French the natural way: Belgian or French fries?

Coucou,

here is your weekly dose of French comprehensible and compelling input to acquire the language naturally.

As you know, I teach French naturally through stories. My learners experience story asking and story listening, they truly enjoy it and they memorize French vocabulary effortlessly and permanently.

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acquirefrench76 acquisition65 advanced french93 article46 baraque à frites1 beginner french28 belgian culture4 Belgium9 brain61 ch'tis1 children book18 children story15 flashcards8 food154 France221 french input13 frenchonline68 fries1 friterie1 key structures8 Le Point1 learnfrench20 listening52 newspaper4 quizlet9 stories40 story46 story listening19 storytelling39 target structures13 understandfrench35 vimeo1 vocabulary256 youtube67

Let it flow!

I have been busy in good way lately. I am now offering French online tutoring on Verbling and I get to meet new learners from all around the world with different needs. It has been a steep learning curve for me to try to facilitate comprehensible input at different levels and needs but it has also been a great source of joy and accomplishment.

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acquire50 acquisition65 acquisition process41 approach38 brain break6 compelling39 comprehensible100 comprehensible input36 Education20 flow9 flowing2 French41 french videos6 input47 inspiration4 invisibles2 language45 listen283 listening52 motivation201 natural approach59 natural way9 online language session16 online learning15 online tutoring6 personal13 processing input2 resource102 ressources40 Spanish33 stories40 story asking15 story listening19 tutor3 tutoring2 verbling6 videos24 weekly videos55 youtube67

Language game to provide more comprehensible input: Guess Who?

https://goo.gl/photos/JPio26rjA9UosKXR7

As I mentioned in my previous post about story listening, I am part of an amazing group on Facebook called “CI Liftoff” where educators around the world are discussing about how to use pure comprehensible input in the language acquisition process.

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acquire50 acquisition65 adults1 children28 ci145 comics7 communicate9 communication10 communicative7 compelling39 comprehend52 comprehensible100 comprehensible input36 comprehension250 content6 culture246 describe37 describing40 description96 Education20 engaging10 foreign language35 France221 French41 fun413 game21 guess who1 high frequency217 high interest7 input47 interest10 interesting23 language45 language learning9 learner217 learners6 message4 online38 physical10 play27 playing3 reading252 story46 story asking15 story building8 tutor3 tutoring2 unconscious3 unconsciously3 understand67 understanding22 write59 writing55

Story listening is powerful!

To me, developing listening skills are vital in life, yet not practiced enough. As teachers, we are told to let students learn by doing (which is valuable too in some cases) and that classrooms should be students led. As a consequence the skill of listening is being put aside,

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How to find out about your learners interests in a compelling way?

I have started teaching French to a group of 3 girls aged 10 years old. They are native German but they have been attending a primary school where they were taught French intensively, it was like an immersion type of school so their level is very good.

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10 years old1 5 a day1 acquire50 acquisition65 answers24 approach38 asking1 Ben Slavic2 brain break6 chinese portrait1 chinois1 cognates7 communicate9 communication10 communicative7 compell1 compelling39 comprehend52 comprehensible100 dance4 dancing2 dig up1 disco1 dislikes13 Education20 engage150 engaging10 establish1 establishing1 find out1 fit3 fitness3 foreign language35 fun413 get to know2 girls2 group4 information7 input47 interest10 interesting23 language45 learner217 level3 likes12 meaning17 natural165 naturally5 near cognates2 one word image2 party7 personalized16 portrait4 questions74 repeat78 repeating70 repetition42 repetitive22 second language44 session2 story46 story asking15 storyasking15 target language12 target structure20 try out1 video350 vocabulary256 youtube67

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 retelling4 rolemodel1 show12 spelling1 story asking15 students2 teaching42 teawithbvp1 Tina Hargaden1 topics19 video350 watch52 watching3 workshop6 write59 writing55 youtube67

From story-telling to story-asking

I am reading TPRS with Chinese characteristics: making students fluent and literate through comprehensible input by Terry Waltz and I am learning a great deal! I definitely recommend this book if, like me, you want your learners to truly develop fluency and proficiency in another language and on the other hand you do not consider yourself advanced in TPRS and comprehensible input,

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acquire50 acquisition65 animals97 Ben Slavic2 ci145 circling5 complex2 comprehensible100 confidence92 confident8 content6 contribute1 contributing1 contribution1 creative13 creativity4 easy300 Education20 engage150 engaged138 finger1 fluency107 fluent57 fun413 ideas7 image4 input47 intent3 interest10 language45 learner217 learning15 one word image2 ownership2 proficiency12 proficient9 puppets1 simple15 story46 story asking15 story building8 story script6 storyasking15 storytelling39 target9 target language12 target structure20 Terry Waltz1 understand67 understanding22 word5