meshellmybell

I was just wondering if anyone keeps a journal in French. It seems like a good tool to use. In general, I think that journal writing is a good idea for your mental health, so perhaps it could double as a practice for writing in french. I suppose you could also make a scrapbook sort of thing with french newspaper bits or clips from french cartoons or any little sayings in french that you could refer to at a later time. Please write if you do write in a French journal. If you do, how often do you write in it? Do you find the practice useful and would you recommend it to others? Thanks!

Bonjour a tous et a toutes! Moi, je m'appelle Michelle. J'etudiais le francais au college and au lycee, mais j'ai oublie beaucoup de mots and de phrases apres mes etudes. J'essaie de pratiquer tous les jours. J'ecoute a la radio francaise et je regarde les films francais a la amazon.com. Je ne parle pas avec des autres en francais, alors je suis tres heureuse de decouvrir cette forum.

J'adore "Le Petit Prince"! It might not be the book for the absolute beginner, but it is a book to read early on in your french learning endeavors. It is, nonetheless, probably my favorite book of all time. It is like an adorable children's book that adults need to read and learn life lessons from as well. It's so beautiful. I could read it again and again. Also, I think there are a lot of books from Barbar, the young french elephant who wear a little crown. This is also a children's series in France. I have a bit of an obsession with elephants, so that could definitely be a reason I think he is so cute. Barbar is written for kids. There was a guy in my high school french class who said that his french mother used to read it to him as a little boy. If you're looking to start at the very beginner level, then I'd get Barbar off of amazon.com. I hope any of that is helpful! Good luck!

We used to watch a huge amount of french film in my high school french classes. Has anyone ever seen the film "La Boum"? I adored that movie. I think it was geared towards the typical french teenager. It was hilarious. We also watched a trilogy of french films based off of french books. The first film was called "La Gloire de Mon Pere." The series was about a little boy named Marcel. His family had a home in the city, but they used to travel to a home in rural France during the warmer summer months. I think I remember some sort of bear hunting scene or hiding in a cave. Marcel also met a little girl while he was at their summer home. I would check out that trilogy if you haven't yet! Also, Amazon or Netflix have some foreign films, especially films from the Cannes Festival. You always have to search for them, though. They will never be "featured" movies on those sites.

I don't like to sacrifice other activities to keep up with languages. Instead, I try to take advantage of times where my mind is otherwise unoccupied. I subscribe to the podcast on itunes called "Coffeebreak French." It's a great tool to use. Each podcast lasts about 15 minutes, so its perfect for my commute to work or while I'm getting ready in the morning. The subject matter is fun, too. It is kind of like listening to an old radio show or something along those lines. Then, they explain parts of the text in English, so that you really know what is going on. I have learned a lot of new phrases with this method. Other times, I'll watch foreign films on Amazon Prime while I'm folding laundry or something. It has subtitles, which you can choose to pay attention to or just listen to the film and try to follow along. It's fun! Also, I like it because I don't have to give anything else up. Hope any of those methods help! Good luck with the dutch!