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,

[read more…]

AdultLearners1 ApprendreLeFrançais8 BrainHealth4 charlottemason128 ClassicalEducation2 ClassicalRhetoric1 CMHomeschool2 comprehensibleinput297 fables22 fle307 frenchfluency20 frenchlearning7 FrenchListening5 frenchstories15 homeschooling113 lafontaine17 learnfrench39 LearningAfter501 LeCoqEtLaPerle1 LifelongLearning13 LivingBooks7 narration124 NeverTooLateToLearn7 Progymnasmata1 retelling5 SeniorLearners2 speakfrench214 storytelling40

The 3-minute French habit that works while you rest

Dear French Story Listeners,

Before you read on, take a breath with me. Shoulders down. A cup of coffee or tea nearby, if you have one. ☕

This week I want to remind you that you don’t learn French by pushing.

You learn it by showing up gently,

[read more…]

AliceAyelFrench11 charlottemason128 CharlotteMasonHomeschool5 comprehensibleinput297 FrenchForBeginners14 FrenchImmersion17 FrenchLanguage9 FrenchStoryListeners9 learnfrench39 LearningFrenchAt501 pau19 PauFrance4 pyrenees6 SlowTravelFrance1 storylistening193

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).

[read more…]

AdultLanguageLearners1 ApprendreLeFrançais8 bernardfriot4 charlottemason128 CMHomeschool2 CommonplaceBook1 comprehensibleinput297 FrenchChildrensBooks1 FrenchForBeginners14 FrenchInFiveStories1 FrenchLanguage9 FrenchOver501 frenchstories15 FrenchVocabulary2 histoirespressees2 HomeschoolLife3 learnfrench39 LearningAtAnyAge3 LearnThroughStories1 LifelongLearning13 LivingBooks7 narration124 NeverTooLateToLearn7 SeniorLearners2 storylistening193

“Put It Away”: Freshened Wits for Your French Journey

Dear French Story Listeners,

Have you ever noticed that around the fifteen-minute mark of anything — a lesson, a podcast, a task you’re not thrilled about — your mind quietly starts to wander?

You’re not doing it wrong. Your brain is just doing what brains do.

[read more…]

ApprendreLeFrançais8 BrainHealth4 charlottemason128 CharlotteMasonHomeschool5 CMEducation1 comprehensibleinput297 EaseIntoFrench7 FrenchForAdults8 FrenchForSeniors13 FrenchImmersion17 FrenchLearningJourney1 FrenchPractice1 FrenchWithoutGrammarDrills1 HomeschoolLanguage5 HomeschoolLife3 HomeschoolMom3 InputBasedLearning1 KeepYourBrainYoung1 learnfrench39 LearnFrenchOnline15 LifelongLearning13 LivingBooks7 NaturalLanguageAcquisition3 NeverTooLateToLearn7 RetirementGoals4 SmallStepsBigProgress1 storylistening193

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.

[read more…]

AdultLanguageLearning2 charlottemason128 charlottemasoneducation4 comprehensibleinput297 FrenchForBeginners14 FrenchForSeniors13 FrenchImmersion17 frenchlearning7 frenchstories15 FrenchStoryListening12 HomeschoolLanguages2 KnowAndTell1 learnfrench39 LearnFrenchAfter501 LearnFrenchThroughStories1 LifelongLearning13 LivingEducation1 narration124 NarrationMatters1 NeverTooLateToLearn7 storylistening193

Why we start with the body, not the book

Dear French Story Listeners,

It’s la rentrée, that particular feeling in the air when September asks us, gently, what we’d like to begin again.

Maybe it’s French, for you. Maybe it’s been a while, or maybe you’ve never quite started at all.

[read more…]

aliceayel75 ApprendreLeFrançais8 BackToSchoolFrench2 charlottemason128 CharlotteMasonFrench1 comprehensibleinput297 crashcourse1 EaseIntoFrench7 EaseIntoFrenchWith5Stories6 FrenchForBeginners14 FrenchForSeniors13 FrenchImmersion17 FrenchStoryListeners9 frenchteachers7 FrenchTheNaturalWay2 HistoiresMinutes1 languagelearning16 larentrée11 learnfrench39 NewSchoolYear2 storylistening193

La rentrée is here 🍂 + join our new Friday Story Circle

To our circle of French Story Listeners,

September has quietly arrived, and with it, la rentrée, that gentle, collective exhale of settling back into rhythm after summer’s looser days.

There’s something lovely about this time of year: notebooks are new, the light is shifting,

[read more…]

ApprendreLeFrançais8 BackToSchoolFrench2 CercleDeBruno12 charlottemason128 comprehensibleinput297 FrenchBookClub12 FrenchForSeniors13 FrenchImmersion17 FrenchLanguage9 FrenchStoryListeners9 frenchteachers7 FrenchTheNaturalWay2 languagelearning16 larentrée11 learnfrench39 LearnFrenchNaturally6 letsmeet1 NewSchoolYear2 RentréeLittéraire1 storylistening193