Coucou les membres de la communauté,
Today, I’d like to have an honest conversation about our Senior Stage, designed for advanced French learners.
To be frank, My Dear Husband and I are grappling with some challenges in this stage. Initially, our goal was to teach French grammar through literary texts and incorporate history and culture sessions.
Click here to view the Senior Stage!
However, we may have overreached, resulting in sessions that are perhaps too complex for many of you.
The Pascal Predicament
Recently, we received an insightful comment from @TallyK, one of our dear members, after reading a text by Blaise Pascal on imagination:
“Alice, je comprends ce que vous dites, mais je trouve le texte impossible à comprendre. I have gone back and listened to the stage before, but find the jump to historical text rather unsurmountable. Every text in the Senior stage is full of words I’ve never seen before.”
For context, Blaise Pascal was a 17th-century French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. His writings, while profound, are indeed challenging even for native French speakers due to their complex philosophical nature and archaic language.
Click here to know more about Blaise Pascal.
In response to @TallyK‘s concerns, I suggested focusing on comprehensible input by continuing to read and listen to more accessible stories.
You can explore philosophy books written in simpler terms by authors like Frédéric Lenoir or Jacqueline de Romilly, who often explain philosophical concepts more accessibly.
You should return to complex texts later, once a stronger foundation in the language is established.
It is absolutely essential to enjoy texts within you current comprehension level to maintain motivation and progress.
Your opinion matters
After much deliberation, my husband and I have come to the conclusion that it might be better to discontinue the Senior Stage in its current form.
We’ve completed 20 sessions so far, and we’re considering pivoting to a new series of sessions focused on the geography of France. Each session would explore a specific region of France, delving into its culture and history.
Now, we’d like to hear from you, our valued community members. We have two options before us:
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Continue the Senior Stage, completing all 31 planned sessions.
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Conclude the Senior Stage and embark on a new Geography of France course.
Your input is crucial in helping us shape the future direction of our program.
We want to ensure that we’re providing the most beneficial and engaging content for your French language journey.
Thank you for being an integral part of our French learning community. We look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Cordialement,
