What to do with different types of exercises

Que faire avec différentes sortes d’exercices

Part of All Levels | Learning How To Learn French

How do you further your French lesson? Here are Tips to learn more French.

Many of you take a weekly French lessons, or listen to a weekly French podcast. However, as you know, it’s better to learn every day for 10 minutes than 1 day a week for an hour. So, what do you do in between your class or your podcast?

This worksheet gives you tips on how to further your French lesson – including all of Anne’s podcasts – enough to keep you busy for the week, until the next episode comes out. It’s all a bit repetitive, but I thought it might be useful to have it written down for each type of exercise.

What to do with a ‘Mot du Jour’, a French expression

French idiomatic expressions are fun, they are often full of imagery. They are very funny when you translate them literally. I would study them as follow:

1.listen and repeat the ‘mot du jour’ you picked out loud

2.make sure you understand its context as well

3.study several ‘mot du jour’ following steps 1. and 2.

4.write all of the sentences down all with a blank where the ‘mot du jour’ should go

5.fill in the blanks

6.check your answers, making sure the blanks are correctly filled

. Mots du Jour . Practice French Expressions . Use French Expressions .

What to do with a French video

French videos are really hard to understand. Start with Anne’s videos. Shorten the listening time if you need to. Even 30 seconds of transcription is good. The purpose of a video exercise is to listen to the excerpt as many times as you need to.

Day 1.Watch the video several times and repeat what you’re hearing OUT LOUD. Record yourself if you can.

Day 2.Write down the difficult terms and look them up in a dictionary. Write them down in your running list so you can review them later.

Day 3.Translate the video into English – or your own language – without looking at your notes if you can.

Day 4.Isolate one grammar point and practice exercises on it to check your level.

Day 5.Look for 10 more words in the dictionary relating to the video topic.

Day 6.Write down a short summary of the video or a 100 to 150-word paragraph about it, integrating all your new French terms and the grammar studied. Send it to Anne. She’ll correct it for you.

. French Videos - List .

What to do with a French movie

French movies are particularly hard to understand because of slang, regional accent, speed, mumbling and other background noises. There are ways to tackle them though, if your French is already pretty good.

Day 1.Watch the movie one time with the subtitles

Day 2-5.Watch the movie four times without the subtitles.

Day 6.Write down – in English or in French – a list of words relating to the movie. This list can be pretty long if you want.

Day 7.Write down a summary of the movie integrating your brand-new French terms.

. French Movie Stars . Your favorite French Stars and Movies .

What to do with a read along exercise

Day 1.Read and listen

Day 2.Listen again, stop and repeat

Day 3.Translate with the help of a dictionary. Add all the new words to your running vocabulary list.

Day 4.Memorize all the new words OUT LOUD. Put them in writing in context in sentences or in a paragraph form.

Day 5.Use your translation to put back into French, one sentence at a time. Check with the AUDIO after each sentence. Readjust your pronunciation if needed.

What to do with a French newspaper article

Pick one that is at your level. It should not be too long. Note that reading Le Monde is harder than let’s say, Le Parisien. I find OuestFrance to be the best. The content is varied and interesting and the articles are short enough to manage.

Day 1.Read the article at least three times. Record yourself reading it if you can.

Day 2.Write down the difficult terms and look them up in a dictionary. Write them down in your running list so you can review them later.

Day 3.Translate the article into English – or your own language – without looking at your notes if you can.

Day 4.Isolate one grammar point and practice exercises on it to check your level.

Day 5.Look for 10 more words in the dictionary relating to the video topic.

Day 6.Write down a summary of the article or a 100 to 150-word paragraph about it, integrating all your new French terms and the grammar studied.

What to do with a French dictée

Day 1.Listen to one of the dictations I’m reading for you. Write down exactly the words you hear. Check your text with the correct version I’m providing you

Day 2.Write down the terms that are new for you

Day 3.Isolate one grammar point and practice exercises on it to check your level.

Day 4.Write down a 100 to 150-word paragraph about the dictée topic, integrating all your new French terms you learned and the grammar you studied. Submit them to me for correction.

What to do with a French song or a poem

Day 1.If you found a audio version, listen to the song or poem several times and sing or repeat OUT LOUD. Record yourself if you can.

Day 2.Find the lyrics. They’re often readily available online. Write down the difficult terms and look them up in a dictionary. Write them down in your running list so you can review them later.

Day 3.Translate the song or poem into English – or your own language – without looking at your notes if you can.

Day 4.Isolate one grammar point and practice exercises on it to check your level.

Day 5.Look for 10 more words in the dictionary relating to the song or poem.

Day 6.Write down a 100 to 150-word paragraph about the song or poem, integrating all your new French terms and the grammar studied.

. Learn French with Pop Songs .

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