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 ApprendreLeFrançais8 BrainHealth4 charlottemason128 ClassicalEducation2 ClassicalRhetoric1 CMHomeschool2 comprehensibleinput297 fables22 fle307 frenchfluency20 frenchlearning7 FrenchListening5 frenchstories15 homeschoolfrench44 homeschooling113 lafontaine17 learnfrench39 LearningAfter501 LeCoqEtLaPerle1 LivingBooks7 narration124 NeverTooLateToLearn7 Progymnasmata1 retelling5 SeniorLearners2 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 ApprendreLeFrançais8 bernardfriot4 charlottemason128 CMHomeschool2 CommonplaceBook1 comprehensibleinput297 FrenchChildrensBooks1 FrenchForBeginners14 FrenchInFiveStories1 FrenchLanguage9 FrenchOver501 frenchstories15 FrenchVocabulary2 histoirespressees2 homeschoolfrench44 HomeschoolLife3 learnfrench39 LearningAtAnyAge3 LearnThroughStories1 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.

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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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Can Your Brain Learn French While You Sleep? (It Can.)

Dear French Story Listeners,

What if the most powerful moment for learning French wasn’t at your desk with a textbook, but in those quiet minutes just before you close your eyes?

It sounds almost too good to be true.

But it isn’t.

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ActiveAging5 AgingGracefully2 BedtimeRoutine1 BrainHealth4 BrainScience1 charlottemason128 CharmmasonHomeschool1 ClassicalHomeschool2 FrenchForBeginners14 FrenchForSeniors13 FrenchListening5 homeschoolfrench44 homeschooling113 languageacquisition54 LanguageLearningOver502 LanguageLearningOver601 LearnAtAnyAge6 LearnWhileYouSleep1 ListenAndLearn5 LivingLanguage2 MemoryAndSleep1 NarrationMethod4 NaturalFrench2 NeverTooLate8 Over60Learning2 SeniorLearning4 SleepAndLearning1 SleepScience1 storylistening193

Margot Understood Everything — And She’s 76

To our circle of French Story Listeners,

Something happened in our community this week that I simply had to share with you.

After a little time away from YouTube, My Dear Man and I released a new video, not a story this time, but a gentle reflection.

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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.

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