Many students who want to learn French fast will do much better using story-based materials. These materials allow the students to hear native speakers actually using the language the students are trying to learn. This makes it much easier for instructors to come up with creative ways to develop quizzes based on and that reinforce what was learned in each lesson. Because a story is an ongoing lesson in and of itself, students are...more
Getting people to learn requires getting them engaged. Instead of boring them, a good teacher makes their lessons interesting and fun. This sometimes requires doing old things in new ways. Where French language instruction is concerned, listening to materials that are almost exclusively in French is becoming more popular. Students listen and learn French because they become engaged with characters in plays and learn songs that help...more
Good stories can help you to learn French fast. Part of the reason behind that is the fact that you'll be doing more mentally than trying to translate words. You'll be following dramatic action, identifying with characters and, in the case of musical productions, you'll be learning songs, as well. All of this helps engage your brain. You can help the process along, however, by quizzing the people you listen with and by challenging yourself to understand what's going on in the story's narrative.One of the reasons its easer to learn at home than it is to learn in French classroom situations is that you're not pressured. Stories have this same effect. As you're listening to the story, alone or with others, try to create a mental image of what's going on instead of just listening to the words the characters are saying. You would normally imagine an appropriate scenario for an audio play in your own language. As you begin to imagine what's happening, note how the image changes as you learn more and more words and understand more of the story. Envisioning these scenarios can be important.If you quiz others or if you're learning in a classroom situation, you can see how well...more
If you're heading to a Francophone country, you'll definitely want to pick up some of the language. Learning French in classroom exercises is usually too slow and too ineffective to provide the rapid learning travelers need. To meet those needs, there are better products on the market. Any good language product should involve two...more
French can be a challenging language to learn. Even for English speakers, who speak a fairly similar tongue, French is full of challenges. Most people learn French in the classroom through listening and repeating exercises. While these can be effective, they're also downright boring. Their principal shortcoming is that they actually...more
A foreign language always feels abstract at first. Words are things to be memorized, but translated into your own language before they're understood. The easiest way to learn French fast is to hear people using it as they do every day. This means that they're not slowing down their speech for your benefit and that not every word they say is translated for you. When you have to keep up out of necessity, you learn fast. By hearing French spoken naturally in common situations, you can rapidly begin to understand the most frequently used words and phrases.For beginning students, speaking in their new language on the telephone is usually very difficult. When you actually hear French speakers using a phone with one another, however, you're free to start using the context of the situation as a way of understanding what they're saying. For instance, most conversations on telephones start out with some variation of "Hello. How are you?" Because these conversations are usually fairly predictable in this regard, they're an excellent opportunity to listen and learn French as it is used in everyday conversations. Other common situations provide similar opportunities.This is one of...more
Most often, when you learn French in classroom settings, the environment is very serious. While it may be constructive and productive, such an environment is seldom entertaining. Unfortunately, such learning experiences leave students...more
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