Category: Major Project Post

When the course began, I was totally confused on what to embark on for my project. Upon all the thoughts that came in mind, I decided to learn the French language because I believe it is a language of diplomacy, culture and with international relation. Three months along the line, here I am wrapping up my learning project. I must acknowledge that over the past weeks, I have learnt the basic proficiency in French, and I find it fulfilling to reflect on my progress, particularly with this final post where I explored one classical French song “Aline” by Christophe. This journey has been interesting and enlightening, taking me from simple alphabets and numbers in January to confidently engaging with French music.

Throughout this course, social media and open education played a significant role in my learning. Initially, apps like Duolingo, airlearn, HelloTalk, FrenchApp, etc provided foundational vocabulary and grammar of the language. Gradually, I discovered that leveraging social media tools like YouTube, Instagram and podcasts, significantly enriched my learning experience. These platforms offered great cultural contexts, allowing me to immerse myself not just in language but also in the cultural expressions and nuances of French society.

Exploring the song “Aline” was particularly impactful. Christophe’s music provided a meaningful context for learning French. By analyzing lyrics which is about the story of a man who, after drawing the face of his beloved Aline on the sand, watches as it is washed away by the tide. This act symbolizes her departure from his life, prompting him to cry out her name in a desperate plea for her return. The song captures the essence of broken heart and the yearning for a lost love. Through this, I expanded my vocabulary, improved my pronunciation, and deepened my understanding of the language.

Key Takeaways:

• Social Media platforms: Utilizing YouTube , Instagram and podcasts enhanced my ability to grasp pronunciation and colloquial expressions, demonstrating the educational potential of social media beyond the “selfie” contexts.
• Music as a way of learning language: Song like “Aline” provided an engaging and enjoyable method to internalize language patterns and cultural knowledge. The emotive nature of music facilitated my understanding of the language.
• Open Education Accessibility: in my  journey of learning French, I considered Platforms such as Duolingo, free YouTube channels, various applications as my open educational resources they made my learning project possible.

Despite the key takeaways, this journey was challenging due to the pronunciation and phenetics of the language as well as the complex grammar rules. However, with constant practice it got better.

In conclusion, my French learning journey clearly highlights how social media and open education resources can complement and enhance traditional learning methods. As this course come to an end, my exploration of the French language will not cease.

below is a video of me singing Aline. Enjoy

Merci beaucoup!

As the semester is getting busy as we wrap up, I continued with the weather exploration this week as there has been some changes in the weather. In my quest to know about weather in French, I took the opportunity to learn about the weather conditions as I watched series of YouTube videos to learn some vocabularies and improve my speaking skills. Each video enhanced my understanding in a different way.

I also watched French pod video on YouTube which described the weather in French. I loved this particular video because if provided a breakdown on how to pronounce the words as in language learning, pronunciation is very important. This week, I tried something new, and it helped me out. I recorded myself when trying to work on my pronunciation of the new vocabularies. After that, I listened to it and compared it the video I watched and where I made errors I repeated them until I got them correctly.

I also learnt some new words used for seasons. l’hiver meaning winter, le printemps which means spring, l’été which means summer and l’automne which means fall.

This week, I had the opportunity to explore the Canva tool and I must say It was interesting. I have heard some of my colleagues talking about Canva on several occasions so I decided to try it as was among the list of tools prof recommended that we should use a new tool we have not used before in order to document our learning project. I did not only find canva interesting , I saw it to be a powerful tool for enhancing creativity and learning experiences at large. According to techleraning,  Canva is a graphic design tool that allows image and video editing, presentations and project based learning.

Canva can be used on the phone by downloading the app or the web on laptop/desktop. In my case, I used both (was just switching). However, there is a pro version at a fee with loaded features which I think is best for intensive content creators and designers.

Some of the features of the app include homepage- displays videos and designs made, as well as search. Projects – where videos are created and it has editing tools like adding text, speed, audio, cropping, transition and among other editing features. Templates- this has a series of templates categories to choose from being a template for social media, education, business, videos, marketing, cards and invitations and interesting thing is each of these categories has varieties of templates you can choose from to suit what you are doing.

