French news: last chance to join our live French sessions this week!

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

I hope this email finds you well and eager to continue your French journey!

I am excited to invite you to join our upcoming 45-minute live sessions happening this week.

But hurry – there are only a few spots left,

[read more…]

accountability199 accountable199 acquirefrench76 advanced294 advanced beginner474 advanced french93 beginner318 classesdefrançais40 frenchclass100 frenchclasses71 frenchnews27 grammaire28 grammairefrançaise39 grammar82 guidance35 infolettre35 intermediate738 lessons36 live session100 liveclass98 motivation232 novice168 novicehigh357 online teaching29 progress132 senior9 speak85 speakfrench209 stayontrack35 stepstospeaking58 teaching42 upper beginner449 zoomclass83

French news: live sessions exclusive for our members

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

I’m thrilled to announce the launch of our weekly group sessions on Zoom. They are starting in May (next week already!).

Our live sessions are designed to keep you motivated, accountable, and consistently progressing in your French journey.

[read more…]

accountability199 accountable199 acquirefrench76 advanced beginner474 beginner318 classesdefrançais40 frenchclass100 frenchclasses71 frenchnews27 guidance35 infolettre35 intermediate738 lessons36 live session100 liveclass98 motivation232 novice168 novicehigh357 online teaching29 progress132 speak85 speakfrench209 stayontrack35 stepstospeaking58 teaching42 upper beginner449 zoomclass83

French the natural way : Notre-Dame de Paris

Coucou les French learners,

I was going to write about something completely different but yesterday’s event has changed everything.

As a Parisian, I am shocked and sad. To look on the bright side, Notre-Dame is not completely destroyed and no one is dead. Les pompiers de Paris,

[read more…]

apprendslefrançais91 autonomouslearner233 boostyourfrench72 culturefrancaise80 ebook21 fle300 francaislangueetrangere56 frenchculture295 frenchhistory88 frenchinput18 frenchliterature58 frenchpoetry39 gargantua1 gustavedoré1 histoiredefrance137 histoiredusamedi3 hugo4 language acquisition260 languagelearner5 littérature120 nerval2 notre dame2 notredame1 ourlady1 paris69 parisian11 poem71 poésie40 rabelais2 selffrench14 selflearner9 sla123 storylistener134 storylistening173 théophilegautier1 TPRS71 victorhugo5 youtube channel52 youtubeuse33

French the natural way: octobre (and more about grammar)

Coucou les French learners,

C’est déjà le mois d’octobre ! It is already October! Le temps passe vite ! time goes fast!

I am not ready. Une chanson sur l’automne

by popular French singer Francis Cabrel (I just found out he was born in Agen!) entitled Octobre which is simply beautiful:

[read more…]

acquirefrench76 active listener94 Agen11 apprendslefrançais91 automne7 brittany5 cabrel1 chanson31 chansonfrancaise31 comments3 dicton3 Education20 enbretagne17 enfrance35 fall17 fle300 francaislangueetrangere56 France221 franciscabrel1 frenchacquisition135 frenchculture295 frenchexpressions46 frenchonline68 frenchsong14 frenchstorytime26 frenchvocabulaire113 grammairefrançaise39 grammar82 histoiredusamedi3 humour15 loup4 moisdoctobre1 notice1 noticing1 octobre3 online french22 proverbe3 richinput154 season#412 self french205 self learner41 sla123 TCI74 weekly input15 wolf13

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.

[read more…]

april1 avril1 beautemps1 birch1 blossom3 brandonbrown2 compelling39 comprehensible100 comprehension281 curedebouleau1 curedeprintemps1 dicton3 enbretagne17 fleur7 francaislangueetrangere56 french immersion23 french poem8 french reader2 french resource2 french resources6 frenchnovel14 frenchreading11 frenchsaying2 frenchvocabulaire113 gardening2 high interest7 immersion124 interesting23 jardin2 learnfrenchthenaturalway59 lefrançaisavecaliceayel81 lefrançaisnaturellement92 nerval2 personal13 pluiedemots1 poem71 poetry49 pureci43 reading283 readinginfrench4 richinput154 self french205 sla123 spring12 storylistening173 TCI74 testimonial20 TPRS71 weekly videos55 youtubeuse33

Reflection on Comprehensible Input

I haven’t updated my blog for a while now, and as I am taking a break due to my fourth baby coming at the end of September, I wanted to reflect on my last school year. I was teaching Spanish from grade 6 to 12 and I decided to turn to comprehensible input and TPRS since I was never fully satisfied with the traditional way to teach languages.

[read more…]

6th graders2 acquisition65 comments3 comprehensible100 Education20 encourage2 fluency107 fluent57 grade 108 grade 74 grade 85 grade 98 IGCSE12 input47 inspire13 languages13 listening52 Martina Bex11 middle school3 motivate182 motivation232 personalized16 reading283 review26 song29 Spanish33 story46 story asking15 storytelling39 TPRS71

Describing your home town and local area in Spanish

Another IGCSE topic is about describing where you live. First I had my grade 9 students watch this excellent video about a girl describing where she lives near Madrid (you can watch it with or without subtitles):

I then asked my students to produce a short movie like the one above about their local area.

[read more…]

criteria1 describe37 description96 Education20 film41 home14 home town2 homework3 IGCSE12 local area2 Madrid1 oral12 peer assessment2 publish2 publishing1 skills26 Spanish33 speaking73 speaking skills8 technology8 topic24 town12 video351