French news: focus on the meaning rather than the form

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

You know it: receiving comprehensible input is powerful. It is the key to unlocking your French fluency.

You know it too: the journey to mastering French is challenging.

The good news is that input alone is sufficient to first understand,

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French the natural way: 3 signs you need more input

Coucou les French learners,

When I started teaching French in England (many, many years ago!), I believed that speaking was the first step toward French fluency. I was asking my students to repeat over and over again phrases they didn’t understand… As expected, most of them ended up hating French!

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French news: maximize your French experience with the 80/20 rule

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

Today, I want to share a principle that has profoundly impacted my own language experience: Pareto’s Law, also known as the 80/20 rule.

This concept, named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, suggests that roughly 80% of results come from 20% of efforts.

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accountability168 acquirefrench76 active listener94 activelistener54 activelistening78 advanced294 advanced beginner443 advanced french93 beginner318 classesdefrançais40 community154 conversation311 feedback41 feelgood30 frenchclass85 frenchclasses56 frenchcommunity226 frenchnews27 gocommunity26 guidance35 infolettre35 interact183 interaction47 interactive43 intermediate707 lessons36 live session100 liveclass97 motivation201 novice168 novicehigh326 observe25 online teaching29 progress101 pronounciation43 research17 speak85 speakfrench193 stayontrack35 stepstospeaking58 study3 teaching42 train29 training56 upper beginner449 warmup43 zoomclass82

French the natural way: from silence to speech – When to to start speaking?

Coucou les French learners,

This week, I want to highlight a thoughtful comment made by Sherezade in response to my recent video about reading aloud.

Sherezade suggests that reading aloud using the shadowing technique is beneficial because speaking is a physical activity.

She emphasizes the importance of physically training the tongue,

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French news: achieve more with less – The power of comprehensible input

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

I have some exciting news to share with you this week!

Dr Beniko Mason, who has just published groundbreaking research on language acquisition, has had the biggest impact on my way of teaching French. It is thanks to her Story Listening method that I came to build our site and provide you with comprehensible French stories.

[read more…]

accountability168 acquirefrench76 active listener94 activelistener54 activelistening78 advanced294 advanced beginner443 advanced french93 beginner318 classesdefrançais40 conversation311 feedback41 feelgood30 frenchclass85 frenchclasses56 frenchnews27 guidance35 infolettre35 interact183 interaction47 interactive43 intermediate707 lessons36 live session100 liveclass97 motivation201 novice168 novicehigh326 observe25 online teaching29 progress101 pronounciation43 research17 speak85 speakfrench193 stayontrack35 stepstospeaking58 study3 teaching42 train29 training56 upper beginner449 warmup43 zoomclass82

French the natural way: how should you start reading?

Coucou les French learners,

This week, I want to share a great question from Pete, one of our dear members, which I believe will resonate with many of you:

How should I read? Should I read the French words to myself (in my head like the adult I am) or will it be best to read out loud as I did as a child (70 years ago) when I was learning to read English?

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French news: uncover the legend of the Pont d’Avignon (and join me live!)

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

Today, during my Monday live class, I shared the legend of the Pont d’Avignon. This legendary tale captivated everyone and sparked a lot of interest in learning more about this iconic piece of French history.

New Resource: The Bridge of Avignon

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