From story-telling to story-asking

I am reading TPRS with Chinese characteristics: making students fluent and literate through comprehensible input by Terry Waltz and I am learning a great deal! I definitely recommend this book if, like me, you want your learners to truly develop fluency and proficiency in another language and on the other hand you do not consider yourself advanced in TPRS and comprehensible input,

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acquire50 acquisition65 animals97 Ben Slavic2 ci145 circling5 complex2 comprehensible100 confidence92 confident8 content6 contribute1 contributing1 contribution1 creative13 creativity4 easy300 Education20 engage150 engaged138 finger1 fluency107 fluent57 fun413 image4 input47 intent3 interest10 language45 learner217 learning15 one word image2 ownership2 proficiency12 proficient9 puppets1 simple15 story46 story asking15 story building8 story script6 storyasking15 storytelling39 target9 target language12 target structure20 Terry Waltz1 TPRS71 understand67 understanding22 word5

French game to recycle and repeat: Jean-Jacques Julier

I am back home after a big road trip which took my whole family all the way down to Portugal, then Spain and finally to La Bretagne in France. We got to discover beautiful places and meet amazing people and we also had the chance to reunite with family and old friends.

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acquiring18 acquisition65 activity13 brain break6 center3 challenge22 ci145 comprehensible100 curricula2 curriculum5 family164 focus36 French41 fun413 game21 input47 learner217 learning15 lessons36 mantra2 Martina Bex11 memorize11 multitasking3 online38 personal13 power15 quick3 recycle2 recycling1 repeating70 repetition42 repetitive22 ressources40 retain1 retaining1 retention1 session2 share17 sharing6 simple15 starter11 story asking15 story building8 storytelling39 structures7 tenses2 TPRS71 vocabulary256 warm up36 yoga12

Communicative activity for French learners (beginner level).

As well as teaching online private English lessons to Spanish students, I help some French students at beginner level. As you may already know, I am a big fan of Martina Bex and I decided to use her storytelling unit for French 1: Dit.

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activity13 adjective1 beginner318 cognates7 communicative7 comprehensible100 dit1 Education20 endings1 French41 game21 grammar66 guidelines2 input47 instructions6 intermediate707 key structures8 Martina Bex11 oral12 repetition42 speaking73 story46 story asking15 storytelling39 TPRS71 unit3

Speaking activity: giving opinions about TV programs and films.

This is a fantastic idea from one of my emails from the mflresources@yahoogroups.com: “I show the students some clips (2-3 mins each) from YouTube and they play the role of critic – after each clip they get 30 seconds to write their opinion of each clip and then a further 30 seconds to share their opinion with their neighbor.

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channel2 clip1 communication10 communicative7 comprehensible100 comprehension250 debating3 films2 flashcards8 fluency107 fluent57 forum1 group4 group work5 input47 listening52 mfl1 movies2 opinions27 playlist4 programs1 quizlet9 series71 sharing6 skills26 Spanish33 speak85 speaking73 television5 trailer2 vocabulary256 youtube67

Healthier breakfast

I am trying to have healthier breakfasts. My biggest problem is that I am not really hungry in the morning and I do not feel like cooking something up. The fact is I am not a morning person and my dear man (thank you so much for that!) does all the breakfast prep.

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Trying to write daily…

Last night I read the post Why you should write daily by Leo Babauta. My maternity leave is soon coming to an end and when I look back at what I wanted to achieve when I started it last December and where I am now, I feel like I didn’t do much (apart from giving birth to a lovely little boy of course!

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balance3 blog7 Blogging1 curriculum5 Education20 family164 feeling2 goals5 habit133 personal13 reflection20 write59 writing55

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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