Hello, class! It's hard to believe, but we're coming to some of our last classes of the year. Many of us will be continuing our French language study in French 2, so I wanted to spend a little of our limited time discussing different resources available to you to practice French over the summer. Listen to French RadioThere's something about listening to the music of another language. I remember exploring the music store when I was studying in France and feeling like I was a treasure hunter uncovering different types of beauty. Nowadays, I get the same kind of feeling from exploring French radio online. I can discover French musicians I like. Even listening to the advertisements is interesting, because it's a very specific lens into another culture. Plus, you can listen to the radio on walks, car drives, knitting, or exercising.
Watch French TVThere are so many interesting (and funny) French shows on Netflix, and so many different ways to interact with the language. When my husband was learning Spanish, he turned on the Spanish subtitles to even the English language shows we watched to sort of casually reinforce his knowledge. For the video gamers out there, he also liked to change the language on his favorite video games to Spanish. Either of these strategies work with French as well. But also:
Watch or Read the News in FrenchOne of the most satisfying things about learning or speaking another language is being able to look at the world from a different perspective. Whenever I read the news in French, I'm reminded of how powerful this can be.
Read Webtoons and Graphic Novels in FrenchI know of more than one person who swear by comics when it comes to language learning. You get the image + vocab benefit of movies and tv, but the action is frozen, and therefore much easier to comprehend and more accessible to learners. Plus, comics, graphic novels, and webtoons are fun to read. And they are composed of 100% dialogue, which helps reinforce our speaking and listening skills in particular. Plus, did I mention they are fun?
Hello, class! Spring break is almost here, and we're going to spend the day before our vacations checking out some trailers of my favorite French movies. Unit 4C is all about the movies, after all. La Belle et La Bête, 2014 by Christopher GansLa Belle et La Bête, 1946 by Jean CocteauLa Vie d'un Chat, 2010 by Alain Gagnol & Jean-Loup FelicioliLe Fableux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, 2001 by Jean-Pierre JeunetHere's a link to the English language trailer. Also, the English version is Rated R, so you'll need parental permission if you want to watch this movie. Le Pacte des Loups, 2001 by Christopher GansHere's a link to the English version of the trailer. Also, the English version is Rated R, so you'll need parental permission if you want to watch this movie. Le Petit Prince, 2015 by Mark OsborneHello class! What an interesting and bumpy ride this 4th cycle has been. In this blog post, I want to share some resources with you to help you strengthen your French skills in general, and study for our Unit 4B quiz specifically. I said this in class, but being able to order at a cafe in French is a big, big help for when you do one day visit a French-speaking country. We always keep it real in class, that is, we learn practical language skills, but ordering at a cafe is perhaps the most practical of all. We all have to eat, so ordering at a cafe is both a necessity and pleasure. Cafes are of course named after the most central and important nonalcoholic beverage in French culture: coffee. French coffee is different than American coffee. In the video below by French language YouTuber "Easy French," you can learn about the different types of coffee you can order at a French cafe. Easy French has tons and tons of helpful and accessible videos for you to explore. It's an opportunity to hear native French speakers with subtitles in both French and English. A couple of students asked me about my favorite free resources for working on French, and YouTube is definitely the best. YouTube is a such a helpful resource for all kinds of learning: I learned how to knit, my husband learned how to replace parts in my car, and I've learned how to make an authentic birria from a Mexican chef (La Capital). French language learning is no different. Below is a lovely playlist of French songs on YouTube to listen to and pretend you're in Paris: My Favorite French YouTube Resources
The above video covers: 4 Things to Do Everyday to Speak French. Allow me to translate the 4 things:
Our book isn't working for most of us, which is definitely a inconvenience. Good news, though! Alexa, the Youtube French teacher covers both of the grammatical objectives that were on the docket today: a discussion of the conjugation of "aller" and "à + definite articles." You can find the videos linked below. Hello class! So much keeps changing so quickly this week, at least in the political world. Here are a few headlines from today's Le Monde to check out in case you're curious how France is taking all these craziness in Washington. This headline announces that Trump refuses to attend Biden's inauguration as president, which will be the first time an out-going president has refused to do this since 1869. You would read that date aloud as "mille neuf cent soixante-neuf" by the way. Above is a screenshot from an opinion piece that says that the insurrection at "la Maison Blanche" is a lesson for all the democracies of the world. "La Maison Blanche," or the "White House" illustrates a few of the grammar points we discussed in class. First of all, the word for "house," "maison," is feminine, despite the fact that it doesn't end in an "e," making it an exception to that guideline. The word for "white" is also feminine, illustrating the rule we discussed that adjectives in addition to pronouns ("la") must agree with the noun. "Blanche" is the feminine form of "white," while "blanc" is the masculine form. Also, the adjective follows the noun it describes, which of course is different from English.
