Almost 2 weeks in Seattle already! Last week, when introducing the first part of my Seattle diary in French, I explained that since I had told you so much about how excited I was to come and spend a whole month in Seattle, I decided to share my time here in Seattle with you! However, since this blog is here to help you practice your French, I will do so in French! If you have any questions and find the dictionary to be uncooperative, leave a comment below so we can all help each other! But don’t worry I’m purposely keeping it simple, simple words, simple verbs (mostly present tense), simple sentence structures. C’est parti!

 

Vendredi 8 février

 

Voilà une semaine exactement que je suis arrivée à Seattle! Déjà une semaine wow le temps passe si vite! Demain mon premier cours week-end immersion commence et puisque la majorité des participants de ce premier week-end faisait déjà partie de ma semaine immersion en France, nous avons organisé une petite réunion ce soir dans un restaurant à côté de l’hôtel ou le cours se déroulera! Une réunion merveilleuse merci merci merci!

 

Tout cela aurait pu être totalement léger et festif si… la neige n’avait pas entrepris de mettre Seattle sens dessus dessous! Oh la la quel stress! Non seulement Seattle n’est pas habituée à la neige, mais en plus cette ville est pleine de collines! Tout le monde a peur, les magasins de nourriture sont vides, on attend ce que la presse a baptisé le Snowmageddon! Oh boy.

 

Samedi 9 février

 

Le grand jour est arrivé! Le premier jour de mon premier week-end immersion et je suis prête! La salle est prête, la table est prête, les snacks sont prêts, les boissons chaudes sont prêtes, les cours sont prêts, bref, tout est prêt! Et le staff du Mediterranean Inn, hôtel dans lequel j’enseigne tous mes cours immersion, est adorable et parfait! Voici notre programme:

 

9h00: cours pour apprendre à nous connaître et nous préparer aux rencontres de l’après-midi

12h00: pique-nique français 

14h00: rencontres avec des Français!

Véronique Bajzik, artiste peintre
Jean-Claude Beck, vigneron
Philippe Pollien, couvreur

 

 

18h30: dîner à Loulay, restaurant du “chef in the hat”

 

 

La journée se termine après le repas!

 

Dimanche 10 février

Et le deuxième jour de notre week-end immersion commence!

 

 

Et non, la neige n’abandonne pas… Mais ça ne nous empêche pas de nous amuser! Voici le programme pour cette deuxième étape:

 

9h00: cours de conversation autour de la cuisine

12h00: pique-nique français 

14h30: Cours de cuisine avec Patrick Morin fondateur de La Parisienne Bakery: ensemble nous cuisinerons des macarons et des madeleines

17h00: fin du week-end!

 

Avec l’aide du chef pâtissier français Patrick Morin et sa fille Élise en chef de l’organisation, nous passons une après-midi délicieuse et… très productive! Voici quelques photos pour vous mettre l’eau à la bouche…

 

 

Lundi 11 février

Bon voilà, j’ai passé un week-end merveilleux avec mes étudiants que j’adore, maintenant il me faut étudier un peu! Un peu??? En fait je passe la journée entière à étudier mon cours d’initiation à l’éthique médicale…. Je n’étais pas censée faire ça mais il y a tellement de neige partout que mes classes de français sont toutes repoussées ou annulées. Ça m’énerve!!! C’est complètement handicapant, affreusement pénible, et je commence sérieusement à en avoir marre de cette neige!

 

 

Mais bon, je ne peux rien y faire alors je prends mon mal en patience. Au moins je suis chez mon amie Paola et nous sommes toutes les deux confortablement installées à sa table de salon, en face des grandes fenêtres, desquelles on peut normalement admirer une vue magnifique de Seattle. Je dis “normalement” parce qu’avec la neige et le ciel tout blanc on ne voit rien. À peine la rue en face de nous. On ne voit même plus Lake Union!

 

Mardi 12 et mercredi 13 février

Je continue d’étudier. J’ai enfin fini mon cours sur l’éthique médicale, je peux maintenant passer au cours suivant à propos du philosophe anglais John Locke! Depuis mardi je me suis réinstallée chez mon amie Hildie (photo principale sur le blog de la semaine dernière) qui accepte de lire mon cours avec moi! On apprend et rigole beaucoup en même temps, c’est parfait!

 

 

Mais il faut aussi que je termine de préparer la présentation que je vais donner demain pour mon French Truly Salon à SIFF. Je m’appuie sur le travail du philosophe français Luc Ferry pour expliquer le passage du mariage arrangé au mariage d’amour dans la vieille Europe! Puis, après un petit verre de vin, nous regarderons un film romantique (Saint Valentin oblige!) français adorable avec un des mes acteurs préférés! Le film s’appelle Les Femmes du 6e étage et si vous ne l’avez pas vu et que vous ne pouvez pas le découvrir avec moi demain soir, louez-le et regardez-le chez vous, vous ne serez pas déçu!

 

Et puis demain, c’est aussi l’anniversaire de mon gros bébé Sophie… elle est restée en France chez sa grand-mère (ma mère ha ha) où elle s’amuse beaucoup! Regardez comme elle est belle!!!!!!! Joyeux anniversaire ma Sophie d’amour!

 

 

Et voilà!

 

I hope this was a good French reading comprehension exercice for you and look forward to sharing more next week!

 

——————————————————————————————————————————-

 

WANT TO JOIN MY NEXT FRENCH IMMERSION COURSE?

