French Day 25 - Feeling Proud

Today I watched Muzzy - an old, language program produced by BBC back I don't even know when. I used to watch it in grade school when I had my Spanish "classes" - the once a week post-school sessions to teach Spanish basics.  And it was then that I fell in love with it!

So when I became and was a teacher, I used it every year to help my Spanish 1 students get introduced to the language and later in the year feel proud in all they had accomplished, as it was a sort of benchmark for them to see and understand the progress that they'd made.

And you know what?  It worked for me today too!  I watched parts 1 & 2 today in French with French subtitles, and I was so excited!  Partly because I know Spanish and partly as a thanks to the work I've been doing so far!  I could follow nearly everything!  Yes I learned a thing or two (like the spelling for "how many," which up to this point I had only heard and tried to ascertain the spelling on my own), but my 20 minutes of French study today left me full of pride and excitement!  I might not be able to carry on a full conversation with a true Frenchmen, but I'm on my way!  And that's a great feeling!

French Day 22 - Progress!

OMG where have I been this month?!  Sick.  That's where I've been.  I'm so sorry all, but I was heavily out with what must have been the flu for a good 8 days.  I didn't do French study during those days, but I am working on catching up!

I'm on Rosetta Stone Lesson 1, Unit 1, #4 and Coffee Break French's Level 1 lesson 23!  I'm super proud of myself.  I can do the following:

• Tell you my name, where I'm from, who my husband is, and ask about you
• Count (always helpful!)
• Explain the weather
• Order at a restaurant/cafe
• Explain some issues with my hotel room
• Use all the pronouns
• Semi confidently conjugate (positive and negative):  I have, I would like, s/he has, I love, I understand, he's drinking/eating, s/he's wearing, etc.

....I just can't spell anything!!!

So - I think I can get through a BASICO BASICO conversation/a day in France.

Je voudrais comprender (more) fracais!

French Day 2

Well, we have moved from Spanish to French!  The new Spanish teaching material is successfully uploaded to Teachers Pay Teachers (visit me!!! Stephanie Caprini Inc) and the new month has started.  This month, we are learning French!!!

The reason?  (1) I just love the language.  That and Italian. I would also like to learn Italian.  (2) The reason I chose French instead of Italian is that my husband and I are heading to Europe in 2 months and we will be stopping in Germany, France, and Switzerland.  Therefore, French it is!!

Lucky for me, I started about 6 months ago using the podcast called Coffee Break French.  I used Coffee Break Spanish when I was teaching and found it incredibly useful.  Therefore, it was the logical choice when deciding what program to use to teach myself French.  I got through about 10 "courses" (they're 15 minute classes, so totally doable).  Now, this month I am focused on spending my 20-minutes a day learning French, so I will be picking back up where I left off (and, if we're being honest, probably revisiting a few courses that I need to refresh my memory on).  However, I'm also a very visual learner, so I am taking some of these days to go through learning the spelling of the words I have already learned.

So, saunte to vous, and abientot!