French the natural way: listen to songs

Coucou les French learners,

June 21 is the official start of summer, youpi ! And to celebrate the longest day of the year, we have La Fête de la Musique. Live music is everywhere in parks and in the streets of cities and villages in France.

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abisproduction224 apprendre14 autonomouslearner225 becomeamember222 chanson31 chansonfrancaise31 cicommunity107 comprehend52 comprehensiblefrench264 comprehensibleinput254 comprehension273 conference5 conferenceinthecloud3 dailyfrench213 fête de la musique5 film41 fle292 flow9 fluentinfrench58 frenchcommunity250 frenchforall216 frenchmovie20 frenchmusic4 frenchonline68 frenchreaders66 frenchwithstories95 inputaloneissufficient246 intermediate730 keeplearning42 keepmotivated196 language acquisition252 languageflow4 learner240 lefrancaisensemble229 lisenfrançais205 listentostories41 live62 liveclass98 motivationbreak171 movie20 muguet10 music27 online french22 online learner210 optimalfrench57 optimalinput74 parlerfrançais24 reader168 reading275 selftaught48 slow french334 song29 speakfrench205 stories40 teen18 teenstage16 thinkfrench28 thinkthat10 understand67 understanding22

French the natural way: let’s watch French movies!

Coucou les French learners,

Do you still remember the lines from your favorite movie? Well, you can do the same with a French movie.

Watching a movie in French gives you lots of input, although not all comprehensible! Watching French movies helps you experience the culture and French as it’s actually spoken by real French speakers.

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abisproduction224 apprendre14 autonomouslearner225 becomeamember222 cicommunity107 comprehend52 comprehensiblefrench264 comprehensibleinput254 comprehension273 conference5 conferenceinthecloud3 dailyfrench213 film41 fle292 flow9 fluentinfrench58 frenchcommunity250 frenchforall216 frenchmovie20 frenchonline68 frenchreaders66 frenchwithstories95 inputaloneissufficient246 intermediate730 keeplearning42 keepmotivated196 language acquisition252 languageflow4 learner240 lefrancaisensemble229 lisenfrançais205 listentostories41 live62 liveclass98 motivationbreak171 movie20 muguet10 online french22 online learner210 optimalfrench57 optimalinput74 parlerfrançais24 reader168 reading275 selftaught48 slow french334 speakfrench205 stories40 teen18 teenstage16 thinkfrench28 thinkthat10 understand67 understanding22

French the natural way: attitude is key

“ La joie s’acquiert. Elle est une attitude de courage. Etre joyeux n’est pas une facilité, c’est une volonté. ” Gaston Courtois.
“Joy is something you acquire. It is an attitude of courage. To be joyful is not a competence, it is a will.”

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French the natural way: how to access input?

Coucou les French learners,

I have just finished reading this fascinating article by Steve Kaufmann on how learning a new language is a subconscious process. Basically, the author explains how he learned Romanian by first reading a lot about Romania in Romanian! He says: “

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How to get students to talk about a sport in Spanish for one minute or two?

When reviewing the topic of free time with my grade 9 students (14-15 years old), I decided to spice it up a bit with “different” kind of sports and hobbies such as “el futbolchapas”:

without subtitles

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comprehension273 examination5 exams3 free time7 futbolchapas1 grade 108 grade 98 hobbies8 IGCSE12 listening52 oral12 ping-pong de puerta1 presentation140 questions74 reading275 skills26 Spanish33 speaking73 sport9 video351