As promised to my newsletter readers (not you yet? here’s how to fix it : sign up for weekly free French help) il y a quelques jours, je vais maintenant partager avec vous le défi créatif que ma French maman Marie-France d’Autryve et ses amis se sont lancés pendant toute la durée du confinement. Je ne sais pas dans quel pays vous habitez, mais en France, le confinement est un peu moins strict depuis le 11 mai. Je dis “un peu moins strict” parce qu’il y a encore beaucoup de choses que nous ne pouvons pas faire, d’endroits où nous ne pouvons pas aller, et de lieux qui restent fermés.

 

J’ai peur que le déconfinement soit long et compliqué. Sigh. Si ça vous intéresse et si vous voulez pratiquer votre français à l’aide de texte, audio, et vidéo, je vous conseille cet article du Figaro qui détaille les dates précises de déconfinement progressif. And in case you’re wondering if le Figaro is legitimate, here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it : “Le Figaro est un journal quotidien français fondé en 1826, sous le règne de Charles X. Il est à ce titre le plus ancien quotidien de la presse française encore publié.” Vous voilà rassurés je l’espère.

 

Enough depressing matter, let’s move on to something un peu plus… inspiring! Comme je vous ai dit lundi, je vous ai préparé une petite compilation des dessins de ma mère. Now you have to know that she had left all her art supplies at her painting workshop, couldn’t go there à cause du confinement, and therefore used the supplies she had bought for her grandchildren who are 6 and 8 years old. Donc nothing too fancy si vous voyez ce que je veux dire… this blog post is part 1, part 2 to follow. I’ve also been posting them on my Instagram account.

 

Je vais commencer avec mon coup de coeur, elle m’a dit avoir dessiné Marcel Proust spécialement pour moi parce qu’elle sait combien je l’aime. Marcel Proust, le dieu de la littérature, l’inspiration de ma vie.

 

 

One of the themes that came back with her friends was : let us draw x, y, z in the style of… un(e) artiste célèbre. Some of the drawings here and in part 2 coming soon imitent le style d’un(e) artiste spécifique. Pouvez-vous les reconnaître?

 

Sophie & Bruno, mes bébés.

 

 

Pour continuer sur le thème “animal”…

 

 

Ma mère adore dessiner les petites chapelles de villages, charmantes et bucoliques!

 

 

Dans des styles complètement différents :

 

 

Encore et toujours des chapelles, avec des corps vides…

 

 

Mais elle dessine aussi des corps pleins!

 

 

Et pour finir sur une note rigolote, voici Monsieur Bruno déguisé en Napoléon III. Mon petit Bruno est une créature délicieusement hautaine et sa forte personnalité correspond comme naturellement au statut d’un empereur de France.

 

 

Magnifique n’est-ce pas?

 

As promised you will find more of Marie-France d’Autryve‘s drawings on the second part of this blog post. You can also email her directly [email protected] to let her know how much you love her art!

 

I would love to know what you’ve been up to (or what you are still up to if lockdown is still happening in your part of le monde) pendant le confinement! Certains de mes amis ont juste énormément télé-travaillé, ou écrit, ou créé des aquarelles, ou jardiné, ou comme moi passé des examens d’université, ou cuisiné, ou même préparé un déménagement! Toutes ces activités sont créatives! Après mes examens j’ai recommencé à écrire sur un projet de recueil de nouvelles et pris plusieurs cours de creative writing sur Masterclass. J’ai commencé avec Margaret Atwood, then Joyce Carol Oates, and last night I started Neil Gaiman’s course. I absolutely love them all and hope my writing will just keep getting de mieux en mieux grâce à eux! Sooooooo grateful for the internet!

 

Speaking of E-learning…

 

Learn French online with Virginie

Join French Truly’s online school, either by buying the French online course(s) of your choice or by becoming a monthly member. 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 

 

Online course # 3: FRENCH DICTÉES

 

In the FRENCH DICTÉES online course you will find 20 videos + 10 audio files to help & accompany you every step of the way throughout the course. Why 20 videos? Because there are 10 dictées in total, each focusing on one particular topic, and for each dictée I have prepared 2 videos. Let’s say the video focuses on both French past tenses called imparfait & passé composé. The first video will go though the grammar, the conjugation, and all the tips on these two past tenses to help you understand and remember how and when to use them. The second video will be the actual dictée, a short story written by me, describing everyday life situations conveniently packed with imparfait and passé composé verbs! Boom! Efficient! The dictée will also be read by me, slowly first and then a little faster, with a close up on my face so you can more easily recognize the words and copy the shapes I make to improve your own pronunciation.

 

Become a French language expert

How do you become an expert at anything? By focusing on one thing at a time.

I’ve made sure to categorize and isolate either a verb tense, a verb group, a grammar or vocabulary topic per dictée, so you can effectively focus and interiorize concepts separately, which makes it a lot easier to remember them.

 

Here’s what you’re going to learn

What grammar & conjugation points will each dictée focus on?

Dictée # 1: Present tense

Dictée # 2: Past tenses – imparfait & passé composé

Dictée # 3: Future tenses – futur proche & futur simple

Dictée # 4: Conditional, imparfait, asking questions

Dictée # 5: Imperative form

Dictée # 6: First group verbs all tenses

Dictée # 7: Second group verbs all tenses

Dictée # 8: Third group verbs all tenses

Dictée # 9: Numbers

Dictée # 10: Prepositions

Each dictée is a short story written by me about practical everyday life situations. This means that not only do you get to work on conjugation & grammar drills, but you also improve your conversational skills at the same time: a magic combination for your next trip to France!

 

Grow your confidence talking about practical everyday topics

The dictées will refer to common topics that you are very likely to hear or very likely to use to express yourself such as:

-Traveling to France

-Socializing

-Childhood memories

-Family dynamics

-Everyday life routines

-How to express your ideas, opinions, and dreams

 

Two videos per dictée

First video: key grammar and conjugation reminders explained very clearly so you feel prepared and confident entering each dictée.

Second video: the actual dictée. I’ve made sure to categorize and isolate either a verb tense, a verb group, a grammar or vocabulary topic, so you can effectively focus and interiorize concepts separately, which makes it a lot easier to remember them.

 

And for you challenge lovers over-achievers?

Yes I have prepared something just for you! I have also made 10 audio files, 1 per dictée, so that if you wish to, if you want it extra difficult, if you want to test yourself more deeply, you can solely rely on sound. Indeed there are many occasions in life where we hear a language but we don’t see it: speaking to someone on the phone or listening to the radio for instance.

 

20 videos? 10 audio files? What else?

This new FRENCH DICTÉES online course also comes with written files with both the French text along with the English translation, so that you can evaluate yourself when you’re done taking notes.

To summarize, you’ll be able to use video, audio, and written material.

 

Dictées worked for me, they’ll work for you!

Let me tell you, I LOVE dictées because THEY WORK. And clearly you realize this too and that is smart of you. So now let’s see how something as simple as a dictée can truly help you become a little bit French! 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.

 

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!