French the natural way: listen to stories!

Coucou les French learners,

Last week, I mentioned a story I co-created with a learner to help her remember a list of words she had to memorize. I strongly believe in the power of stories because when your mind listens to a story, it generates multiple connections.

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accuracy4 acquire50 acquirefrench76 active listener94 ci145 compelling39 complexstructures1 comprehend52 comprehensible100 comprehension250 confidence92 enjoyable39 fable59 fables21 fle269 fluency107 free voluntary reading32 french for free4 french input13 french stories5 frenchvocabulaire113 Great Story Reading Project11 IB9 language acquisition229 learnfrench20 lefrançaisnaturellement92 listeningfirst20 listentofrench6 listentostories41 online french22 online french tutor4 power15 powerful6 pureci43 rangeofvocabulary3 reading252 reading skills1 retell3 self confidence54 self french205 sla123 Spanish33 spanish input3 spanish story3 stories40 story script6 storylistening142 structures7 TCI74 teachfrench12 understanding22 untargeted structures1 vocabulary256 weekly french33 weekly input15 writing skills1 youtube channel52

Professional development at your fingertips!

I think I am becoming a pro at multitasking! To be clear I am not fond of household chores, I find them so boring and I always end up thinking I am wasting my “brain time” and could do something much more productive!

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acquire50 acquired4 acquisition65 Bill Van Patten1 brain61 busy2 classroom9 cleaning3 comprehensible100 comprehension250 Cooking41 create6 creating1 development37 Education20 excellent1 focus36 form1 grammar66 home14 house33 housewife4 impressive1 input47 instruction5 instructions6 language45 learner217 live61 model2 modelling1 multitasking3 mum6 output44 pd1 personal13 points1 productive9 productivity1 professional4 punctuation1 radio3 results1 retell3 rolemodel1 show12 spelling1 story asking15 students2 teaching42 teawithbvp1 Tina Hargaden1 topics19 TPRS71 video350 watch52 watching3 workshop6 write59 writing55 youtube67

How to use stories written by students?

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am a big fan of The Comprehensible Classroom because there are so many fun story scripts to be used and Martina Bex (the author) shares so many fabulous ideas and lesson plans! One story script I have used with my middle school students (grade 6 to 8) is Buscando Gafas.

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book95 comprehensible100 comprehension250 creative13 Education20 engage150 grade 68 grade 74 grade 85 input47 key structure10 middle school3 mini-book2 output44 productive9 proud1 querer1 reading252 reusing1 script201 skills26 Spanish33 speaking73 story46 storytelling39 telling3 tener1 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 comprehension250 comprenhensible1 drama28 engage150 engaging10 fluency107 fluent57 fun413 funny256 high frequency217 high interest7 input47 interest10 interesting23 intonation2 key2 listening52 motivate151 motivated143 motivating1 motivation201 practice33 proficiency12 proficient9 pronunciation11 reading252 repetition42 repetitive22 retell3 script201 second language44 skills26 Spanish33 story46 storytelling39 structure10 target9 target language12 target structure20 TPRS71 vocabulary256 words18