Y'all, I've got some good news: our favorite numerical worms are back! Not only to help us review the numbers 1-20, but also to help us lodge the rest of the numbers from 20-100 in our head forever like only these catchy musical worms can do. Each section of numbers is in a different style, all the up to CENT. Enjoy. Welcome to Unit 3! Wednesday during our first content hour, we also had our first opportunity to earn extra credit for the 3rd cycle. We completed this TV5 activity and learned about une pendule in Versailles.
Hello students! Two more days before THANKSGIVING BREAK! I hope you take some time to relax, safely reconnect with family, and eat some good food. I can't wait to hear about all the food. This week in content hour, we did another of the TV5 Apprendre le Francais for extra credit. This time we focused on one of our big verbs this unit "aimer," and we also practiced a bit of grammar. Here's the link in case you couldn't make it to content hour. The feedback from the students is that this exercise is "medium" difficult, which is good: not too easy, not too tough. My recommendation is to try it without the transcription at least once, and if it's too hard, open up the transcription to check your listening comprehension. Here's one thing I have learned from this unit: everyone loves French fries. I love French fries, you love French fries, Carl loves French fries. Turns out, French fries, or les frites, aren't even French. They were invented by Belgians, and are still an iconic Belgian street food served with mayonnaise. Yeah, you read that right. Mayonnaise. Here's a video of people happily roaming the streets of Belgium with their freshly fried frites: None of us can go to Belgium right now, I imagine. So if you'd like to recreate the classic frites at home, here's a recipe. These potatoes are fried not once, but twice. No wonder they taste so good.
Y'all, French pronunciation is hard. Like I told you guys in class today, it's starting to get in the way of me being able to understand some of your oral quizzes. We went over the phonetics of the dialogue for Friday's quiz in class today, which I hope was helpful. It's a physical thing: the shape your mouth makes creates the sounds. Before you submit your quiz, I recommend you also watch the video below. Keep thinking about the shape of your mouth as you speak. I'll see you in content hour this afternoon, where you'll be showing me your progress in Busuu for extra credit. I'll also be inviting you to do an enrichment activity on TV5 that focuses on the pronunciation of the <u> sound, like in "tu." Good luck! Bon courage!
Well, class, the eyes of the world are on us and the results of our election. Below is a screenshot of the Le Monde homepage: On the right-hand side of the page, we see "Les plus lus" articles, that is, "the most read" articles on the Le Monde website. The number one article is "La carte des résultats, Etat par Etat." La carte=map, and Etat=state, so the translation would be "A map of results, state by state." All of the top three most popular articles cover our election. This Week's Content HourSpeaking of the news, for this week's content hour we will be looking at a clip from TV5. You will watch the clip and answer general questions about the vocabulary and the content of the article. I'll show you how to use the subtitles to help you with your comprehension. Listening and reading French at the same time is so beneficial: it helps train our minds to recognize the sounds of French.
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AuthorI'm a Houston high school teacher during the Covid19 pandemic. Welcome to my adapted, socially-distanced, quarantined French 1 classroom. Archives
May 2021
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