French the natural way: Listen!

Coucou les French learners,

Feel energized!

this week I got one of the best compliments from one of my online beginner learner. We had a productive one hour session. It was fun because we created a whole story together from scratch with many details.

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acquirefrench76 acquiring18 acquisition65 acquisition process41 active listener94 beginner french28 boost201 ci145 compelling39 compelling input31 comprehend52 comprehensible input36 empower3 energy2 free time7 french activities1 french hobbies1 french input13 french online15 french video2 home practice3 intermediate724 keep motivated23 language acquisition246 listen300 listening52 listeningfirst20 love81 love story28 motivate168 natural approach59 practice33 story asking15 story building8 storylistening159 support4 TPRS71 transcript5 upper intermediate414 visual5

Let it flow!

I have been busy in good way lately. I am now offering French online tutoring on Verbling and I get to meet new learners from all around the world with different needs. It has been a steep learning curve for me to try to facilitate comprehensible input at different levels and needs but it has also been a great source of joy and accomplishment.

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acquire50 acquisition65 acquisition process41 approach38 brain break6 compelling39 comprehensible100 comprehensible input36 Education20 flow9 flowing2 French41 french videos6 input47 inspiration4 invisibles2 language45 listen300 listening52 natural approach59 natural way9 online language session16 online learning15 online tutoring6 personal13 processing input2 resource102 ressources40 Spanish33 stories40 story asking15 story listening19 TPRS71 tutor3 tutoring2 verbling6 videos25 weekly videos55 youtube67

How to build up to a story in French?

My online learners are acquiring French at a fast and steady pace and it is amazing to watch them progress naturally. Unlike last school year when I was trying to use TPRS along with my other resources, I have decided to give it a full go following each of the three steps…

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acquire50 acquiring18 acquisition65 brain61 build up1 building4 ci145 comprehensible100 comprehension267 Education20 French41 frequent38 high frequency217 high interest7 improve19 input47 language45 logical2 meaningful15 mother4 motivate168 natural182 naturally5 parent1 personal13 personalized16 progress118 putting it together1 script201 second language44 story46 story asking15 story script6 storytelling39 tpr19 TPRS71 unconscious3 unconsciously3

The lion’s breath or how to refocus

Last year when I was teaching Spanish, I became a fan of brain breaks. According to Dr. Lori Desautels: “They refocus our neural circuitry with either stimulating or quieting practices that generate increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, where problem solving and emotional regulation occur.

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Adriene3 Adriene Mishler1 body20 brain61 brain break6 break6 breath3 breathe17 breathing18 classroom9 comprehensible100 comprehension267 Education20 endofyear1 energy2 engage167 engaged155 engaging10 feelgood30 findwhatfeelsgood3 fool1 fwfg1 homepractice2 input47 keepmotivated190 lion11 movement1 refresh1 relax48 release10 reset1 Spanish33 strength5 stressfree43 target language12 tension1 yoga12 yogaevrydamnday2 yogaforstrength4 yogalove5 yogapose2 yogawithadriene5 yogaworks3

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 feedback50 fluency107 fluent57 grade 108 grade 74 grade 85 grade 98 IGCSE12 input47 inspire13 languages13 listening52 Martina Bex11 middle school3 motivate168 personalized16 reading269 review26 song29 Spanish33 story46 story asking15 storytelling39 TPRS71

Fun and simple idea to practice “gustar”

The verb “gustar” is not an easy verb to use as it is so different from “normal”verbs. The majority of students know how to use it in the first person singular “me gusta” but they rarely know how to use it when they want to refer to someone else.

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activities5 cards1 clapping1 Education20 engage167 focus36 grade 68 grammar75 gustar1 lesson7 listening52 marker1 matching1 objective21 practice33 reading269 Spanish33 speaking73 warm up36 whiteboard2 writing55

Spanish story script number 4: Lo siento.

Here is another story script which follows the last story about little Pedro losing his notebook. This story has lots of repetitions to focus on “lo siento” and “no sé qué hacer“. I am telling those stories using wooden ice cream sticks which the students love.

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acquire50 acquisition65 acting1 ci145 comprehend52 comprehension267 comprenhensible1 drama28 engage167 engaging10 fluency107 fluent57 fun430 funny256 high frequency217 high interest7 input47 interest10 interesting23 intonation2 key2 listening52 motivate168 motivated160 motivating1 practice33 proficiency12 proficient9 pronunciation11 reading269 repetition42 repetitive22 retell3 retelling4 script201 second language44 skills26 Spanish33 story46 storytelling39 structure10 target9 target language12 target structure20 TPRS71 vocabulary256 words18