The French legend meant for today (we didn’t plan it!)

Dear French Story Listeners,

I have a little confession. This week’s story has been sitting quietly in our files for a while… we simply forgot to publish it.

And yet, here it is, arriving today, November 2nd, le jour des Morts, the day after la Toussaint.

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Have you ever tasted a chouquette?

Dear French Story Listeners,

Last week I told you about Vladimir, and how we are building his spoken French one small step at a time with the progymnasmata.

We started with a simple fable and kept going from there.

Nothing rushed and nothing forced.

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ActiveAging7 AdultLanguageLearning3 ApprendreLeFrançais9 Béarn1 boulangerie7 charlottemason130 CharlotteMasonHomeschool7 Chouquettes1 CommonplaceBook2 comprehensibleinput303 FrenchBakery1 FrenchImmersion20 FrenchLanguage10 frenchlearning8 FrenchLifestyle1 FrenchListening7 FrenchPastry2 frenchstory8 FrenchVocabulary4 homeschool108 homeschoolfrench46 HomeschoolLanguages3 ImmersionWeekend1 learnfrench41 LearningAtAnyAge4 LeVoleurDeChouquettes1 LifelongLearning15 LivingBooks8 narration126 NeverTooLate9 Over501 pau20 PauFrance6 RetirementGoals6 SeniorLearners4 SlowTravel1 storylistening194 TravelFrance1

Speak French more freely: start with a fable

Dear French Story Listeners,

This week I began a new adventure with Vladimir, whom I’m coaching to speak French with more ease and spontaneity. Maybe that sounds familiar? 😊

We started with an exercise that has shaped good speakers for over two thousand years: the Mythos,

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AdultLearners1 ApprendreLeFrançais9 BrainHealth5 charlottemason130 ClassicalEducation2 ClassicalRhetoric1 CMHomeschool2 comprehensibleinput303 fables22 fle307 frenchfluency20 frenchlearning8 FrenchListening7 homeschoolfrench46 homeschooling113 lafontaine17 learnfrench41 LearningAfter502 LeCoqEtLaPerle1 LifelongLearning15 LivingBooks8 narration126 NeverTooLateToLearn8 Progymnasmata1 retelling5 SeniorLearners4 speakfrench214 storytelling40

The French word that means both “suspicion” and “a pinch of salt”

Dear French Story Listeners,

Let’s begin with one small French word, un soupçon.

It means a suspicion, that little feeling that something isn’t quite what it seems.

It also means a tiny bit, as in un soupçon de sel (a pinch of salt).

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AdultLanguageLearners1 ApprendreLeFrançais9 bernardfriot4 charlottemason130 CMHomeschool2 CommonplaceBook2 comprehensibleinput303 FrenchChildrensBooks1 FrenchForBeginners15 FrenchInFiveStories1 FrenchLanguage10 FrenchOver501 FrenchVocabulary4 histoirespressees2 homeschoolfrench46 HomeschoolLife3 learnfrench41 LearningAtAnyAge4 LearnThroughStories1 LifelongLearning15 LivingBooks8 narration126 NeverTooLateToLearn8 SeniorLearners4 storylistening194

Telling It Back: A Gentle Way Into French

Dear French Story Listeners,

Think about the last time you told someone about a movie you loved.

You didn’t recite it word for word. You told it, in your own way, and in doing so, you understood it a little more deeply. You made it yours.

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This Is How Your Brain Picks Up French, One Little Story at a Time

To our circle of French Story Listeners,

Something wonderful arrived in our Telegram group this week!

Nadya shared the most delightful photograph of her handmade crochet cats, all in shades of violet and lavender, settled cosily among a little stack of French books.

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You Don’t Need a Good Memory to Learn French

Dear French Story Listeners,

I’ve been a little quiet lately, and I’ve missed you.

After more than a month away from YouTube, My Dear Man (behind the stage) & I are  back!

Not with a story this time, but with something I felt called to share.

[read more…]

ActiveAging7 AgingGracefully2 aliceayel75 charlottemason130 comprehensibleinput303 FrenchFor50Plus3 FrenchForAdults8 FrenchForBeginners15 FrenchImmersion20 GrowthMindset1 LanguageThroughStories2 LearnAtAnyAge6 learnfrench41 LearnSomethingNew1 LifelongLearning15 ListenAndLearn5 LivingBooks8 LivingIdeas2 LivingStories1 NarrativeEducation1 NeverTooLate9 NeverTooLateToLearn8 NoGrammarDrills1 NoMemorizationRequired1 RetirementGoals6 SeniorLearning4 storylistening194