French the natural way: how to aid comprehension?

Coucou les French learners,

La confiance, confidence is key !

“One earns confidence by drops and loses it by litres” Jean-Paul Sartre

Over the past few weeks, I have truly come to believe that gaining confidence is key to acquire another language.

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French the natural way: youpi, c’est le printemps !

Coucou les French learners,

There is une vague de chaleur, a heatwave going on here, in Europe and we are enjoying the beautiful weather!

Le printemps, spring is really blossoming. It is beautiful out here! Actually, Spring and the blossoming nature is a bit like language acquisition.

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French the natural way: top Christmas stories

Coucou les French learners,

When I was living and teaching in England, I used to sing in a choir. Yesterday my amazing conductor, Hannah Brine posted an inspiring quote:

I hear so many people around me saying things like “I am not an expert in languages”

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French the natural way: listen to stories!

Coucou les French learners,

Last week, I mentioned a story I co-created with a learner to help her remember a list of words she had to memorize. I strongly believe in the power of stories because when your mind listens to a story, it generates multiple connections.

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French the natural way: the only cure is more input!

Coucou les French learners,

Last night, I was tutoring a 12 years old French student and she had to learn a list of vocabulary about all the different rooms in a school: la cantine, le gymnase, la salle des profs, le laboratoire… Instead of having the learner memorize each word and repeat them after me,

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French the natural way: voyage au Portugal

Coucou les French learners,

Je suis de retour à la maison ! I am back home! J’étais en voyage au Portugal ! I was travelling in Portugal!

Viana do Castelo au Portugal.

Portugal is such a beautiful country and les portugais sont très hospitaliers,

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French the natural way: input is crucial

Coucou les French learners,

Lately I have been reading a lot of articles and blog posts on how to keep up with learning a new language. La rentrée is over and most of us are back to work and to our daily chores.

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