The sentences are simpler, so you can understand them immediately, and as you start reading more complex sentences you’ll have an intuitive sense of how they fit together. It helps you learn to use the information in the text to figure out unknown words, instead of a dictionary. You won’t always have a dictionary when you travel or have a conversation in French. If you really need to know what a word means, ask me or the community in the comments or use an online dictionary.”
#trusttheprocess
La vidéo de la semaine
Providing you with rich, compelling input is my only concern 🙂
Last video is about a fruit, les prunes. In this video, you learn about the different kinds of plums, a beautiful painting by Edouard Manet and a recipe by famous chef, Paul Bocuse. All delivered to you in comprehensible French!
The script is available when you become a member! Watch the video and read the script or read the script and watch the video.
Devinez quoi ? Guess what?
You can also read and listen to the life of Paul Bocuse. This article is available on the membership but you can access it FOR FREE NOW!
Paul Bocuse, le grand chef français
Happy French acquisition!
P.S. Got friends, family, colleagues or clients who want to become fluent in French? Share this with them, they’ll thank you for it!