I’m so excited and honored to announce that my first Online French Immersion Courses à Chartres not only SOLD OUT but did so in just a couple of days! Je vous remercie donc pour votre enthousiasme et votre confiance! Now if you wanted to join and didn’t or couldn’t, please don’t panic because I’M OPENING A NEW ONE for intermediate level students! You can click HERE to sign up now or you can keep reading this blog post to find out more information about this new online format.

 

• If you are a beginner and wish I would also open a new beginner group, pas de problème : just send me a message to let me know!
• If you’re thinking : “How can both courses already be sold out when Virginie only suggested this new online immersion format a few weeks ago but then never sent an actual email or published a blog post inviting me to sign up?” well there could be two reasons : either you’re not on my mailing list and if that is the case then please click HERE to join the French Truly tribe for free, or you didn’t see the email prompting you to join the VIP waiting list to make sure you would receive all the info along with the sign up link before anyone else. If so then do make sure my emails don’t ever land in your spam! Oh la la quelle horreur!

In today’s blog post, I’m also offering you a little sneak peek of some of the wonderful creative Chartrains (that’s what we call les gens qui habitent à Chartres) you’ll be meeting them both during the online and the in person (whenever covid situation allows) courses! But first, here is some info about the Online French Immersion Courses and the link to sign up :

 

COME TO FRANCE ANYWAY!

 

You want to go to France but covid decided you couldn’t travel right now? Maybe you have plans that keep getting postponed? How frustrating! I hear you. We know it’s going to get better but we don’t know when! So, instead of lamenting over an uncertain future, how about we make the present moment a little bit French… online? Who says because you’re stuck at home you can’t immerse yourself in the French language and culture? Join me and all my wonderful French guests in a small online group for 4 consecutive weeks!

I just moved to Chartres, the most charming French city only an hour away from Paris, and until you can come join us here in person, I’m going to share all I can of my new dreamy home with you online!

 

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL STUDENTS

SOLD OUT 2021 Jan 16, 23, 30, Feb 6 – 6pm French time
NEW DATES 2021 Jan 25, Feb 1, 8, 15 – 6pm French time JOIN NOW

 

BEGINNER LEVEL STUDENTS

SOLD OUT 2021 Jan 24, 31, Feb 7, 14 – 6pm French time
NEW DATES COMING SOON JOIN THE WAITING LIST

 

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

 

BENEFITS

 

• Improve your French conversational skills in a completely safe & friendly environment with me and my amazing French guests who I am selecting because they represent true Chartres landmarks : art historians, chefs, entrepreneurs, artisans, pâtissiers, etc. all passionate experts in their own fields.
• Practice speaking & listening to French while learning about the French culture. This will ensure a rich discussion as well as expand your French vocabulary.
• Learn French grammar & conjugation in a natural way thanks to a practical context.
• Relax knowing that I’m here to manage our time together and make sure everyone gets a fair opportunity to participate.
• Discover Chartres, my new gorgeous city, with me! I very recently moved to this little piece of heaven and I am beyond excited to explore and share all I can with you!
• Bask in French traditions & history in medieval Chartres, an endless source of fascinating stories.

So, if you’re feeling a strong “OUI” for this, just click HERE to access the online immersion webpage where you’ll be able to sign up and find all the necessary info such a new dates, times, price, format, content, etc.

 

SNEAK PEEK : WHO WILL YOU BE MEETING?

 

You know that I always build my immersion experiences around delightful French local entrepreneurs and creators so that you can converse with truly interesting people, practice your French with people who may speak the language slightly differently than I do while exploring new horizons, and last but not least, immerse yourself in the French language and culture en même temps!

 

J’ai emménagé à Chartres le 17 octobre 2020 et j’ai déjà rencontré un grand nombre de Chatrains intéressants et intéressés par notre projet en ligne! Je trouve et je contacte de nouvelles personnes chaque semaine donc la liste is forever growing mais voici un début pour vous :

 

Olivier : Propriétaire de L’Esperluète sublime librairie de Chartres, one of the biggest book stores in France! And as if that wasn’t cool enough, la librairie est située dans un magnifique bâtiment de la Renaissance.

 

Élodie : Directrice de la Maison Lorin, le plus vieil atelier de vitrail de France créé en 1863! Following them on Instagram improves my daily dose of beauté. Leur travail est absolument divin, pun intended.

 

Léa : Créatrice d’une superbe marque de maroquinerie La Bicyclette Bleue, Léa a aussi acheté une merveilleuse petite boutique Bonjour Bonheur située dans le coeur de Chartres dans laquelle vous trouverez les oeuvres de 19 artisans!

 

Émilie : Pâtissière artiste, Émilie Dame Biscuit crée des gâteaux qui sont aussi élégants que délicieux. Je suis personnellement charmée par le fait qu’elle utilise des ingrédients locaux et bio (par exemple le miel from the beekeeper listed below) ainsi que les fruits et les fleurs de son propre jardin!

 

Laurence : apicultrice et créatrice de Miel du creux du petit bois dans le respect de la nature. Laurence vend son délicieux miel bio ainsi que ses bougies à Bonjour Bonheur, la boutique mentionnée plus haut!

 

Olivier : propriétaire du restaurant gastronomique L’Estocade situé le long du fleuve l’Eure et dans un des plus beaux quartiers de Chartres : la basse ville. Dans son restaurant chaleureux, Olivier propose des plats fins et variés puisque sa carte change chaque semaine.

 

Catherine : sa spécialité c’est la sérigraphie, in other words, l’impression sur tissu. Après avoir travaillé pour des grands noms de la mode française, Catherine a créé sa propre marque Schop et ses produits sont aussi vendus à la boutique Bonjour Bonheur.

 

Can you believe I’ve already connected with all these outstanding people en moins de deux mois! Et c’est une ville si riche culturellement que je compte bien faire encore de nombreuses rencontres fascinantes avec tous ces entrepreneurs créatifs chartrains!

 

I will also be interviewing them en français for my new podcast “Become a little bit French with Virginie”, which should come out at the beginning of 2021. This is what my cover looks like pour l’instant, qu’en dites-vous?

 

 

Pour ce podcast, j’alternerai nouvelles (short stories) écrites et lues par moi, et interviews of Frenc ! Hope you love it!

 

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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!