Coucou les French learners,
June 21 is the official start of summer, youpi ! And to celebrate the longest day of the year, we have La Fête de la Musique. Live music is everywhere in parks and in the streets of cities and villages in France.
To celebrate this special day, we sang one of the most popular French song, En chantant with the Advanced Beginner class on Monday.
Songs are a great way to boost your vocabulary with authentic phrases, idioms and expressions. In this particular song, there is a French expression which I realized I could not translate into English ” La fleur au bout du fusil “. It refers to the French soldiers at the start of the Great War in 1914 who were happy to go to war. They were carefree and thought they were going to win easily so they decorated their riffles with a flower.
Follow the lyrics of the songs here. When you are part of the community, go here.
What are the benefits of listening to songs and singing along?
Songs contain authentic and natural language (beware! Songs can also use crude and foul language!).
Most if not all songs have a recurring theme or story. And as you know, your brain craves stories to acquire the new language.
Music helps retain words and expressions much more effectively. The rhythm of the music, as well as the repetitive patterns within the song, help memorize words.
Let’s sing, swing and acquire French! #trustheprocess
QUOI DE NEUF ?
The series on YouTube with new videos about French movies continues!
I give you 3 reasons to watch ” Le voyage au Groenland “, a film with little means about two young Parisian friends who decide to go to Greenland to visit the father of one of them. It is a funny and yet touching movie about deep human relationships.
To help you understand a French movie, I have got your back!
The Baby Stage and the Infant Stage help you understand the most frequent structures used in everyday conversations. You get to watch exclusive videos with comprehensible stories and you acquire the French foundations effortlessly.
In the Teen Stage, you write a diary in French under my guidance.Writing makes you improve your vocabulary and phrase better which leads to better communicate in French. Your hand is the extension of your brain so handwriting will help you develop fluency.
Meg who joined us this week wrote in the Community Chat:
Bonjour ! J’ai trouvé Alice sur YouTube il y a environ une semaine et je suis si heureuse de l’avoir fait ! Je me suis inscrite sur le site il y a quelques jours et je suis en train de suivre l’étape du bébé – les histoires sont merveilleuses ! Quelle façon agréable d’apprendre ! J’ai étudié le français à l’école il y a longtemps mais j’espère qu’Alice me guidera vers la fluidité ! Bravo !
And Andres commented as he is going through the Baby Stage:
Merci Alice ! As I progress through the videos, the stories include more details and more conflicts, making them more compelling.
What are you waiting for? Join us now.
Happy French acquisition!
P.S. If you are a language teacher or learner, join us at the Conference in the Cloud in July. I will be presenting about Story Listening and there will be French classes too (and other language classes)! Register here.
P.P.S On Friday July 1st, we will meet for another Book Club about Theresa Marrama, Le Château de Chambord – Deuxième partie – Les découvertes incroyables.
Hope to see you!