French the natural way: Overcome French writing challenges

Coucou les French learners,

Last week, Mohammad, one of our dedicated members who has been part of our community since June 2023, wrote to me. He told me he got stuck on writing in French:

I finished the Baby and Infant Stages,

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abisproduction204 acquire50 acquiring18 advanced beginner446 authentic168 autonomouslearner205 becomeamember202 beginner french28 cicommunity102 community157 comprehensiblefrench244 comprehensibleinput234 comprehension253 course124 dailyfrench193 dailyreading32 fle272 fluency107 freewrite50 frenchacquisitionforall34 frenchcommunity229 frenchculture295 frenchfluency19 frenchforall196 frenchjourney20 frenchreaders66 improve19 improvement15 inputaloneissufficient226 intermediate710 journal53 journaling46 journey169 language45 language acquisition232 learner220 lefrancaisensemble209 listen286 massiveinput10 natural168 novice168 novice high244 novicehigh329 online learner190 process22 produce12 production44 progress104 reading255 selftaught48 slow french314 speak85 speakfrench195 speech9 teenstage16 tips50 translating6 upper beginner449 write59

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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abisproduction204 acquire50 acquiring18 advanced beginner446 authentic168 autonomouslearner205 becomeamember202 beginner french28 cicommunity102 community157 comprehensiblefrench244 comprehensibleinput234 comprehension253 course124 dailyfrench193 dailyreading32 fle272 fluency107 freewrite50 frenchacquisitionforall34 frenchcommunity229 frenchculture295 frenchfluency19 frenchforall196 frenchjourney20 frenchreaders66 improve19 improvement15 inputaloneissufficient226 intermediate710 journal53 journaling46 journey169 language45 language acquisition232 learner220 lefrancaisensemble209 listen286 massiveinput10 natural168 novice168 novice high244 novicehigh329 online learner190 process22 produce12 production44 progress104 reading255 selftaught48 slow french314 speak85 speakfrench195 speech9 teenstage16 tips50 translating6 upper beginner449 write59

French the natural way: how writing prepares you for fluent speaking

Coucou les French learners,

I hope you are enjoying l’été, summer time! I love this time of the year because as some of you may know already, I am a frileuse. This French word cannot really be translated in English but it basically means I am sensitive to cold.

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abisproduction204 acquire50 acquiring18 advanced beginner446 authentic168 autonomouslearner205 becomeamember202 beginner french28 cicommunity102 community157 comprehensiblefrench244 comprehensibleinput234 comprehension253 course124 dailyfrench193 dailyreading32 fle272 fluency107 freewrite50 frenchacquisitionforall34 frenchcommunity229 frenchculture295 frenchfluency19 frenchforall196 frenchjourney20 frenchreaders66 improve19 improvement15 inputaloneissufficient226 intermediate710 journal53 journaling46 journey169 language45 language acquisition232 learner220 lefrancaisensemble209 listen286 massiveinput10 natural168 novice168 novice high244 novicehigh329 online learner190 process22 produce12 production44 progress104 reading255 selftaught48 slow french314 speak85 speakfrench195 speech9 teenstage16 tips50 translating6 upper beginner449 write59

French the natural way: when to start producing French stress-free?

Coucou les French learners,

The best feedback always come from our Dear Members. This week, Angus commented in the Community Chat:

I do think that it is funny that I can understand much more fluently than I can speak,

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abisproduction204 acquire50 acquiring18 advanced beginner446 authentic168 autonomouslearner205 babystage24 becomeamember202 beginner french28 beginnercourse68 cicommunity102 community157 comprehensiblefrench244 comprehensibleinput234 comprehension253 course124 dailyfrench193 dailyreading32 fle272 fluency107 freewrite50 frenchacquisitionforall34 frenchcommunity229 frenchculture295 frenchfluency19 frenchforall196 frenchjourney20 frenchreaders66 iceberg6 icebergimage6 improve19 improvement15 inputaloneissufficient226 intermediate710 journal53 journaling46 journey169 language45 language acquisition232 learner220 lefrancaisensemble209 listen286 massiveinput10 natural168 novice168 novice high244 novicehigh329 online learner190 process22 produce12 production44 progress104 reading255 selftaught48 slow french314 speak85 speakfrench195 speech9 teenstage16 tips50 total physical response14 tpr19 translating6 upper beginner449 write59

French the natural way: is it OK to translate?

Coucou les French learners,

This week, I got a good question from a new member who struggles to acquire French. This new member wants to remain anonymous and he is a total French beginner. He commented in the Chat:

I’m struggling to understand anything without translating every single word.

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abisproduction204 acquire50 acquiring18 advanced beginner446 authentic168 autonomouslearner205 babystage24 becomeamember202 beginner french28 beginnercourse68 cicommunity102 community157 comprehensiblefrench244 comprehensibleinput234 comprehension253 course124 dailyfrench193 dailyreading32 fall17 fall lessons2 fle272 fluency107 freewrite50 frenchacquisitionforall34 frenchcommunity229 frenchculture295 frenchfluency19 frenchforall196 frenchjourney20 frenchreaders66 improve19 improvement15 inputaloneissufficient226 intensive150 intermediate710 journey169 language acquisition232 learner220 lefrancaisensemble209 listen286 live61 liveclass97 natural168 novice168 novice high244 novicehigh329 online learner190 process22 produce12 production44 progress104 reading255 reboot81 selftaught48 slow french314 speak85 speakfrench195 teenstage16 tips50 tpr19 translating6 translation4 upper beginner449 write59

Story script in Spanish

I am huge fan of the Michel Thomas method. The only thing that is bothering me is that it hugely relies on translation. I was trained to use the target language as much as possible in the classroom and my mentor taught me a few tricks to get the students to understand me in the target language like using lots of cognates.

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How to help students use Google Translate efficiently?

 

Recently, I stumbled upon a great blog to follow if you are considering flipping the Spanish classroom. I started to read the latest post about Google Translate and I could not help but start to cringe!

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