Author: missdoublevay

Uncategorized

How Listening Practice Boosts Your French Speaking Skills

Want to improve your French speaking skills? Start with your ears! Many learners focus on speaking practice alone, but listening is just as important—if not more so—when it comes to sounding natural and confident. Why is listening so powerful? 1. You absorb pronunciation naturally French has tricky sounds that don’t always match how words are written. By listening to native speakers, you train your brain … Continue reading How Listening Practice Boosts Your French Speaking Skills

Unknown's avatarmissdoublevayLeave a comment
Uncategorized

How French Accents Can Help You Recognise Words in Reading and Listening Tasks

If you’ve ever struggled with understanding spoken or written French, paying attention to accents might just be the key to unlocking meaning. While accents in French can seem like an extra challenge, they often carry hidden clues about a word’s history, pronunciation, and even its English equivalent. One of the most fascinating accent-related patterns in French is how the circumflex accent (ˆ) replaces an “s” … Continue reading How French Accents Can Help You Recognise Words in Reading and Listening Tasks

Unknown's avatarmissdoublevayLeave a comment
Exam skills

Strengthen Your French Writing: How to Back Up Your Opinions

This week’s blog continues with the mnemonic CROISSANT, a simple tool to remember what to include in your answers to the longer writing questions: C: Connectives R: Reasons O: Opinions I: Intensifiers S S: Sophisticated structures/subordinate clauses A: Adverbs N: Negative phrases T: Tenses This post is going to concentrate on reasons, which are relevant for the 80-90 and 130-150 question (Edexcel and IGCSE) and … Continue reading Strengthen Your French Writing: How to Back Up Your Opinions

Unknown's avatarmissdoublevayLeave a comment
Exam skills

Ace your GCSE or IGCSE writing exam

I have blogged before about the mnemonic CROISSANT. It is a simple tool to remember what to include in your answers to the longer writing questions: C: Connectives R: Reasons O: Opinions I: Intensifiers S S: Sophisticated structures/subordinate clauses A: Adverbs N: Negative phrases T: Tenses This post is going to concentrate on opinions, which are relevant for the 80-90 and 130-150 question (Edexcel and … Continue reading Ace your GCSE or IGCSE writing exam

Unknown's avatarmissdoublevayLeave a comment
Uncategorized

Boost Your Memory by Learning a Foreign Language

Learning a foreign language is not just about communication—it’s also an excellent way to improve your memory. Studies have shown that bilingual individuals tend to have better cognitive abilities, particularly in areas like recall, focus, and multitasking. When you learn a new language, you train your brain to manage different sounds, vocabulary, and grammar rules, which helps enhance your working memory. One key benefit is … Continue reading Boost Your Memory by Learning a Foreign Language

Unknown's avatarmissdoublevayLeave a comment
Uncategorized

Uncover the Cultural and Linguistic Riches of Paris 2024 Olympics

I can’t believe the Olympic Games in Paris are already over. They added a structure to my day that I’m already missing. I still can’t stop thinking about the opening ceremony with all its craziness, the breathtaking light show, and that incredible Flying Cauldron. My favourite part was the metallic horse galloping along the Seine, embodying Sequana, the goddess of the river Seine (la Déesse … Continue reading Uncover the Cultural and Linguistic Riches of Paris 2024 Olympics

Unknown's avatarmissdoublevayLeave a comment
Uncategorized

Do the French have more holidays than us?

Scroll down to read this post in French. Of all the things that we may envy the French for (food, weather, fashion…) the most important to me is their lifestyle. French employees have a 35-hour week and a minimum of 5 weeks holiday AND they have more public holidays than us. But what about school holidays? Typically, the school year is divided into similar holiday … Continue reading Do the French have more holidays than us?

Unknown's avatarmissdoublevayLeave a comment
Uncategorized

Le quatorze juillet

Bastille Day, celebrated on the 14th of July, is a significant national holiday in France, known as “La Fête Nationale” or “Le Quatorze Juillet.” It commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789, a pivotal event at the beginning of the French Revolution. Here’s why this day is celebrated: Symbol of Revolution: The storming of the Bastille was a symbol of the … Continue reading Le quatorze juillet

Unknown's avatarmissdoublevayLeave a comment