French the natural way: Joyeuses Pâques !

Joyeuses Pâques ! Happy Easter!

Today is Lundi de Pâques in France and it is a bank holiday. Children have been told that the bells from Rome flew all the way to France to deliver chocolate eggs and they are now happily hunting chocolates in their gardens.

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acquisition65 acquisition process41 bell4 catholic12 celebrate26 chocolate cake4 chocolate eggs2 chocolates1 christian33 church bells1 ci145 compelling39 compelling input31 comprehensible100 Easter6 easter eggs5 Easter Monday1 easter treats2 fluent in French7 France221 French art2 french artists3 French history41 French King1 French monarchy8 french painters3 french traditions7 jesus9 jesus christ5 language acquisition229 languagelearning9 Lent2 Louis IX1 Louis XIV3 painter9 painting33 resurrection2 Saint Louis1 story listening19 story telling4 TPRS71 tradition57 traditions2

Let’s celebrate success!

https://goo.gl/photos/ZvJ23xgZM28AiXo58

Today as we enter the month of September and we slowly start to wave goodbye to summer, let the sun shine and let me share a success story using TPRS and comprehensible input online!

Back in April an ex Spanish student of mine contacted me because he wanted to learn French.

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acquire50 acquisition65 advanced course1 answer1 answering11 celebrate26 ci145 circling5 comprehend52 comprehensible100 comprehension250 customized2 edmodo3 Education20 fluency107 fluent57 free writing37 immerse2 immersion93 improve19 input47 languages13 listen283 listening52 Martina Bex11 online38 personalized16 PQA8 proficiency12 proficient9 progress101 reading252 ressources40 share17 Skype6 story46 storyasking15 storytelling39 success17 successful2 teaching42 understand67 understanding22

French culture: celebrating la Chandeleur !

Candlemas is around the corner and I have prepared some fun activities to do in the French class to celebrate this special event. In fact as the activities are mainly centered around crepes and how to make them, you could also use them to celebrate Mardi Gras (which is on the 9th of February this year) or if you are teaching a topic on food.

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acquisition65 activities5 bundle1 celebrate26 communicative7 comprehensible100 Cooking41 cultural10 culture246 Education20 food154 French41 grammar66 infinitive1 input47 logic1 logical2 numeracy1 passé-composé227 past316 perfect tense4 recipe36 song29 story46 storytelling39 teacherspayteachers11 TPRS71 tradition57

El día de los muertos and Halloween in Spanish

There are two great videos which are to be found on and which are great to talk about two major cultural events happening very soon!

The first one “La noche de brujas” is perfect for one lesson:

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article46 brain break6 channel2 cultural10 day of the dead4 día de los muertos1 Education20 fun413 halloween6 key structure10 Mary Glasgow6 miscositas1 repetition42 ressources40 Spanish33 spanish cuentos1 story46 storytelling39 target language12 target structure20 thematic1 TPRS71 unit3 video350 vocabulary256 website1 youtube67

French resources about the Epihany

To share the Epiphany tradition with your French students, here are some ideas:

Explain the tradition
The Mary Glasgow website published an article La Galette des Rois which explains the tradition in France with its audio version to download (all for free).

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acquire50 acquisition65 activity13 bake11 book95 celebrate26 compelling39 comprehensible100 comprehensible input36 comprehension250 cook32 Cooking41 cultural10 culture246 Education20 epiphany8 France221 franchculture1 French41 frenchfood61 game21 ideas7 input47 listening52 Mary Glasgow6 pastry6 play27 playing3 recipe36 shareandbake4 singing7 song29 storylistening142 storytelling39 TPRS71

Learning the different French Christmas traditions

Since this week should be the last teaching week before the awaited holidays, I thought I would share some ideas and links to how Christmas is celebrated by the French.
In Provence, there are many local traditions. This short video explains all the symbols of the Provencal Christmas table and meal with French subtitles:

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celebrate26 chanson31 christmas25 ci145 compelling39 comprehend52 comprehensible100 comprehensible input36 comprehension250 culture246 Education20 event78 French41 frenchculture295 frenchsong14 language45 languagelearning9 PowerPoint2 presentation140 pureci43 reading252 song29 target9 target language12 target structure20 theme3 topic24 video350