Le blog de Pascal

When Urbain apologizes to the “vegans” at the Montreux Festival, only to end up declaring his love for the French language, you really have to master a language quite different from the one taught in our classrooms, and yet his lexical liberties and colloquialisms are quite common and perfectly understandable to the majority of native French speakers… There are traditionally three language registers: colloquial, formal, and familiar, but there are others, including slang. Slang amuses, slang fascinates; slang is considered “fun,” there is a sense… Read more: The French Language Unbound: A Brief Look at Slang, Verlan, and Other Idiomatic Quirks…

Here is a selection of EASY exercises to get you started gently… To be or to have? Review of the present tense Many of – a thematic vocabulary list related to a specific topic. Gardening -the song of the month is on the same topic: In the Countryside -a spotlight on an artist (film or music) Do you know Jean Dujardin? He is one of the few French actors to have won an Oscar for the film The Artist: The Artist Here is an article… Read more: Pascal's Picks: March 2023

Steve, a Francophile student, shares his film review of "Délicieux" (2021) The story takes place just before the French Revolution, around 1780… The main character is a chef who works for a duke but gets fired because some of the guests don’t like his food. In fact, the chef loves to innovate and create new dishes. Since he’s out of work, he returns to his parents’ home—they used to run a coaching inn—but discovers they’ve passed away. Eventually, a woman comes to his house and… Read more: Have you ever seen a movie that’s “delicious”? A movie that makes you want to eat?

A very informative little lesson, courtesy of Ekaterina, who shared her expert knowledge on the subject with us last fall. Let’s hear from her. How to pick mushrooms correctly? Last week, a young family asked me, “How do you pick mushrooms correctly?”This isn’t the first time someone has asked me this important question during mushroom season, which runs from August to November.  This year, I passed my exam to become a “PilzCoach” in Germany—that is, a “mushroom guide”—and I’ve already led about ten excursions in… Read more: Did you say "mushrooms"?

One-on-one language immersion at the teacher's home is an effective way to make rapid and significant progress in learning a language. Choosing individual language immersion to improve your language skills offers several advantages. Here are a few widely cited reasons, as highlighted by our students regardless of their age or starting level. 1. **Intensive practice**: Immersion allows you to practice the language daily and in a variety of contexts, which reinforces learning. The number of truly effective hours is incomparable to that of partial group… Read more: Here are 5 reasons to opt for "total language immersion" to improve your French as a foreign language

Do you know the story behind the creation of this true classic of French music? "Les Filles de l'aurore" is a song written, composed, and performed by William Scheller in 1983. It was after a concert during his 1982 tour that Les Filles de l’aurore began playing in the author’s head one night while he was out with his musicians in the Saint Jean neighborhood of Lyon. Directly inspired by observing the young men and women who haunted his nighttime wanderings, the song followed Scheller… Read more: A Look at "Les filles de l'aurore" by William Scheller

I invite you to discover Amélie’s world—or rather, let’s discover it together. Who are you, Amélie? I’m a native Frenchwoman from Champagne, passionate about travel, cooking, and scuba diving… Currently living in Indonesia, my husband’s home country, I split my time and my life between France and Asia. Ever since I was a child, I wanted to be a schoolteacher; I made my dream come true and then created my own world!!!! Can you tell us more about what you offer? I’m the founder of… Read more: Have you heard of "French Escape by Amélie" and its famous "French coaching"?

Lucas ranked 7th out of more than 700 candidates!!! After several years of hard work and meticulous planning, with a crystal-clear goal and unwavering determination, Lucas passed one of Spain’s most prestigious exams, the one granting entry into the diplomatic service. He received his certification from King Felipe VI before taking up his post at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Why did you need to improve your French to pass the entrance exam for a diplomatic career?  Because it is necessary to have a perfect… Read more: Lucas will be able to show some diplomacy from now on.