Some of the few tips I discovered when using canva is to make good use of the available free templates as it makes content creation easier by saving time, yet a great piece will be achieved. The second tip I would share is the use of grids and frames as this allows you to position your images at a precise space of your choice and it ensures a well balanced and organized layout of contents. Also, the share feature is just amazing because it has different options you can download and share your content  via social media, google drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, phone/desktop library. Finally, as someone who will not use it intensively, always be vigilant on the elements marked with crowns because they are premium features and using it will result in a watermark content, or you will be prompted to pay for them.

Nevertheless, I had some challenges like difficulty in navigating through the tools on Canva. The interface and features look user friendly until you start using them! you would need some time before you can find your way out. I struggled with it, but it is worth it. I am still exploring it, and I love to learn more about it because it has a lot of features.

Now to the classroom, I would recommend Canva to educators because I see it to be an all-round tool because it allows editing of image or videos and it also allow the creation for presentation, videos, documents, logos and many more which I think will be very useful in the classroom. Educators can use Canva to create infographics which will help to simplify complex theories and concepts to students. Same way, students can also use it to prepare visually appealing presentations in the classroom. Overall, Canva is a potential tool to enhance students’ potentials in creativity.

Below video is a documentation of my learning journey with canva as I explored the weather in French this week. I know with time I will be better using Canva for creating videos and making designs! As an educator, do you think canva will make things easier for you in the classroom? let me know your thoughts and submissions.

Salut, tout le monde!

On this week’s episode of my French journey, I continued with the exploration of family by focusing on how I can write something about family. In view of that I connected with my friends on HelloTalk app and as part of my conversation with one friend, she asked me about my family and that’s where the conversation began. I noticed I could not express myself very well in writing, so I called and we talked a bit about our families. After that conversation I made a point to write something about my family this week. The friends on HelloTalk app are very kind as they help correct me when I make errors.

I also had some lessons on Duolingo where I learnt how to use the plural terminology of family and had a series of writing tasks. One thing about French is, just when you thought you have figured out something, the plural form would just mess it up for you, but it is all part of the learning process. Along my learning journey I have realized that when learning a new language, often time the focus is on how to speak it with less focus on the writing but speaking a language and writing is a different ball game altogether. if you are not careful you would master the speaking without paying much and detailed attention to the writings.

Study with Alena YouTube video on how to describe and write family also shaped my writing ability as I learnt some new strategies when writing about family. from this session I learnt that as a beginner, it is always better to know which type of family (nuclear or extended) you are writing about so you do not end up confusing yourself.

Below is a short description I wrote about my family. I hope you enjoy reading it😊.

On this week’s journey of my French lessons, I learnt something about family. My zeal in knowing more about the French culture landed me on learning something about family as the family plays a key role in the French society.

I began by learning some of the rich vocabularies related to the family and relationships such as le père, le mère, le Frere, la soeur, le cousin, les grand mère,  les grand père on Duolingo. (main learning resource) These lessons helped me to practice the basics grammatical structures of the family by learning how to use definite articles and the gender agreement of verb conjugations. other tasks also included pronunciation of family vocabularies, translations, and some dictations which shaped my writing skills. I was able to describe family in a better version after watching my family video on YouTube as it was really at a beginner pace and it enabled me to grasp all I needed to know about family in French. It helped me in my listening skills as I followed along wit the story. The questions and answers at the end of the lessons was very insightful as it guided me on my comprehension. A video titled Family life in France on YouTube showed that majority of the people expressed how their family is very important to them and they looked excited talking about it. This got me reminiscing about my family as I am here without my family. I also used French made easy podcast  in my lessons as it was a beginner friendly, it was not too fast so I could clearly hear the words used in family. There was an exercise after the podcast episode for practice which made my learning process very practical since got the chance to practice what I have studied.

Some of the challenges I faced in these lessons were difficulty getting the correct adjectives and the correct gendered noun they belonged to.  For instance, when describing a loving mother, the adjective must agree with the feminine noun thus une mère aimante. It got very confusing however they became manageable due to the series of tasks I took which included role playing family scenarios and stories. This deepened my understanding on the use of family vocabularies. The lessons on family did not only help me know more about family vocabulary, rather it enlightened me on the cultural traditions and social expectations associated with the French family system.  I remember one task which asked me to describe a typical French family gathering and it was just amazing. One thing I loved about the French family is that they love to dine together as a family because that is how bond gets strengthened and memories are created.

