Avant de commencer, let me tell you that, oui, Chartres is my new favorite place in the monde, that it makes mon coeur soar, and that I’m in the process of learning tout ce que je peux (hence the picture of the book above, which by the way, more or less représente la vue de mes fenêtres!) pour pouvoir le partager avec vous!
A bittersweet beginning
C’est vraiment difficile pour moi d’écrire mon blog post cette semaine. I started yesterday (as you know I normally land in your inbox les jeudis) mais franchement, je n’ai pas pu. J’étais trop en colère, trop désespérée. And saying anything positive or joyous (which is what I normally like to do) simply felt out of line. Voici une semaine tellement triste pour mon beau pays la France, victime à la fois d’un deuxième confinement et d’un nouvel attentat islamiste. That being said, bravo à la Police d’avoir défendu les Niçois du mieux possible alors que le terroriste se trouvait encore dans Notre-Dame de Nice! Quel courage! Quelle efficacité!
Pour ces deux raisons, this new beginning in Chartres remains a bittersweet one. Yet what else can we do but pick ourselves up and share beautiful moments? C’est pourquoi je suis déterminée à partager avec vous ma nouvelle ville Chartres, AKA my new favorite place in the world. I mean it. Je suis totalement amoureuse, chaque jour un peu plus. How could I not?
Chartres est une petite ville absolument sublime, délicieuse, charmante, où le passé historique n’est pas seulement respecté mais mis en valeur. Chaque coin de rue est un émerveillement. L’architecture est to die for, je vis dans une carte postale, un conte de fée, une bulle de beauté. La ville est aussi propre, calme et vivante à la fois, pleine de jolis commerces élégants, de bars, d’antiquaires, de cafés, de salons de thé, de restaurants, de crêperies, tragically now all forced to remain closed until at least December 1st. Quelle folie…
Un festival de lumières
Après mon année à Paris dans un appartement meublé et par conséquent interdit aux chiens, Sophie, Bruno, et moi sommes maintenant réunis, donc je continue à passer beaucoup de temps à l’extérieur since dogs must go on regular promenades. This means I can keep taking pictures and shooting little videos pour vous! Au fait, in case you haven’t noticed yet, I’ve been posting lots of daily videos in my Instagram stories! Go subscribe to my account by clicking here so you can see them! Jusqu’à hier soir, j’ai pu filmer Chartres en lumières, a divine light festival all over la ville que nous pouvons admirer chaque soir! C’est exceptionnel! I can only presume que c’est terminé maintenant à cause du confinement mais j’irai de toutes façons vérifier… sait-on jamais!?
J’ai trouvé la vidéo ci-dessous sur la chaîne Youtube de la ville de Chartres. Until I am able / allowed to come up with a new French Immersion Week à Chartres, you can at least enjoy it de manière virtuelle. Not to worry, la vidéo est de très bonne qualité! C’est presque aussi bien que d’y être en vrai!
Incroyablement beau, n’est-ce pas?
Je prends aussi beaucoup de photos lors de mes balades nocturnes, en voici quelques une pour vous :
Je vous invite à vous rendre directement sur le site de Chartres en lumières afin d’y découvrir plus de photos, plus de vidéos, ainsi que des explications à propos des origines et des créateurs de ce magnifique événement. You’ll be able to learn about la naissance du projet :
« Élue en 2001, la nouvelle équipe municipale de Chartres s’attaque à la rénovation du patrimoine historique de son cœur de ville, qu’elle considère comme l’un de ses objectifs prioritaires. Plusieurs chantiers de réaménagement sont donc entrepris et s’étendent de la cathédrale jusqu’aux anciennes portes médiévales de la ville. Afin de mettre en valeur ce centre-ville rénové, la Ville de Chartres fait le choix de développer des événements autour de la lumière. Ces rendez-vous ont pour but de rassembler les habitants et d’inviter les touristes à découvrir le patrimoine chartrain de manière insolite.
