French news: Make the most of your summer to progress in French!

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

Summer is THE ideal season to reconnect with the French language.

Why? Simply because for most us it’s a more relaxed period. The summer months tend to bring a more relaxed mindset, feeling less stressed and more open to new things.

[read more…]

accountability accountable acquirefrench active listener activelistener activelistening advanced advanced beginner advanced french amusing beginner celebrate conversation feedback feelgood free writing freewrite frenchclass frenchclasses frenchculture frenchhistory frenchnews grammaire grammar guidance infolettre interact interaction interactive intermediate lessons live session liveclass motivation novice novicehigh observe online teaching progress speak speakfrench stayontrack success summer summer2024 teaching train training upper beginner youcandoit youcandothis

French news: Boost your fluency with circumlocution

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

I’m excited to share some insights from our fantastic live session last Wednesday, where we explored the power of circumlocution.

For those of you who were able to join, you know what a fun and engaging session it was.

[read more…]

accountability accountable acquirefrench active listener activelistener activelistening advanced advanced beginner advanced french amusing beginner celebrate circomlocution circonlocution circumlocution classesdefrançais conversation feedback feelgood frenchclass frenchclasses frenchculture frenchhistory frenchnews frenchsong guidance infolettre interact interaction interactive intermediate lessons live session liveclass motivation novice novicehigh observe online teaching progress speak speakfrench stayontrack success teaching train training upper beginner youcandoit youcandothis zoomclass

French news: celebrating small victories (and join me live!)

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

Today, I want to start by celebrating a small victory with you all. Elena, who joined us in April this year, recently shared that she listened to La Pause Café avec Elodie Caussé and she was able to understand the gist of it.

[read more…]

accountability accountable acquirefrench active listener activelistener activelistening advanced advanced beginner advanced french amusing beginner celebrate circomlocution classesdefrançais conversation feedback feelgood frenchclass frenchclasses frenchculture frenchhistory frenchnews frenchsong guidance infolettre interact interaction interactive intermediate lessons live session liveclass motivation novice novicehigh observe online teaching progress speak speakfrench stayontrack success teaching train training upper beginner victory youcandoit youcandothis zoomclass

French news: focus on the meaning rather than the form

Coucou les membres de la communauté,

You know it: receiving comprehensible input is powerful. It is the key to unlocking your French fluency.

You know it too: the journey to mastering French is challenging.

The good news is that input alone is sufficient to first understand,

[read more…]

accountability accountable acquirefrench active listener activelistener activelistening advanced advanced beginner advanced french beginner classesdefrançais community comprehension conversation feedback feelgood frenchclass frenchclasses frenchcommunity frenchnews gocommunity guidance infolettre interact interaction interactive intermediate lessons live session liveclass motivation novice novicehigh observe online teaching progress pronounciation questions research speak speakfrench stayontrack study teaching train training upper beginner warmup zoomclass

French the natural way: 3 signs you need more input

Coucou les French learners,

When I started teaching French in England (many, many years ago!), I believed that speaking was the first step toward French fluency. I was asking my students to repeat over and over again phrases they didn’t understand… As expected, most of them ended up hating French!

[read more…]

abisproduction accountability accountable acquirefrench active listener activelistener activelistening advanced advanced beginner advanced french beginner classesdefrançais comprehensible comprehensible input comprehensiblefrench feedback fle freetraining freevideo guidance infolettre inputdriven intermediate lessons live session moreinput motivation novice novicehigh observe online teaching period phase progress pronounciation silence silent speak speakfrench stayontrack train training upper beginner video warmup