From lovesickness to plain old sickness, here’s a quick dive into a linguistic world that’s very useful in everyday life. Songs are an important tool for language learning because they draw on the musicality of language and specific prosody. You’ve probably noticed that some of our learners have better pronunciation when they sing than when they speak. It’s therefore a highly effective phonetics exercise. In France, they say that everything ends in a song, but this time, we’re going to do the opposite by starting… Read more: "I'm sick…"; yeah, but what's wrong?

The island of Noirmoutier, 45 minutes from our home, has been connected to the mainland by a bridge since July 7, 1971 (a great year, if I may say so myself) but a county road, which lies underwater, reappears twice a day to everyone’s delight!!! The Passage du Gois is a 4.2-kilometer submersible road connecting the island of Noirmoutier to the mainland. Invisible half the time, this fragile link is also a wonderful place to explore. So let’s discover the Passage du Gois: a submersible… Read more: The Passage du Gois on the island of Noirmoutier—you have to see it to believe it…

When learning a language, there’s one essential exercise: listening to native speakers in real-life conversations. Let me introduce you to Matthieu, who hosts the podcast: "BOOST TON FRANCAIS" When a Passion for Caring Becomes a Passion for Teaching! Hello! My name is Matthieu. After 15 years as a nurse, I traded in my scrubs to become a French as a Foreign Language (FLE) teacher—a career I’m passionate about.What sparked this change? 2020…I had lost my sense of purpose in my work; human connections had always… Read more: Podcasts to help improve listening skills.

To maximize your chances of scoring as high as possible on the TEF-CANADA exam, there’s nothing quite like an immersion program in France—one that’s personalized and tailored to your needs, your weaknesses, and your performance level on each section. As part of the Canadian immigration process, English speakers—even though it is their native language—must still take an English proficiency test. Additionally, there is also a French test, as French is Canada’s second official language. The higher your scores, the greater your chances of having your… Read more: 10 Reasons to Prepare for the TEF-CANADA Through Immersion in France

To maximize your chances of scoring as high as possible on the TEF-CANADA exam, there’s nothing quite like an immersion program in France—one that’s personalized and tailored to your needs, your weaknesses, and your performance level on each section. As part of the Canadian immigration process, English speakers—even though it is their native language—must still take an English proficiency test. Additionally, there is also a French test, as French is Canada’s second official language. The higher your scores, the greater your chances of having your… Read more: 10 Reasons to Prepare for the TEF-CANADA Through Immersion in France

An immersion program allows you to develop a schedule of activities specifically tailored to the exam requirements. Thus, preparing for the exams in France just before taking them allows for much better focus on the goal in a highly conducive environment. For example, the TCF Canada consists of 4 mandatory sections assessing general French language skills: Here are the resultsof a TEF-CANADA exam taken immediately AFTER and BEFORE a 3-week language immersion program at our school: You can easily see the difference in performance in… Read more: How can you quickly improve your scores on exams like the DELF, DALF, TEF, and TCF?

An immersion program allows you to develop a schedule of activities specifically tailored to the exam requirements. Thus, preparing for the exams in France right before taking them allows for much better focus on the goal in a highly conducive environment. For example, the TCF Canada consists of 4 mandatory sections assessing general French language skills: Here are the resultsof a TEF-CANADA exam taken immediately AFTER and BEFORE a 3-week language immersion program at our school: You can easily see the difference in performance in… Read more: How can you quickly improve your scores on exams like the DELF, DALF, TEF, and TCF?

I have just obtained a new accreditation as a language expert after successfully completing the ELC Language Coaching Certification (LCC) training. This pedagogical and didactic process combines the principles, structure, and standards of professional coaching with the principles of neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and psychology, in order to adapt the learning process to how the brain works and personalize it for each learner. After a year of immersion to adapt my practices, validated by a certification, I can now offer my learners a renewed approach based… Read more: An expert in linguistic neuro-coaching at your service for your French as a Foreign Language (FLE) learning.

I have just obtained a new accreditation as a language expert after successfully completing the ELC Language Coaching Certification (LCC) training. This pedagogical and didactic process combines the principles, structure, and standards of professional coaching with the principles of neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and psychology, in order to adapt the learning process to how the brain works and personalize it for each learner. After a year of immersion to adapt my practices, validated by a certification, I can now offer my learners a renewed approach based… Read more: An expert in linguistic neuro-coaching at your service for your French as a Foreign Language (FLE) learning.