En 2003, la Ville de Chartres crée sa Fête de la lumière : la nuit du troisième samedi de septembre (le week-end des Journées européennes du patrimoine), elle illumine certains éléments de son patrimoine de cœur de ville. Devant le succès de cette manifestation, elle décide de pérenniser l’événement en créant Chartres en Lumières, une opération de mise en valeur du patrimoine par la lumière qui dure six mois par an. Depuis 2004, Chartres en Lumières illumine donc le cœur de ville à travers de plus en plus de sites et monuments. »
Et voici quelques mots du maire de Chartres, Monsieur Jean-Pierre Gorges :
« Avec 2 millions de touristes enregistrés chaque année, Chartres demeure l’une des villes de France les plus citées à travers le monde. Ce coup de projecteur, elle le doit à son histoire, exceptionnellement riche, qui l’a dotée d’un patrimoine d’une densité remarquable, de renommée internationale.
La cathédrale, classée au patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO, est la clé de voûte d’un sublime panorama architectural qui ne compte pas moins de 25 églises en plus de sites archéologiques majeurs. Depuis 2003, nous avons fait du patrimoine chartrain une formidable aventure. Soumis à un travail scénographique résolument tourné vers la lumière et sa symbolique, il est exploré, dévoilé, revisité.
Nous avons fait de son passé un présent chatoyant. Chartres est aujourd’hui la Capitale de la Lumière et du Parfum. Un titre qu’elle honore annuellement d’avril à octobre et qui attire déjà plus d’un million de visiteurs en quête d’éternité. »
J’habite à Chartres, je suis donc chartraine, depuis exactement deux semaines aujourd’hui. Je sens déjà que c’est le début d’une grande histoire d’amour entre moi et ma nouvelle ville! J’ai tellement hâte de pouvoir tout apprendre, aller rencontrer les artistes et artisans locaux, discuter avec les élus et pourquoi pas le maire, interviewer les personnalités chartraines, et bien sûr imaginer des French Immersion Weeks ici! I am determined to share ce petit bijou avec vous mes lecteurs / followers / étudiants / amis! I can’t wait until you can finally come here for my Chartres immersion course!
Macron à Notre-Dame de Nice
And last but not least, voici la vidéo d’Emmanuel Macron declaring the French republican values are under attack, specifically because they represent la liberté (somewhat ironique en temps de confinement…). I saw the video and immediately thought of sharing it with you, d’abord parce que c’est important, ensuite parce qu’il s’exprime lentement et clairement.
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Learn French online with Virginie
Join French Truly’s online school, either by buying the French online course(s) of your choice or by becoming a monthly member. See more details about the membership at the bottom of this page
Each French online course is packed with video & audio files along with written material, to make it as fun, easy, and user friendly as possible for you! Come and learn French online with me!
In this course, you will find 15 videos (+ 10 bonus ones) to help & accompany you every step of the way through the course + for each word, each sentence, each expression, each conjugated verb, I have created an audio file of my voice, slow and slightly faster speed. Your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.
Did you know…
You can converse (speak + understand) in French with only 600 WORDS?
The average French person only uses between 300 & 3,000 WORDS?
This means that if you can master a relatively short list of words, you’ll be able to express yourself like the average French person! Plus you’re much more likely to understand the French when they talk back to you!
This course will teach you…
1- How to speak French
2- How to pronounce French
3- How to make French sentences
4- How to conjugate all the most common French verbs
5- How to polish your results
6- How to self evaluate your French
More info HERE
It should take you about 30 hours to complete this course, which is made up of 10 lessons
This course is designed for a beginner / intermediate level. If you are intermediate but feel like you could really reinforce your foundations, you will love it.
You can join whenever, either by buying the course or by becoming a monthly member giving you access to my French online courses from $10 / month. See more details about the membership at the bottom of this page
In this course you will find 11 videos + 150 audio files + 92 pages PDF format to help & accompany you every step of the way throughout the course. In some parts of the videos, my face will appear close up and profile so you can easily see how I make these sounds with my mouth. The 150 audio files are composed of the 100 most popular French words and the 50 most common French phrases. They are recordings of my voice, speaking slowly enough so you can easily grasp every syllable. Your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.
NB: if you are the proud owner of my previous French online course 600 WORDS, don’t worry, this is not a repeat as we are now exploring 1 letter words and up, whereas in 600 WORDS we began at 4 letter words and up.
