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Writer's pictureVirginie Paradis

Tired of spelling mistakes when writing in French?


Who likes to make spelling mistakes?

Personne! Nobody!

In your own language of course but also in the foreign language you are learning, and for you, that is French. Now, I always say, don’t feel too bad because you’d be amazed how many French people can’t even spell their own language. Still, if I’m going to teach you French we might as well do it properly, and avoid spelling mistakes as much as we can.

When it comes to spelling I’m a little old fashion and I believe the best two ways are:

1- Reading

2- And what we call in French and what I’m going to share with you today: “la dictée” = dictation or spelling test.

On top of reading a lot when I was a child, I also had very strict teachers who made us go through la dictée almost every day. And it worked. So today, I want to share with you a portion of the book I am rereading right now, the very first page of Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée by Simone de Beauvoir. I decided to read this book again because:

a) I love it

b) I’m moving to Paris tomorrow (OMG soooo exciteeeeeed) so this autobiography where Simone de Beauvoir recounts her childhood, teenage, and early adult years as an intellectual woman in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century is just what I need to put myself in the perfect energy! 

Bruno (below) found it quite boring. But then again, he’s never been big on literature. He much prefers roast chickens. Or sausages. Or turkey. Not much of a reader Bruno. Well, I guess I failed as a mother. Oh well.

I’m going to read her words very slowly, I’m going to stop to give you enough time to write down what you hear. If you need more time, good news, this is a video you can pause it! At the end I will read the whole passage again so you can go through all your notes again.

When you’re done, you’ll find the text below… no cheating though!!! Come here to correct your work and understand your mistakes or the things you couldn’t figure out. There will be some so don’t be too hard on yourself. I chose this text because it’s definitely not too hard but, you know, a little challenging too, otherwise, where’s the fun? 

So? How was it? How many mistakes did you have? Did you understand more than you were able to correctly spell? Tell us how you feel about this little exercise!

If you’ve already visited my online school you know that I have two online courses available right now called:

And guess what the third one is going to be? It’s going to be… des… DICTÉES! Only these are written by me so I can really focus on one particular grammar or conjugation topic for each dictée. It’s going to be a little hard but I know you’ll appreciate that you challenge-lover overachiever! 

Did you know you could receive lots of free help from me every week? All you need to do is click on this link and get your free 3 step mini course to help you become a little bit French at the same time! 

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FRENCH IMMERSION COURSE – WEEKEND IN SEATTLE MARCH 2020


SEATTLE US 2020 March 7 & 8: This French Immersion Course is designed for intermediate level students – 7 spots left 2020 March 14 & 15: This French Immersion Course is designed for beginner level students – 5 spots left

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

FRENCH IMMERSION COURSE – WEEK IN PÉLUSSIN APRIL & JULY 2020


PÉLUSSIN – FRANCE 2020 April 6 to 12: This French Immersion Course is designed for intermediate level students – 4 spots left 2020 July 20 to 26: This French Immersion Course is designed for intermediate level students – 4 spots left

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

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.

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!

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WANT TO TAKE YOUR FRENCH TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

RECEIVE VIRGINIE’S FREE COURSE to Help You Become a little bit French in 3 Steps.

Learn French Online with Virginie via the French Truly Online School

Learn French with Virginie via her French Immersion Courses in France, in London UK, and in Seattle US.

Watch Testimonials from Virginie’s Happy Students!

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!


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

  1. It should take you about 30 hours to complete this course, which is made up of 10 lessons

  2. 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.

  3. 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


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

  1. It should take you about 20 to 2 hours to complete this course, which is made up of 11 lessons

  2. 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.

  3. 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.


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