My journey on learning French as a beginner through the lens of the family has been a challenging yet an engaging and insightful one. At the end of my lessons, I was able to gain some essential language skills while gaining some knowledge into French culture. I believe that this lessons have laid the basics for more advanced studies. This serves me as a reminder that learning a language is more about understanding the people and not just about knowing how to speak the language. As I continue to build upon this foundation by knowing the French family, I remain committed to exploring different  dimensions of French culture with the same enthusiasm, passion and rigor.

S’il vous plaît, which other French culture do you think it would help me grasp the language very well and understand?  let me know what you think in the comments!

Enjoy some video I made on my family!

Merci beaucoup!!

Hi Everyone!

In this week’s episode of my French journey, I focused on writing. Although I know the basics of French alphabets, but it does not necessarily make me good with writing of the language. I continued with my Duolingo lessons where I had series of activities like dictations, fill in and translation activities. These activities helped me to get some of my tenses right as I am still progressing with the language. French language can be very confusing if you do not get the understanding and rules regarding the gendered nouns. In my quest to improve my writing skills and get myself familiarized with daily used French words and tenses, I added the French keyboard to both my phone and laptop, making it easy to write in a French accent.

Another resource I used this week was the HelloTalk app which enabled me to connect with French speakers. I made some friends, and we had chat in French. There are instances that I do not get the meaning of some text since I am not an advanced learner so I respond in English and the funny thing is the app is designed in a way that, you connect to people who are beginners to a different language so all the friends I have are also English beginners which I am helping them to improve on their English language.  Not only am I able to connect with French speakers on HelloTalk app, but it also has a series of French stories with visuals, audio and subtitles which makes it very easy to learn the words and follow along with the story. Notwithstanding how it gives detailed guidelines in English (French Easy Reader) on how to follow the storyline. Writing and comprehension goes hand in hand hence making the stories very helpful to me in my lessons. I liked how HelloTalk give a clue on what the story is about. This helped me to picture the whole story in mind as I get interested in listening and reading in other to get the full understanding. However, because it is a free account, you will not be able to access every story you may see as some are paid for.

One lesson I have learnt is that consistency and patience is key in learning, particularly with a new language, because the moment you skip a day or two without practice you tend to even forget everything you have learnt and that feeling is very terrible so I am always motivated to do something even if it will take just five minutes in other not to forget the little things I have learnt already.

I designed a word cloud with French words to examine myself on how I have grasp some of the daily used French words in the stories I read as well as the Duolingo lessons.

In this week’s update of learning French as a beginner, I had activity on how to greet people and introduction of self. As part of the activity, I had a series of lesson tasks which included the use of basic phrases, comprehension sessions based on a story, speaking task, writing task by filling in gaps in sentences and translations. Each of the tasks had five levels of completion where I was required to pass the immediate task before I could proceed to the next level.

With this week’s activity, the main resource I used was Duolingo. I liked how Duolingo was engaging me with the tasks with words like Amazing, Excellent, keep it up, awesome, great, correct, good job, great job, prove you are a legend and stay focused when I get tasks done correctly. On the other hand, with tasks I do not get correctly, it explains why I got it wrong and gives guidelines on how to correct it in addition to correction tasks. However, the adverts made the lessons very annoying and less interesting as there can be an advert for about five minutes and if you are not done watching the advert, you cannot proceed. Notwithstanding the limited three lives, which makes you unable to continue with the lessons if you are out of life. This was helpful to some extent because it kept me on my toes to be very careful in my lessons, so I do not run out of life by getting my task questions wrong.

Again, I amazingly found out that I can connect with friends and have challenges with them on Duolingo, chat with them to improve my writing skills and streak them with daily activity and performance. Duolingo also keeps track of my activity and reminds me to practice every day if I have not done my task. This keeps me focused on my project.

Below are some videos of my project in action.

In my journey of learning French as a beginner, I have gained some fundamental knowledge in alphabets and numbers aiding in my vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. With the help of resources such as FrenchPod101, Learn French with Alexa, and Duolingo, I have been exposed to important lessons which are friendly for beginners. These resources are gradually shaping me in my learning of French journey.

