Language Learning Resources

Sam and I are currently in language school in order to learn French, which we will need in order to be effective workers in West Africa.  I am really enjoying language school, but I am an independent learner.  Like really, really independently motivated.  For example, I like to get my tests out of the way so that I can study more of the aspects of French that I am curious about.  (Yes, this does make me slightly nerdy.)

I stay motivated by varying the types of resources that I use.  And part of the joy of learning is connecting other people to the resources that I love. Here are the top resources that I've used for learning French outside of language school and living in France.

Youtube: I like to listen to good children's books good books being read by fluent readers. ( French is a smooth language.  So there should be no halting or pauses in between words.  Think R&B, not rap.)

I also like listening to praise and worship music, with the French words playing. (I avoid using English subtitles.  If they are on, I just read the English and ignore all of the French.)

Netflix, at least in France, has a setting that allows you to change most US programs to French.  I enjoy watching preschool-age cartoons, like Daniel Tiger, in French.  These cartoons are short, engaging, and mostly in the present tense.  It is easy to get the context of the story through the visuals, so even if you don't understand much of what is being said, you don't feel totally lost.

Duolingo is a site or free app that takes you through the equivalent of a semesters worth of college level French.  This site makes learning vocabulary and grammar into a game.

The languageguide this is my favorite site for learning vocabulary.  (I learned my numbers using this site.)  The vocabulary is organized by category, which you can click on as many times as you want in order to hear the words.  Then you can test your knowledge.

Please share in the comments any other resources that you've used for language learning.

Playground

Today smelled like spring.  It was warm and sunshiny so I took Hannah and Amelia to the park to play.  A little muslim girl, around 5 years old, joined us playing on the merry go round and then followed us over to the tree where we were playing "Indian princesses".  I started drawing in the dirt and invited her to join us.  So she spelled out her name for me to write into the dirt with my "bâton" (Now I know the French word for stick and learning it in context with help it stick!)  Her name is "Lina" (pronounced "Leena").  I could write it properly and pronounce it because of my phonetics training in language school.  (Check out this link if you want to hear the French alphabet:  http://www.languageguide.org/french/alphabet/).

I spoke with her French and she understood.  My French words and French thoughts came more quickly and with less effort.  Four months ago I did not even know my alphabet.  And now I could successfully have a conversation with a five year old.  I left the park feeling encouraged.  There is so much to learn, but I am getting it.  As my college French professor used to say, "Petit à petit, l’oiseau fait son nid".