You can’t practice and improve your French on your own, without a teacher
Has this thought ever crossed your mind? Do you think that, on your own, it’s too hard to make or even maintain progress in French? Attending a course to learn French is always a great idea. But let’s be honest, you don’t want to attend a French class your whole life, even if you really love both the course and your French teacher. After attending a private or group French course, you’ll probably wonder how you can maintain all the impressive efforts you’ve made in French. Losing all the knowledge you’ve gained is a legitimate fear, so how can you implement a routine by yourself without being guided through the language by a private French tutor? How can you find and implement a routine on your own? I’ll give you all my secret tips as a French teacher and, most importantly, as a language learner myself. That way, you’ll be able to maintain all the efforts you’ve made so far, for free and forever.
There are many good excuses not to practice your French on your own. I already know you’re gonna tell me:
- At home we speak only English (or another language) with my French partner.
- My kids don’t speak French.
- My kids will make fun of me and my French.
- My partner doesn’t want to learn/speak French (valid for both native French speakers and non-speaker partners).
- I don’t live in a French-speaking country.
- I don’t need to speak French.
- I don’t need it for my career.
- My friends don’t speak French or don’t want to speak French with me (partner included).
- I don’t have time.
- Bartenders and shop assistants always reply to me in English.
- And blah blah and blah blah blah.
How to improve your French on your own
- Set your devices to French – all of them
- Set your apps to French
- Write a diary to your invisible French-speaking friend, lover, etc.…
- Write a sentence a day
How to practice your listening skills in French
My podcast to help you learn French, on Spotify or iTunes ❤️ In my opinion and based on my experience, there are two excellent ways to improve your French listening skills on your own and for free: follow along with resources offering online transcriptions and listen to audio available in different languages.Practice your listening skills with transcriptions
Some websites offer free audio resources with transcriptions. Having been a Private French Teacher for more than 10 years, I highly recommend you not challenge yourself too much early on, especially if you’re at the beginner level. In other words, take it easy with your progress. The first time you listen to the news in French, don’t hesitate to read the transcription while you’re listening to it. Some people listen first without the transcription – once my students reach the intermediate level, I give them the transcription after they’ve listened to the audios a few times.What do I do in my own language studies?
When I reach level A2, I read and listen at the same time for at least a week – or a month, depending on how much time I have available. Listening with a transcription is an excellent exercise if you’re too scared to try without written support. Once I feel more comfortable, I try once without the transcription. I try on public transport, while working, in the metro – anywhere that will force me to listen without checking my screen. If you understand 60% of the content, you’re on a good track. If not, go back to your basics and re-study your grammar.Practice your listening skills with multi-language audio
Some channels offer news only in French; others offer different languages. If this is the first time you’re planning to listen to the news in French, I recommend you choose a channel that offers multiple languages so you can make sure you understand. My personal tip is to quickly switch to full-on French so your brain gets used to it as soon as possible. France Inter Euronews RFI Le journal en français facile ❤️ News by RFI in easy French with a transcription! Probably the best resource to learn French. Coffee break French News in slow FrenchListen to the news in French
France 24 LCI BFMTV RFI ❤️ TV5Monde ARTE journalVideos to practice and improve your French
Watch movies or documentaries in VO with French subtitles – even if the original language wasn’t French is a good manner to improve your French pronunciation. Cash investigation Envoyé special Arte ❤️ ThinkerView : Politically-oriented.Watch movies in French
Ilini ArteTV shows
Master Chef and Top chef: available on YouTube. La Clique: ❤️ nice interviews about francophone artists. Le Quotidien: satirique. Touche pas à mon poste: very popular, but I’m personally not a big fan of the host.French cooking shows
Master chef Atelier des chefs MarmitonImprove your French by attending webinars in French
Webikeo Data event: Training and webinars for B2B. Tableau Usine nouvelleAttend a MOOC
Edx ❤️ Fun-Mooc CourseraVideos on social media to practice your French
YouTube
Gaelle Garcia Marques Festival de Montreux ❤️: tous les humoristes francophones passent par là. Palma ShowFrancophone humorists to follow
Sebastian Marx Fary ❤️ Panayotis Caspar Proust Guillermo guiz (Level C1) ❤️ Guillaume Meurice Alex Vizorek Marion rollman Kheiron Les inconnus Les Robins des bois Les nuls Les inconnus ❤️ Le festival de MontreuxHow to practice your reading skills in French

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash.jpg
- Search for everything on Google in French. You can even set French as the default by scrolling the whole way down the Google home page.
- Search in French on Quora. Be careful: there are a lot of talented people on Quora, but the spelling of questions and answers isn’t checked.
- Download newspaper apps and activate the push notifications; this way you’ll have to read in French – yes or yes 😉
- Librairie of public domain
Read free versions of newspapers in French
Le Courrier International ❤️ Le monde Le soir 🇧🇪 Le temps 🇨🇭 De plus en plume: This website isn’t particularly user friendly.Read your horoscope in French
Horoscope: Subscribe to their newsletter and receive your horoscope every day. Mon horoscope du jourUse the French dictionary
Larousse Le RobertMeditate in French
Guided meditation Affirmation positives Hypnosis in French Frederic BarbeyPractise your French with someone
Free languages and cultural exchange in Brussels Online exchange for ladies only Conversation exchangeLearn French on your own
Use apps to learn languages
Yabla: learn languages with video Memrise: learn languages with Flashcards Busuu Babbel Duolingo DropsExercise online
L’instant FLE RFI SavoirsFollow French teachers online
Français Authentique Français avec Pierre Alexa Comme une Française Easy languages: French: Interview of French people in the street. InnerFrench Schmittnews