Concerning vocabulary and phrases, I have been able to build on some of the everyday vocabularies such as greetings and common objects.  Here are some of the everyday vocabularies learnt. Bonjour (Hello, good morning/ good afternoon), Merci (Thank you), Au revoir (Goodbye), Bonsoir (good evening), une fille ( a girl) un garcon (a boy) and many more. With numbers, I have learnt up to 10. Un (1), Deux (2), Trois (3), Quatre (4), cinq (5), six (6), sept (7), huit (8) neuf (9) dix (10).

With the grammar aspect, trust me French grammar is very challenging, but I am beginning to understand the basics and the fundamentals rules particularly with the gendered nouns where I am still getting to know the masculine and feminine of nouns notwithstanding verb conjugations. For example, le livre means the book while la maison means the house. Example of verb conjugation:  je suis means I am and tu es means you are.

With French pronunciation, this is very tricky but I love it because of the silent letters and unique sounds. Resources like the coffee break French really focus on this and I am enjoying the language. It enables me to mimic the words just as a French would say it.  My understanding on the sounds is not still clear to me but with repeated practice of listening and speaking, I would improve gradually.

My comprehension is gradually developing but sometimes get confused with some of the sounds.  I am getting my self familiar with the most commonly used words and phrases by repeating them.  Watching of piece of French content on YouTube is helping me to get the rhythms of the sound.  Speaking of French at this stage still feels daunting, but I am not discouraged, I believe in the practice makes perfection concept.

In my early journey of learning the French language, some of the challenges I have encountered are memorizing vocabulary particularly with gendered nouns, accent, and conjugation of verbs which makes it very tiring when learning. I mix up words and struggles with listening to a fast content or an advanced conversation.

Watch out for more updates because the  journey just began!!

Merci.

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my blog where I will be sharing my journey of learning French as a beginner.  I am really excited about this project as I admire the French language. As an individual who grew up in an English-speaking country, I deem it a pleasure to learn a different language all together. Being in Canada has also compelled me to start learning the French language as Canada is a bilingual country thus English and French, as such I think I need to be able to learn French in other to fully enjoy my stay in Canada. In that way, I will be able to travel to French speaking province like Quebec in Canada to have experience with the people by learning more of the unique cultural richness of the language.  Although I do not understand French, I get fascinated when I hear of French words and names, and this has finally made me to embark on this new leaning project.

Why French?

Just as the saying goes, French is a language of love, but I believe it is a language of diplomacy, culture and with international relations.  Below are some of the reasons why I have decided to learn French:

1. International relation: My native country (Ghana) shares boarder to the west with Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso to the North and Togo to the East. Interestingly, all these countries speak French as their official language. Learning French will enable me to visit these neighboring counties and other French speaking countries at large without the though of language barrier. Also, as mentioned earlier, being in Canada has compelled me to learn French as it will broaden my horizon and strengthen my relationship with Canadians especially those who speak French.
2. Cultural Appreciation: I want to fully understand the cultural values and norms of the French.
3. Personal Goals: Personally, I want to challenge myself with something new as I will be obliged to move from my comfort zone and do something differently.

My project plan:

1. Setting clear and achievable goals.

1. • Will be able to achieve basic conversational skills by the end of the semester in April.
   • Will be able to do basic introduction of myself, know how to form sentences and read and understand basic French text.
2. Daily Practices:
   • Morning: I will Spend 15 minutes on vocabulary and pronunciation using the Duolingo app everyday. Notification will be enabled to remind me with this activity.
   • Evening: Dedicate 30 minutes on frenchpod101 to have French lessons and watch YouTube videos with Learn with Alexa French lessons.
   • Will Listen to French podcasts like Coffee Break French while in bus and in the house.
3. Speaking and Writing Practice:
   • With practicing of writing, I will use HelloTalk app to connect with people and have conversations with them in French.

As I embark on this journey, I know it will be difficult particularly with the grammar, conjugations and the gendered nature of the French language. However, I am determined to:

1. Celebrate every small win either completing a task or saying the right thing in French.
2. Regularly reflect on my progress by tracking the activities done and also record short videos in French.