 

 

All my Seattle French Immersion Courses are sold out but you can still join on of them in France this July! Here’s a short video that will show you what to expect along with testimonials from all participants!

 

100% French Experience

 

What inspired me to create this French Immersion Course? C’est très simple: how best to improve your French conversation skills than by being in France, surrounded with French culture and French people who will ONLY speak French to you? Yet so many times I have heard visitors express their disappointment at not really being given the chance to practice their French. Why? Because more & more French people, especially in big cities, speak English fairly well and are just so excited to practice their new skills with you! This ends up being nice and comfortable for you but not so satisfying or helpful for improving your French speaking ability! So to fix this and make sure you have the most enjoyable, and at the same time profitable, French learning experience, I decided to create the perfect environment for you by organizing this hands-on French Immersion Course.

2019 July 8 to 14: This French Immersion Course is designed for intermediate level students
2019 July 22 to 28: This French Immersion Course is designed for beginner level students

If you’re unsure, contact me to schedule a free Skype call

 

Daily French Classes & Activities

 

This is the reason why I have created this 7 DAY FULL FRENCH IMMERSION COURSE for you, filled with daily classes & enriching adventures with French people who will only speak French with you. No English! It’s amazing how much you can learn and retain in such a conducive atmosphere in as little as 7 days. Mornings will be dedicated to French language classes and afternoons will be filled with interesting activities such as: visiting local artists or entrepreneurs workshops, meeting with local wine makers and farmers, guided hike in nature, cooking class, painting class, cinema, & museum… all in French!

 

——————————————————————————————————————————-

 

WANT TO TAKE YOUR FRENCH TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

 

I launched French Truly’s online school in August 2018 and so far it’s a huge success! You can join whenever, either by buying the French online course(s) of your choice or by becoming a monthly member giving you access to my French Truly Online School from $10 / month. See more details about the membership at the bottom of this page

Each French online course is packed with video & audio files along with written material, to make it as fun, easy, and user friendly as possible for you! Come and learn French online with me!

 

French online course #1: 600 WORDS

In this course, you will find 15 videos (+ 10 bonus ones) to help & accompany you every step of the way through the course + for each word, each sentence, each expression, each conjugated verb, I have created an audio file of my voice, slow and slightly faster speed. Your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.

 

Did you know…

You can converse (speak + understand) in French with only 600 WORDS?

The average French person only uses between 300 & 3,000 WORDS?

This means that if you can master a relatively short list of words, you’ll be able to express yourself like the average French person! Plus you’re much more likely to understand the French when they talk back to you!

 

This course will teach you…

1- How to speak French

2- How to pronounce French

3- How to make French sentences

4- How to conjugate all the most common French verbs

5- How to polish your results

6- How to self evaluate your French

More info HERE

• It should take you about 30 hours to complete this course, which is made up of 10 lessons
• This course is designed for a beginner / intermediate level. If you are intermediate but feel like you could really reinforce your foundations, you will love it.
• You can join whenever, either by buying the course or by becoming a monthly member giving you access to my French online courses from $10 / month. See more details about the membership at the bottom of this page

 

Online course # 2: PERFECT PRONUNCIATION

In this course you will find 11 videos + 150 audio files + 92 pages PDF format to help & accompany you every step of the way throughout the course. In some parts of the videos, my face will appear close up and profile so you can easily see how I make these sounds with my mouth. The 150 audio files are composed of the 100 most popular French words and the 50 most common French phrases. They are recordings of my voice, speaking slowly enough so you can easily grasp every syllable. Your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.

NB: if you are the proud owner of my previous French online course 600 WORDS, don’t worry, this is not a repeat as we are now exploring 1 letter words and up, whereas in 600 WORDS we began at 4 letter words and up.

 

Combine knowledge with confidence…

For you to be able to have a pleasant and efficient conversation with a French person, one thing is key… can you guess what it is? Confidence! How well do you think you will communicate in French if you don’t feel confident about your accent? If you are scared that people won’t understand you? Or even worse if you think someone might make fun of you? Without a minimum of confidence there is no room for communication. Yet if you feel confident, you can afford to make a few mistakes here and there because people will still understand you. What prevents a conversation from happening isn’t just a lack of knowledge, it’s also a lack of confidence. You need to have both to make it work, not to mention, to make it fun!

 

This course will teach you…

1- How to pronounce every letter of the alphabet

2- How to pronounce every digraph & trigraph

3- How to make every French sentence flow

4- How to pronounce the 100 most popular French words

5- How to pronounce the 50 most popular French phrases

6- How to avoid the pronunciation mistakes everyone makes

More info HERE

• It should take you about 20 to 2 hours to complete this course, which is made up of 11 lessons
• This course is designed for a beginner level. If you are intermediate but lack confidence when it comes to talking and feel like you could really benefit from focusing on pronunciation, you will love it.
• You can join whenever, either by buying the course or by becoming a monthly member giving you access to my French online courses from $10 / month. See more details about the membership below 

 

Become a monthly member!

My goal is to transform your French language learning experience. This is why I’ve decided to offer you a new way to learn French online and gain access to the French Truly Online School! Actually, more than 1 new way, you’ll have 3 plans to choose from so come and learn French online with me!

 

Whichever you pick, FOCUS at $10, HORIZON at $15, or IMMERSION at $99, you will always be free to either upgrade or downgrade, stay or leave.

 

Not a membership kind of person? Don’t worry! Every course can still be bought separately at the normal price and be yours for ever. Whichever format you choose, your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.