Let's celebrate success!

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Today as we enter the month of September and we slowly start to wave goodbye to summer, let the sun shine and let me share a success story using TPRS and comprehensible input online!

Back in April an ex Spanish student of mine contacted me because he wanted to learn French.

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French game to recycle and repeat: Jean-Jacques Julier

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I am back home after a big road trip which took my whole family all the way down to Portugal, then Spain and finally to La Bretagne in France. We got to discover beautiful places and meet amazing people and we also had the chance to reunite with family and old friends.

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How to build up to a story in French?

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My online learners are acquiring French at a fast and steady pace and it is amazing to watch them progress naturally. Unlike last school year when I was trying to use TPRS along with my other resources, I have decided to give it a full go following each of the three steps...

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How can a children's book be for everyone?

I am always on the look for interesting funny stories and at the same time stories which are comprehensible to my learners. A few months ago when I was busy breastfeeding, I was reading the TPRS bible "Fluency through TPR storytelling" by Blaine Ray and Contee Steel and one chapter entitled "Kindergarten Day" caught my eyes.

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The many benefits of online teaching

I must confess that since teaching students via Skype or Google hangout, I am having a lot of fun! I have also noticed the many benefits of online instruction.

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First of all, the learner is in the comfort of his home which helps lowering the affective filter.

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French story and poem: un amour qui finit mal !

My French students are now learning the passé composé in class and I am looking for ways to help them acquire this new tense without doing the traditional grammar approach.

The first text which came to my mind was Le déjeuner du matin which is actually a poem widely taught in French classes because the language is quite simple and repetitive.

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acquire28 breakfast2 comprehensible41 comprehension31 cultural5 culture22 déjeuner du matin1 Education8 food13 French20 guidelines2 literature2 love1 Martina Bex10 meal4 miming1 MovieTalk3 passé-composé2 perfect tense2 poem4 poet1 Prévert1 questions19 reading36 repetition11 script10 story34 storytelling28 target language12 target structure10 teacherspayteachers11 TPRS34 youtube17

French culture: celebrating la Chandeleur !

Candlemas is around the corner and I have prepared some fun activities to do in the French class to celebrate this special event. In fact as the activities are mainly centered around crepes and how to make them, you could also use them to celebrate Mardi Gras (which is on the 9th of February this year) or if you are teaching a topic on food.

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activities5 bundle1 celebrate4 celebration5 communicative7 comprehensible41 Cooking17 cultural5 culture22 Education8 food13 French20 grammar6 infinitive1 input39 logic1 logical2 numeracy1 passé-composé2 past5 perfect tense2 recipe12 song10 story34 storytelling28 teacherspayteachers11 TPRS34 tradition1