Coucou les French learners,
Have you ever found yourself trying to watch a video in a foreign language, only to be distracted by the incessant buzz of your phone or the nagging thoughts of tasks left undone? I certainly have.
I often attempt to immerse myself in a Chinese language video, but instead of fully engaging with the content, I found my attention drifting. Notifications pop up, my mind wanders to my to-do list, and before I know it, I miss crucial parts of the video.
In our hyper-connected era, distractions are omnipresent. From the constant ping of notifications to the stress of daily life and persistent worries, our attention is continually fragmented.
It can be particularly challenging when acquiring a new language like French. The cognitive load of processing unfamiliar sounds, vocabulary, and grammar structures while simultaneously grasping the narrative can be overwhelming.
This week, let’s delve into the art of concentration when having a French session!
Stay engaged and make the most of your French journey.
#youarenotalone
The Crucial Role of Focus in French Acquisition
Focus is the cornerstone of effective language acquisition.
It demands distraction-free environments that allow you to absorb and process the new language effectively.
While comprehensible input is essential, it must become “intake” to fuel language acquisition. Intake refers to the portion of input that you digest, internalize, and use for linguistic development.
To create environments where input becomes intake, it’s essential to understand and address the causes of distractions, such as digital notifications, stress, worries, and environmental factors that compete for our attention.
3 Strategies to Stay Focus
1. Understand
To combat distractions and stay focused, begin by understanding the purpose of your French session.
Your only goal is to try to understand the message.
When you understand what the message (not every detail) of what you hear or read, input becomes intake. Your brain starts to process, digest, and internalize the new language.
Understanding is your only goal. Without a clear goal of grasping the story’s gist, you may easily disengage.
2. Choose a good story
Choose a good story with a compelling structure: a clear beginning that sets the context, an engaging adventure or conflict that drives the plot, and a satisfying resolution.
The ideal story should be more than just a linguistic exercise, it should be a captivating journey that naturally draws you in.
Look for stories with dynamic events, emotional depth, and a narrative arc that keeps you intellectually and emotionally invested. These stories contain “optimal input” language that is simultaneously comprehensible, rich in vocabulary, grammatically diverse, and compelling.
Try now with this French tale for upper beginner learners.
Click here to read & listen to “Renard et Chantecler”. It is free!
A well-crafted story helps you acquire French more effectively, and it also makes the process enjoyable and memorable.
By choosing a good story, you transform your French journey from a mechanical task into an immersive experience that resonates with your imagination.
Also start by choosing a short story, ideally no longer than 5 minutes, and commit to listening and reading it just once. This single-pass approach naturally heightens your focus, as you’re aware that you won’t have multiple opportunities to catch every detail.
After listening or reading, challenge yourself to narrate the main points of the story, reinforcing your comprehension and engagement.
3. Create an optimal environment
Turn off notifications on your devices and find a quiet space where you can immerse yourself in the French language.
Consider beginning each French session with a brief meditation or breathing exercise to clear your mind and prepare to stay focus.
It helps you concentrate on the task at hand, making your French sessions productive and enjoyable.
Join Us for Optimal French Acquisition
Our online French program focuses on short, engaging sessions that present one story at a time, providing comprehensible, rich, abundant, and compelling input, the optimal conditions for language acquisition.
By joining our program, you’ll improve your French abilities
and you’ll also develop valuable concentration techniques that will benefit you in all areas of life.
CLARITY: progress step by step through stages and make French become clear to you. Understand French with ease.
COMMUNITY: meet weekly and keep yourself accountable through the most caring and invested community. Think French naturally.
TRANSFORMATION: feel empowered. Be fluent in French. Transform yourself and get a new soul. Speak French freely.
P.S. Got friends, family, colleagues and clients who want to become fluent in French? Share this with them, they’ll thank you for it!
This week, Jason shared on Trustpilot:
Alice runs an excellent website and is one of the best resources out there for learning French by the natural method.