Trucs et astuces de Valentin, notre professeur de français

Salut! Here are my top 2 tips to learn at home and in between classes.

1. How to remember stuff

Speaking a language is all about recalling stuff – words, verb endings, sentence structure... in a conversation you constantly have to pull these out of thin air. So how do you get better at it?

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You practise recalling them! Revolutionary, right? That's what we French do.

And the absolute number one method in the world to practise recalling things is flashcards. Forget about re-reading, it's been proved to be a terrible use of your time. Instead, do your reviewing sessions using flashcards and spaced repetition. If you don't know what spaced repetition is, you need to read this interactiv comic. It's going to change your life.

2. How to love it even more

La musique mes amis! Music, music, music. Listen to music in your target language not for listening practice, but for the sheer joy of it. Singing and song-writing is one of the most creative things native speakers do with their language and it happens to be pleasurable to listen to, even if you don't understand a word!

Okay, your next level technique would be to learn the chorus by heart and just sing along. Forget about the grammar for a second, just parrot the chorus and enjoy! Learning a language is a long journey, sometimes hard, and it often requires serious work. But never forget: joy is your fuel.

Oh, and the lyrics of modern songs are also a good source of up-to-date vocab. Go to Genius Lyrics for example and use a translator to get a rough idea of the meaning of a sentence you're curious about. Found a word you'd like to learn? Fab! Now how are you going to make it stick to your brain?

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Flashcards, that's right. Looks like we've come full circle folks!

Have fun and work smart!

La bise