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Coucou la communauté des French learners !

Vous avez terminé le « Teen Stage » et vous êtes prêts à commencer l’« Adult Stage », bravo !

Je vais maintenant parler en anglais pour vous expliquer l’approche de la nouvelle série de vidéos spécialement conçue pour les apprenants qui sont arrivés à un niveau intermédiaire avancé ou plutôt les «adultes».

I am now going to speak in English to tell you more about the Adult Stage, as well as the langage acquisition process.

This series of videos is carefully crafted for upper intermediate learners. You can understand a lot of French now. You can comprehend everyday conversations and you now also start to understant deeper conversations with low frequency words. You also maybe want to start producing, talking and writing. You can speak but you may still struggle to speak spontaneously withouthaving to think for too long about what you want to say or the right verb form you want to use.

You might think you now have to « practice » speaking more. Well, you don’t have to. It is actually counter intuitive because « speaking is the result of language acquisition and not its cause. » (Krashen, 1985).

Therefore what you need is more French input (and not more French output!). You need to keep on reading and listening to French in order to be able to speak naturally and spontaneously without translating or thinking too much about how to construct a sentence.

What you need is to receive more complex input in order to overcome what is called the « intermediate plateau » langage learners dread so much! So no pressure to speak! As French comprehension expands and expands, talk will spontaneously appear.

How is the Adult Stage going to work?

This stage is going to boost your French and it is going to give you the confidence to start speaking fluently.

In this series of videos, you are going to dive into the French History and culture. Why? According to linguist Noam Chomsky « A language is not just words. It’s a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It’s all embodied in a language ». It is important you understand where the French langage comes from and how it developped.

That is why, you are going to find out about French History and culture in each session so that you are still receiving rich and abundant French input and at the same time you learn more about France and the French. I am going to tell you the History from France and the culture I come from. I am French from France so you will know more about France.

Each session is about a special time or man or woman in the French History. Some sessions are also be about a cultural point such as a painting, a sculpture, a drink, a meal, a book or a film.

Some sessions are called « Questions pour un champion ». It is a TV game where contestants answer questions about culture, history and geography. I ask you 10 questions about what you have learned in the previous sessions and you have 10 seconds to answer each one of them. It is fun and it helps you respond to questions.

This time, I am not using my whiteboard to draw but there are pictures and written words to help you understand what I am telling you. There is no glossary at the end of the transcript but you can click on a word you don’t understand to sea and hear its French definition. I also speak at a faster pace so that you get used to French spoken at a normal speed.

You will come out of the « Adult Stage » richer, knowing more about another culture, not just another language.

What can you do during and after each session ?

First of all, watch, listen and try to understand the gist of what I am telling you. Remember your only « job » is to try to understand what I am telling you. NOT to understand everything, but to understand the gist of what I am saying. NO need to memorize. The more you listen and read, the more you will understand, the more you will acquire French.

After the session, you can have a bullet journal to summarize what you heard and read. A bullet journal is designed to be a visual, personalized way to keep track of information, explore creativity, brainstorm ideas, and keep track of inspiration. So you can write, draw, colour, be creative. Your hand is connected to your brain!

Take a picture of your bullet journal and share it in the « Drawings » section

You can also read aloud the story following my Dear Man’s voice activating the « Audio Sync View » buttom at the top of the page. You can choose different speeds to help you read aloud at your own pace.

Of course, all of those steps are recommendations. They are optional. You can also choose to just watch the video, or just write and not repeat. You do what feels good!

Sit comfortably, listen, read, try to understand, handwrite, speak out loud and ENJOY.

Happy Adult Stage! Happy French acquisition!

~ FIN ~