How to make French crêpes (listening activity)

 Are you hungry? Bon appétit !

Today let’s do something different: You’re going to hear how to make pancakes using a simple recipe from my local boulangerie. It’s all in French once you get going.

Why is dictation remarkable for your learning?

When it comes to learning a new language, dictation has fantastic results. Why?

Because it requires a lot of concentration, deciphering the words in sentences, guessing the spelling, and so on.

Watch the video, just listening first then again, trying to note everything you can.. Repeat it as many times as you like. You can even slow it down and use it for pronunciation practice. DON’T watch the video at first or you will see the text. 

Then, when you think you have finished it, click here in order to see the complete transcription of it and if you understood. If you used it for a dictation, then you can check your written version against the original.

Don’t despair if you don’t recognise all the words! This is the best exercise you can do because the more you practise dictations, the easier it gets to understand French.

My goal this year is to help you with your listening comprehension and offer you various listening activities during the year.

If you struggle with your listening skills and are looking to have more fluid conversations with like minded people at your level of French, then check out how having a teacher support in small groups could make a massive difference to your spontaneous listening skills.

Here’s how joining Conversation Café can help you understand spontaneous spoken French more easily.

Click here to check out our conversation café sample.

Transcript and the Translation 

Pour faire les meilleurs crêpes du monde, il suffit d’utiliser cette recette simple que j’ai apprise de mon boulanger local. 

Voilà les ingrédients dont vous avez besoin :

Quatre cent cinquante grammes de farine.

Une pincée de sel.

Un litre de lait.

Cinquante grammes de rhum..

Soixante grammes de beurre fondu

Quarante grammes d’huile de tournesol or similaire.

6 oeufs.

Si vous avez un mixer, pesez tous les ingrédients et mixez-les dans un grand bol. Sans mixeur - faites-la à la main: Mettez les ingrédients secs dans un grand bol. 

Ajoutez-y les oeufs et mélangez, tout en ajoutant le beurre, puis l’huile. La pâte doit être lisse, sans grumeaux. Finalement, ajoutez le rhum.

Chauffez un poêle à crêpes avec un peu de beurre pour empêcher que la pâte y colle. Essuyez le beurre partout sur le surface. 

Versez une tasse de pâte dans la poële et étalez-la en levant et tournant doucement la poële. Ajoutez un peu de pâte si nécessaire, ou versez-en s’il y en a de trop. 

Cuisinez au feu moyen jusqu’à ce que la pâte s’enlève sans coller.  

Retournez la crêpe pour cuisiner l’autre côté, mais que pour une petite minute ou elle sera trop sèche. Mettez la crêpe sur une assiette et ajoutez du sucre à votre goût. 

Vous avez assez de pâte pour environ trente crêpes, selon la taille de votre poêle. Ces crêpes se mangent avec simplement du sucre, ou du sirop d’érable, or de la pâte à tartiner au chocolat. 

Bon appétit !

And here’s the English . . .

To make the best pancakes in the world, just use this simple recipe I learned from my local baker.

Here are the ingredients you need:
Four hundred and fifty grams of flour.
A pinch of salt.
A liter of milk.
Fifty grams of rum..
Sixty grams of melted butter
Forty grams of sunflower oil or similar.
6 eggs.

If you have a blender, weigh all the ingredients and blend them in a large bowl.
Without a mixer - do it by hand:
Put the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add the eggs and mix, while adding the butter, then the oil.
The dough should be smooth, without lumps.
Finally, add the rum.

Heat a pancake pan with a little butter to prevent the batter from sticking to it.
Wipe the butter all over the surface.
Pour a cup of batter into the pan and spread it out by gently lifting and rotating the pan. Add a little more batter if needed, or pour in if there is too much.

Cook over medium heat until the dough comes away without sticking.
Flip the pancake to cook the other side, but only for a minute or it will be too dry.

Put the pancake on a plate and add sugar to your taste.

You have enough batter for about thirty pancakes, depending on the size of your pan.

These pancakes are eaten simply with sugar, or maple syrup, or chocolate spread.

Enjoy your lunch !

Don’t despair if you don’t recognise all the words! This is the best exercise because the more you practise dictations, the easier it gets to understand French.

An for your flowing conversations, get your free sample pack of Conversation café here!

My goal this year is to help you with your listening comprehension and offer you various listening activities during the year.

Feel free to tell me how you get on with it!