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👂 Tuning In 👂

♫ You can also listen to an extended version of this blog post here ♫


I think it would be fair to say that most learners find listening the trickiest skill to master. People may initially assume it is speaking that is the hardest skill. However, with speaking you can maintain some control; you can choose the words you use, you can reword, you can simplify and of course, you can use facial expressions, gestures and also props if need be. Don’t forget that these are things that you can actually request or rely on when you are listening – you can make these work for you too! I’ll explore this in a blog very soon but today, we are going to focus on training your ear.



In the same way that you would train for a running race or a tennis tournament, you need to train your ear. This will enable you to quickly ‘tune in’ to spoken French. Maximising your exposure to the rhythm and sounds of French will really help to familiarise your ear to the language and in turn, boost your ability to follow what is being said and also, to understand.


There is no quick fix – improving your listening skills requires practice and patience but it is worth every single minute you invest. And it doesn’t have to be onerous! There are passive activities that you can do. There is research to show that simply exposing your ear to new combinations of sounds and new sound patterns really helps to develop neural structures in the brain which are necessary to learn a new language. Therefore, listening to French radio, music or podcasts, even if you don’t always understand what is being said, is beneficial.


And of course, there are more focused activities too – and this is where I can plug my summer courses 😊 which are full of different listening activities. I particularly like the conversations – I think this is a great listening activity to encourage you to ‘tune in’ to two different voices and to follow the flow of a more natural dialogue. To add authenticity, I recorded many of the passages with my lovely friends Delphine and Arnaud. For the Conversations between Friends, I worked uniquely with Arnaud who, like me, teaches French to adults and who has also written a wide range of brilliant books to support learning.


I really hope this blog and all of the listening material in the courses will be useful and enjoyable!


Merci!

Sarah xx