French the natural way: how to transition to thinking in French

Coucou les French learners,

Here is something that that could be a game-changer for your French journey.

One of our community members, Eric, recently opened up about a common challenge that many language learners face.  While he can understand French well, he still struggles to think in French.

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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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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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accountability191 accountable191 acquirefrench76 active listener94 activelistener54 activelistening78 advanced294 advanced beginner466 advanced french93 beginner318 classesdefrançais40 community178 conversation311 feedback53 feelgood30 frenchclass96 frenchclasses67 frenchcommunity250 frenchnews27 gocommunity27 guidance35 infolettre35 interact206 interaction47 interactive43 intermediate730 lessons36 live session100 liveclass98 motivation224 novice168 novicehigh349 observe25 online teaching29 pronounciation43 research17 speak85 speakfrench205 stayontrack35 stepstospeaking58 study3 teaching42 train29 training56 upper beginner449 warmup43 zoomclass83

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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French news: achieve more with less – The power of comprehensible input

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

I have some exciting news to share with you this week!

Dr Beniko Mason, who has just published groundbreaking research on language acquisition, has had the biggest impact on my way of teaching French. It is thanks to her Story Listening method that I came to build our site and provide you with comprehensible French stories.

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accountability191 accountable191 acquirefrench76 active listener94 activelistener54 activelistening78 advanced294 advanced beginner466 advanced french93 beginner318 classesdefrançais40 conversation311 feedback53 feelgood30 frenchclass96 frenchclasses67 frenchnews27 guidance35 infolettre35 interact206 interaction47 interactive43 intermediate730 lessons36 live session100 liveclass98 motivation224 novice168 novicehigh349 observe25 online teaching29 pronounciation43 research17 speak85 speakfrench205 stayontrack35 stepstospeaking58 study3 teaching42 train29 training56 upper beginner449 warmup43 zoomclass83