This morning was my first day of Summer School and I was like a little kid. I did all my morning chores and even went into the garage to pump up my bike tyres. I hadn’t cycled in years but as the University of the Third Age in nearby, it seemed wrong to use the […]
My French Learning Update
I’ve written many posts here in my blog about how I’ve been learning French then integrating this language into my life as much as possible. It’s immersion by stealth. If you can’t visit or travel overseas to the country, we are spoiled for choice using technology and other ways to ensure we are surrounded by […]
Jouer Au Golf et Apprendre Le Francais Ensemble
What do you do if you feel you lack time when it comes to learning all the things you want to learn? Do it all in the one go. Find things that build upon each other. For example, I’m new to golf. And I’m a left handed golfer at that. Golf is a backwards sport. […]
My French Update
There’s a crêperie nearby that serves these French crepes and galettes made with buck wheat that employs French speakers so you can be guaranteed to hear French being spoken every time you go there. On Friday morning, I didn’t have anything planned for the day (except for 9 holes of golf later that afternoon) so […]
Enrolling Into French…Again
For the last few months, I focused on having conversations with two friends who are fluent in French. Every Monday, Thursday and Friday for an hour, we chat – 30 mins in English and 30 mins in French. I wanted to take a break from the Alliance Francaise courses because at times, I found them […]
Petit Nicolas
It’s a public holiday here in sunny Melbourne. Another beautiful cloudless sky and no breath of wind. It’s a day to laze around and relax before the onslaught of work begins again tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’ve taken Tuesday & Wednesday off (I work three days a week), which means an extra long time to do the […]
L’Hotel du Nord
I signed up for weekly French conversation classes with Nathalie who runs them at a nearby cafe close to home. A small group of us gather there every alternate week in person and also online through Zoom to chew the fat in French and get an informal lesson from her. I found the group through […]
Learning French Through Songs
Every Monday night for the next few months, I dedicate to doing a few hours of my own French study. In effect, creating my own personal learning plan that includes one hour of talking with my French friend then a couple of hours of reading, comprehension and grammar exercises. Today I thought I’ll include learning […]
Le Mot
Wow! Le situation est grave! Pourquoi? Regardez! Aujourd’hui, un surprise sur Twitter. Benjamin m’a envoyé un defi. Wordle est en français! La semaine dernière j’ai bloqué le mot “Wordle” sur Twitter parce qu’il avait trop de tweets. J’étais submergé par tous ce jeu! Mais maintenant, je change d’avis. Peût-etre Wordle en français m’aidera avec la […]
Quel galère!
What a hassle! (That’s a new term I’ve learned so putting it everywhere so I can learn it). Not that learning French is a hassle – not at all. Being flooded with Saturday’s heavy rain and seeing the room filled with water with some of our collectible DVD box sets destroyed – now THAT’s un […]
Le Renard
On Thursday I have my first gathering with my French class. Nathalie takes a French class every week at a nearby cafe. Our homework was to watch this short program about the animals of the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and share our own experience of these gorgeous creatures. Here is what I will say […]
Continuing with French
I thought I’d write about my plans for French studies for the next few months in 2022. I have written lots over the last couple of years of my journey into language learning and I’m chuffed to say that there is nothing more unbelievable than listening to someone speak in French and….YOU UNDERSTAND THEM! My […]
My French Learning Journey – What’s Next…continued
I’m still deliberating what to do next year in my French learning journey and come to the realisation that at an intermediate level now, I’m STILL not speaking enough of it. On the other hand, I’m listening to a lot more (and proud to say understanding most of it – when they’re not speaking slang) […]
A Way To Improve Vocabulary in Language Learning
Many years ago, a girlfriend gave me an old French picture dictionary and I’ve wondered how I could use it as all the definitions of the words are in French too. She had bought it thinking that it would help her learn the language but as she was a complete beginner, the definitions weren’t much […]
Learning a Language Through Coursera
About a few weeks ago, I found the Etudier en France course on Coursera that is at a B1-B2 level. I hadn’t completed a Coursera course for many years and when I saw this, I thought it was time to get back into it again. If you do a search on MOOCs (massive open online […]
Updating my YouTube Channel
For the last week or so, I’ve been trying to put some semblance of order on my YouTube channel and in frustration, I’ve realised it’s a MASSIVE job. There are over 400 videos on the site and as it’s a channel that is used as a record of work and learning, a portfolio if you […]
More French Resources Then Some
It’s fair to say that I have spent HOURS on learning this language over the last 18 months but I figure that I can’t stop now. It’s a skill that I need to work on consistently and continually. Use it or lose it. Utilisez ou perdez. As such, this last ten weeks, I deliberately didn’t […]
What Did You Miss in May?
Blog Posts Alone in My Car (on Digital Minimalism) Time to Get Serious About the Next Phase (of My Life) Loving the Crafty Side of My Network (on preferring to read about the lifelong learning pursuits of my personal network rather than anything to do with their actual work because it’s what they do outside […]
Qu’est-ce que j’ai fait cette semaine?
Learning to write French requires practice and lots of feedback. By doing writing a blog post in French and then seeking feedback from my French speaking network, I’m able to correct the written phrases. Here’s what I got up to this week. A BIG Merci to Rotana Ty (@rotanarotana) for this weeks corrections! Cette semaine […]
Stop 4: Un Ganais en Lyon
I bid farewell to Vèzelay and my next stop was going to be to Clermont-Ferrand, a city in the Auvergne Rhôbe-Alpes region so that I could climb its dormant volcano Puy de Dôme. It’s a city known as a “tectonic hotspot” but the recent earthquake scare in New Zealand and threat of tsunami, (after all, […]