French the natural way: tips to start reading

Coucou les French learners,

I have just finished reading such an impactful post about language acquisition. Jody Noble, who is a fanstastic language teacher has been discussing the myth around language practice.

Courtesy of Compelling Input Productions

She writes: “Why do people continue to believe that PRACTICE is the key?

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acquirefrench76 apprendslefrançais91 articles2 autonomous reader42 books14 brain61 chapter book9 children28 children book18 children story15 ci145 compelling39 consistency136 consistent137 easy reader35 effortless9 engage150 exciting3 fle269 fluency matters1 focus on meaning26 free voluntary reading32 french article19 french in one minute2 french learner6 french love6 fvr53 language acquisition229 language learner6 lefrançaisnaturellement92 lisenfrançais182 meaning17 online french22 read40 readers9 reading252 reading in french1 repetition42 repetitive22 self confidence54 self confident37 self french205 story reading3 stress free1 TCI74 the CI bookshop2 TPRS71 weekly french33

Let’s celebrate success!

https://goo.gl/photos/ZvJ23xgZM28AiXo58

Today as we enter the month of September and we slowly start to wave goodbye to summer, let the sun shine and let me share a success story using TPRS and comprehensible input online!

Back in April an ex Spanish student of mine contacted me because he wanted to learn French.

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acquire50 acquisition65 advanced course1 answer1 answering11 celebrate26 celebration20 ci145 circling5 comprehend52 comprehensible100 comprehension250 customized2 edmodo3 Education20 fluency107 fluent57 free writing37 immerse2 immersion93 improve19 input47 languages13 listen283 listening52 online38 personalized16 PQA8 proficiency12 proficient9 progress101 reading252 ressources40 share17 Skype6 story46 storyasking15 storytelling39 success17 successful2 teaching42 understand67 understanding22

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 ideas7 input47 learner217 learning15 lessons36 mantra2 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

French story and poem: un amour qui finit mal !

My French students are now learning the passé composé in class and I am looking for ways to help them acquire this new tense without doing the traditional grammar approach.

The first text which came to my mind was Le déjeuner du matin which is actually a poem widely taught in French classes because the language is quite simple and repetitive.

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acquire50 acquisition65 breakfast13 comprehensible100 comprehension250 cultural10 culture246 déjeuner du matin1 Education20 food154 French41 guidelines2 literature92 love81 meal10 miming1 MovieTalk14 passé-composé227 perfect tense4 poem71 poet16 Prévert4 questions74 reading252 repetition42 script201 story46 storytelling39 target language12 target structure20 teacherspayteachers11 TPRS71 youtube67

Reading activity for French learners (beginner level).

Yeah!!! I am back to blogging! I had a very good excuse though for not posting for such a while: I had my fourth boy on the 24th of September. His name is Antoine and he is a lovely baby boy doing well 🙂

Whilst recovering from the birth and taking care of my precious little boy,

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acquire50 acquisition65 beginner318 blog7 Blogging1 ci145 comprehensible100 comprehension250 confidence92 confident8 content6 creative13 Education20 engaging10 French41 grammar66 input47 key structures8 languages13 meaning17 meaningful15 parallel story3 practice33 prepare6 printable1 reading252 story46 storytelling39 teacherspayteachers11 TPRS71 vocabulary256 worksheet2 writing55

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 ideas7 input47 instructions6 intermediate707 key structures8 oral12 repetition42 speaking73 story46 story asking15 storytelling39 TPRS71 unit3

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.

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6th graders2 acquisition65 comments3 comprehensible100 Education20 encourage2 feedback41 fluency107 fluent57 grade 108 grade 74 grade 85 grade 98 IGCSE12 input47 inspire13 languages13 listening52 middle school3 motivate151 motivation201 personalized16 reading252 review26 song29 Spanish33 story46 story asking15 storytelling39 TPRS71