French news: celebrating small victories (and join me live!)

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

Today, I want to start by celebrating a small victory with you all. Elena, who joined us in April this year, recently shared that she listened to La Pause Café avec Elodie Caussé and she was able to understand the gist of it.

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Minou – Le chat qui pue

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French the natural way: from words to meaning, use circumlocution

Coucou les French learners,

Have you ever found yourself struggling to find the right words in French, only to resort to using English or relying on gestures to get your point across?

You’re not alone.

As a language learner, you know that speaking spontaneously in French can be a daunting task,

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French news: focus on the meaning rather than the form

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

You know it: receiving comprehensible input is powerful. It is the key to unlocking your French fluency.

You know it too: the journey to mastering French is challenging.

The good news is that input alone is sufficient to first understand,

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French the natural way: 3 signs you need more input

Coucou les French learners,

When I started teaching French in England (many, many years ago!), I believed that speaking was the first step toward French fluency. I was asking my students to repeat over and over again phrases they didn’t understand… As expected, most of them ended up hating French!

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French news: maximize your French experience with the 80/20 rule

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

Today, I want to share a principle that has profoundly impacted my own language experience: Pareto’s Law, also known as the 80/20 rule.

This concept, named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, suggests that roughly 80% of results come from 20% of efforts.

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French the natural way: from silence to speech – When to to start speaking?

Coucou les French learners,

This week, I want to highlight a thoughtful comment made by Sherezade in response to my recent video about reading aloud.

Sherezade suggests that reading aloud using the shadowing technique is beneficial because speaking is a physical activity.

She emphasizes the importance of physically training the tongue,

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