French the natural way: 3 techniques to break free from translation

Coucou les French learners,

Last week, I received a message from Josh, who recently joined our community:

I’ve finished the Baby stage and gone through video 9 of the Infant stage. My comprehension has improved A LOT in only 5-6 weeks of being a member in relation to my very beginner level from when I started.

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French the natural way: break free from translation with these 3 expert strategies!

Coucou les French learners,

Having a growth mindset is crucial when you embark on your French journey. The ability to learn and improve is indeed essential when you are acquiring French (or any other languages).

At the start of our intermediate online class, I asked learners to shift their thoughts.

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acquisition65 acquisition process41 active listener94 activelistener54 activelistening78 apprendslefrançais91 becomeamember199 becomefluent60 befluent23 ci145 class31 communauté59 comprehend52 comprehensible100 comprehensiblefrench241 comprehension250 connect104 connection105 dreamfrench2 easyfrench66 fluency107 France221 French41 frenchlearner58 frenchwithstories72 happyhour14 joinus23 journal53 journaling46 joy27 keep motivated23 keepgoing27 keeplearning42 learnfrenchthenaturalway59 lefrancaisensemble206 lefrançaisnaturellement92 listen283 listentostories41 liveclass97 low affective filter25 myths4 natural approach59 nopressure5 online french sessions37 parlefrancais29 pureci43 reality4 sessions10 sla123 speakfrench193 speaking73 stay15 stayinfrance21 step-by-step18 stepstospeaking58 storylistening142 thinkfrench28 understand67 understandfrench35 update13 vocabulaire22 vocabulary256 weekly videos55 youcandoit70

French the natural way: what is shadowing?

Coucou les French learners,

Comment ça se passe ? How is it going?

The summer intensive courses are over and we had so much fun with both groups.

With the advanced beginners, we co-created an hilarious story involving a fortune teller and un nain de jardin,

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French the natural way: focus on intonation (not pronunciation)

Coucou les French learners,

Comment ça va ? La pêche ? la banane ?

We use many expressions with fruits and vegetables in French… Well lots of expressions with la nourriture, food!!! about French idioms with food.

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French the natural way: how to speak confidently in 5 steps

Coucou les French learners,

Il pleut, il pleut bergère… It is raining, it is raining sheperdess…

I would have given my head to be cut that it would be a nice day today!

It is a popular song for children which has its origins in a French opera or opéra comique written in 1780 by Fabre d’Églantine.

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French the natural way: joyeux anniversaire !

Coucou les French learners,

Quelle semaine ! What a week!

Input alone is sufficient

My lovely grade 12 IB Spanish learners passed their oral examinations on Thursday. Instead of going through long lists of vocabulary related to the topics they had to talk about,

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How to develop fluency for an oral examination?

The speaking examination for the IGCSEs can be a stressful experience for our students as they are having to speak in the target language for 15 minutes and they are being recorded. It is therefore best to practice this experience often during class time. In the past I have used Audioboo so that my students could practice and review the general questions (which are a series of linked questions on two or three topics which students have covered in grade 9 and 10).

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