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Listening skills are not the easiest of skills to master.  No sooner have you worked out what someone is saying then it’s too late to reply because the conversation has moved on. We all get that as learners of French, so you are most certainly not alone. 

So I thought I would help with a seri...

 I get asked all the time, “How do I choose the right French teacher who will help me achieve my French Speaking goals?”

So I made a video to help you make an informed choice. Discover: 

•  The 5 key criteria you, as a student, should look out for when investing in teacher 
•  Why it is importa...

I've had quite a few people lately who said they would love to know a little bit more about the subjunctive and most people think “ what???!!!”  and then go into a textbook and start looking.

It's totally confusing, you read too much and you think "oh no!" 

So let's give you a little chance to...

Have you ever been asked “Comment allez-vous ?” or “Comment ça va ?” and wanted to actually say “Errr I feel dreadful” and then want to launch into why?

Instead . . .you say “Not too bad, considering…” And we don’t actually say any more. We stop. 

We don’t often reveal how bad we feel because w...

Constantly sticking to easy vocabulary in French? Always using ‘très’? If it’s getting a bit repetitive. Let’s talk about adverbs.

In this mini-lesson, you’ll discover:

• Adverbs: what are they?

• Let’s look beyond ‘very, very’ in French

• A couple of examples of where our English brai...

Not sure how to handle irregular verbs in the conditional form in French? Let’s get a bit more technical than usual . . . with would/could/should in French.

You’d be forgiven for looking up these words in the dictionary and then still end up lost! They aren’t the easiest words to handle. 

Let m...

So you’ve learnt to use NE/PAS but then it starts floating all over the place once you start using the past tense! 

You’re not alone - you learn the rule that it goes after the verb, so that’s where you place it when you’re learning the present, and even past perfect  (as in “I have or had done”...

So you’re probably getting pretty proficient at recognising how to manage your computer.  Well, at least on the surface of it. 

The screen freezes, the internet is slow, the colourwheel won’t stop turning . . . groan! 

But what if you’re in a French conversation class and something happen...

So you can use the past tense and say “I have eaten” or “I have been” for example. 

Then somehow it all goes haywire and you start saying “I have” instead of “I have” with your fingers crossed that you’re being understood.

Until you are using these tenses regularly, they’re naturally going to t...

Words don’t come easy, to me…

“Words” sung by F.R.Davi, who, in 198,2 sings how it’s not always easy to find the right word in our native language, let alone in French. 

Don’t we just know that!!

Many of my students have asked how they can boost their recall of French words in spontaneous con...

 Have you ever noticed that WELCOME (BIENVENUE) in French changes its spelling? 

In this mini-lesson, you’ll discover how to say the word WELCOME (BIENVENUE) in French: 

• How to pronounce the word BIENVENUE in French
• How Bienvenue changes its spelling and why
• Great examples to help you get a...

Learning a word in isolation can be quite challenging when you want instant recall for it in a real conversation. It happens all the time - you learn a list of new vocabulary you want to use, but it just won’t pop out when you most want it. 

That’s because the way you learnt it is not effective....