Reading to promote language acquisition

A few weeks ago, I was asking you for suggestions to order Spanish books for my school library. Over my teaching career, I have found that reading is a key skill, if not the main skill to learn a language. By reading texts and books, language “acquisition”

[read more…]

achieve achievement acquire acquisition book children ci comprehend comprehensible Education engaged engaging exciting fluency fluent free fvr input interest interested interesting language learning library novel read reading silent skill Spanish ssr Stephen Krashen succeed success sustained text TPRS understand voluntary

Marceline Loridan-Ivens: a moving account.

When I prepare dinner in the evening, I like to listen to the radio and it usually falls during Le Grand Entretien on France Inter. François Busnel, a journalist spends an hour interviewing different people from authors to comedians to politicians. I like the way this journalist conducts the interviews.

[read more…]

acquired acquiring acquisition advanced biograhy cinema comprehensible culture French history input interview interviewee journalist life listen listening Marceline Loridan-Ivens past personal personalized podcast radio risks speaking story storytelling war

French resources about the Epihany

To share the Epiphany tradition with your French students, here are some ideas:

Explain the tradition worldwide
The Mary Glasgow website published an article La Galette des Rois which explains the different traditions in France, California, Mexico, Spain and Portugal with its audio version to download (all for free).

[read more…]

acquire acquisition activity bake book celebrate celebration compelling comprehensible comprehensible input cook Cooking cultural culture Education epiphany France franchculture French frenchfood game ideas input listening Mary Glasgow pastry play playing recipe shareandbake singing song storylistening storytelling TPRS

Learning the different French Christmas traditions

Since this week should be the last teaching week before the awaited holidays, I thought I would share some ideas and links to how Christmas is celebrated by the French.
In Provence, there are many local traditions. This short video explains all the symbols of the Provencal Christmas table and meal with French subtitles:

[read more…]

celebrate celebration chanson christmas ci compelling comprehend comprehensible comprehensible input culture Education event French frenchculture frenchsong language languagelearning PowerPoint presentation pureci reading song target target language target structure theme topic video

Mary Glasgow magazines

 

Some time ago I wrote a post about the Mary Glasgow website and how I used its free Spanish articles and audio versions. Last week I received several French sample magazines and the “Bonjour”

[read more…]

acquire acquisition advanced articles beginner benefits Canada ci compelling comprehensible confidence confident culture Education engaging flow fluent France francophone free voluntary reading French fuency fvr high frequency high interest independent learning input interest interesting intermediate languagelearning languages learners magazine Mary Glasgow proficiency proficient québec readers reading self confidence self confident target target language target structure texts TPRS vocabulary