Based on an excerpt from Guy de Maupassant's novel "Bel-Ami." TEACHING STRATEGY: The primary objective is to have students read aloud using the "shadowing" method in order to achieve the best possible pronunciation while maintaining the proper intonation and respecting the punctuation, which is very significant here. Each paragraph will then be used to look up unfamiliar vocabulary in order to expand the student’s vocabulary. A discussion will help students better understand the character’s intentions and his disillusioned nature, bordering on misanthropy. An individual reading… Read more: Pronunciation exercise using the "shadowing" method (Level C1-C2)

Tatsuo lives in Tokyo where he works for a public organization. He’s passionate about the French language and culture, and plans to get even more involved when he retires in a year’s time, in 2026!!!! He shares with us the keys to his learning and the immersion stay that changed everything on his way to passing his exam. “After 3 unsuccessful attempts, I finally passed the level 1 bis exam on the scale for learning French in Japan, called Diplôme d’Aptitude Pratique au Français (DAPF).… Read more: 仏検準１級に合格！ How I finally passed my French exam!

Annette came from Nigeria as part of a language immersion program to improve her French. "On Saturday afternoon, we went to Nantes, and when we got there, we discovered the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery. I was deeply moved to learn how people—men, women, children, in short, human beings—were treated, in both senses of the word: mistreatment and the slave trade. I knew this history, but I wasn’t aware of what the victims must have felt. At the Memorial, I truly felt the suffering… Read more: The Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery in Nantes: Pure Emotion

November 24, French Teachers’ Day… Shaping the Future.  This date has been observed since 2019 at the initiative of the FIPF, the International Federation of French Teachers. There are 900,000 of us French teachers, spread across five continents, teaching the language of Molière with passion and dedication. Here is the official message from its president, Cynthia Eid: Here is what we read in the introduction to this very special day dedicated to our profession:  “French teachers do not merely teach a language; they are also… Read more: November 24, French Teachers' Day… A date to remember from now on.

Some useful phrases for going to the dentist: La conversation chez le dentiste : Would you like to find out more or enjoy an effective immersive experience to learn French? I’m at your disposal. A few colourful expressions : 1. Avoir une dent contre quelqu’un. This colloquial expression means “to bear a grudge against someone”, “to hold a grudge against someone”. 2. Parler entre ses dents. This expression is used to refer to a person who murmurs, who doesn’t articulate, who doesn’t speak loudly enough… Read more: Today, we’re going to explore a world we’d all like to live without: the dentist… And yet he’s indispensable, even if the mere sound of the roulette wheel would scare many away, including me…

Or why it is absolutely necessary to put things into perspective and to play it down in order to get out of it… A few weeks ago, it was “Ke Bi” who asked us: “Do you have an explanation for the pronunciation of the letter x ( s ) in dix-sept and ( z ) in dix-neuf?  “ A picture is worth a thousand words and we will let Arnaud Hoedt and Jérôme Piron, linguists by training, answer this question in a hilarious way.  A… Read more: What if it was the spelling’s fault after all?

I would love to know how you learned to spell the words in French… It’s a very difficult spelling that contains many exceptions…How do you manage to have all these words in your head? Here is my answer:  Since a large proportion of native French speakers have significant difficulties with written French, your goal of excellence is commendable but virtually unattainable for three reasons::  1- difficulties and exceptions have been consciously generated over the centuries by the dominant class to classify and sort learners by… Read more: The question of the day is from Amer Grine, from the group: French, reading and writing…

When he talks, he talks, he talks and I can’t get a word in edgewise… It is sometimes a very embarrassing situation for learners to have worked hard beforehand to be able to participate in a conversation and to find themselves in an exchange where a native French speaker monopolizes the floor without leaving any room for the interlocutor who is making the effort to speak in French. It is even worse when our learners understand 90% of the information that is transmitted and there… Read more: The art of conversation, a shared responsibility…