Coucou les French learners,
I am back from a magical week in Pau, near the Pyrenees where I spent quality time with 11 dear members of our community. But more on that next week…
Ma soeur et moi à Pau !
For now, here is a great question from Caleb :
I am a student in college in the United States, and I am accustomed to learning vocabulary words and grammatical constructions in the traditional way, that is, one semester at a time. I hate it and I know it is ineffective, at least for me.
Do you have any advice for me? I have 2 to 3 hours each day before class to study French. How should I approach acquiring the language? How often should I rewatch videos and listen to stories? I keep trying to memorize the script and self-translate in my head when watching your videos.
When you acquire French, the journey is the reward.
Why? Because it brings personal growth, cognitive development, and cultural enrichment. Throughout this process, you increase your understanding of the world, and develop a deeper connection with others.
Becoming fluent in French isn’t just about reaching a destination; it’s a continuous, enriching journey that offers benefits every step of the way.
Here is my answer to Caleb’s question.
Trust your brain!
Our approach is based on comprehensible input. The comprehensible input approach to acquiring French emphasizes understanding the language in context rather than focusing solely on memorization and grammar rules.
By immersing yourself in comprehensible input, which includes reading, listening, and engaging with material that is just beyond your grasp, your brain gradually adapts and starts to make sense of the language naturally.
This approach allows for organic language acquisition, mirroring how we acquire our native languages, and emphasizes understanding over speaking in the early stages, ultimately leading to more fluent and intuitive language use.
Trust your brain will acquire French subconsciously. All you need is to understand what you hear and read. #trusttheprocess
Understand the process
This is acquisition, not learning so you don’t need to memorize the script and self-translate. This is tedious and ineffective!
The more you listen and you read French, the more the new words and structures will stick in your head forever.
Our membership has different stages/levels starting with the Baby Stage for beginners. Each stage has been designed to take a month to complete if you do one session each day, everyday. But you can go at your own pace, this is the beauty of online courses!
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(Work in progress: 58%)
Again, all you need is to understand what you hear and read. Watch and listen to the stories with the intent to understand the gist. No need to repeat a story because the vocabulary and structures are repeated in each story. You can read the story and listen to a story at the same time by turning on the audio sync view button.
Watch, listen, read as much as different stories as you can.
ENJOY
Follow a natural and enjoyable process.
It is not necessary to finish all of the Baby Stage before starting to listen to other stories. You can do both simultaneously, as long as you are engaging with content that is slightly above your current proficiency level. This way, you expose yourself to comprehensible input while gradually challenging yourself with more complex material.
Your goal is to understand the gist of the stories.
After listening to the stages and stories, you will have acquired a significant amount of language understanding.
At some point in your journey, you may feel you are ready to speak. In that case, you can start reading aloud, repeating phrases you have heard over and over again. You may even start to talk with people.
You speak when you feel you are ready to speak. Don’t force yourself to speak, it will stress you out.
For a joyful experience, start by singing in French.
Follow the lyrics of this upliftling song by Charles Aznavour (all for free)!
Embrace the process, and remember that speaking is the result of language acquisition. #enjoytheride
On Trustpilot Heather shared:
I had done a lot of the other usual approaches to learning French and was feeling very frustrated. After finding AliceAyel.com I immediately increased my reading and comprehension knowledge. I have done all the available stages (Adult twice) and now I am going through the Senior Stories for a second time and am reading some of the books from where the excerpts come. My oral abilities are slowly improving too. Love the method!
What are you waiting for? Join us now and make real progress in French! You will gain:
CLARITY: progress step by step through stages and make French become clear to you.
COMMUNITY: meet weekly and keep yourself accountable through the most caring and invested community.
TRANSFORMATION: feel empowered. Be fluent in French. Transform yourself and get a new soul.
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!
P.P.S Listen to our new Audiobook – Une détermination sans limite – This story written by Theresa Marrama is perfect for beginners. Valérie, a 14-year-old girl, is different from her peers. She faces obstacles but she is determined.