Combine knowledge with confidence…
For you to be able to have a pleasant and efficient conversation with a French person, one thing is key… can you guess what it is? Confidence! How well do you think you will communicate in French if you don’t feel confident about your accent? If you are scared that people won’t understand you? Or even worse if you think someone might make fun of you? Without a minimum of confidence there is no room for communication. Yet if you feel confident, you can afford to make a few mistakes here and there because people will still understand you. What prevents a conversation from happening isn’t just a lack of knowledge, it’s also a lack of confidence. You need to have both to make it work, not to mention, to make it fun!
This course will teach you…
1- How to pronounce every letter of the alphabet
2- How to pronounce every digraph & trigraph
3- How to make every French sentence flow
4- How to pronounce the 100 most popular French words
5- How to pronounce the 50 most popular French phrases
6- How to avoid the pronunciation mistakes everyone makes
More info HERE
It should take you about 20 to 2 hours to complete this course, which is made up of 11 lessons
This course is designed for a beginner level. If you are intermediate but lack confidence when it comes to talking and feel like you could really benefit from focusing on pronunciation, you will love it.
You can join whenever, either by buying the course or by becoming a monthly member giving you access to my French online courses from $10 / month. See more details about the membership below
In the FRENCH DICTÉES online course you will find 20 videos + 10 audio files to help & accompany you every step of the way throughout the course. Why 20 videos? Because there are 10 dictées in total, each focusing on one particular topic, and for each dictée I have prepared 2 videos. Let’s say the video focuses on both French past tenses called imparfait & passé composé. The first video will go though the grammar, the conjugation, and all the tips on these two past tenses to help you understand and remember how and when to use them. The second video will be the actual dictée, a short story written by me, describing everyday life situations conveniently packed with imparfait and passé composé verbs! Boom! Efficient! The dictée will also be read by me, slowly first and then a little faster, with a close up on my face so you can more easily recognize the words and copy the shapes I make to improve your own pronunciation.
Become a French language expert
How do you become an expert at anything? By focusing on one thing at a time.
I’ve made sure to categorize and isolate either a verb tense, a verb group, a grammar or vocabulary topic per dictée, so you can effectively focus and interiorize concepts separately, which makes it a lot easier to remember them.
Here’s what you’re going to learn
What grammar & conjugation points will each dictée focus on?
Dictée # 1: Present tense
Dictée # 2: Past tenses – imparfait & passé composé
Dictée # 3: Future tenses – futur proche & futur simple
Dictée # 4: Conditional, imparfait, asking questions
Dictée # 5: Imperative form
Dictée # 6: First group verbs all tenses
Dictée # 7: Second group verbs all tenses
Dictée # 8: Third group verbs all tenses
Dictée # 9: Numbers
Dictée # 10: Prepositions
Each dictée is a short story written by me about practical everyday life situations. This means that not only do you get to work on conjugation & grammar drills, but you also improve your conversational skills at the same time: a magic combination for your next trip to France!
Grow your confidence talking about practical everyday topics
The dictées will refer to common topics that you are very likely to hear or very likely to use to express yourself such as:
-Traveling to France
-Socializing
-Childhood memories
-Family dynamics
-Everyday life routines
-How to express your ideas, opinions, and dreams
Two videos per dictée
First video: key grammar and conjugation reminders explained very clearly so you feel prepared and confident entering each dictée.
Second video: the actual dictée. I’ve made sure to categorize and isolate either a verb tense, a verb group, a grammar or vocabulary topic, so you can effectively focus and interiorize concepts separately, which makes it a lot easier to remember them.
And for you challenge lovers over-achievers?
Yes I have prepared something just for you! I have also made 10 audio files, 1 per dictée, so that if you wish to, if you want it extra difficult, if you want to test yourself more deeply, you can solely rely on sound. Indeed there are many occasions in life where we hear a language but we don’t see it: speaking to someone on the phone or listening to the radio for instance.
20 videos? 10 audio files? What else?
This new FRENCH DICTÉES online course also comes with written files with both the French text along with the English translation, so that you can evaluate yourself when you’re done taking notes.
To summarize, you’ll be able to use video, audio, and written material.
Dictées worked for me, they’ll work for you!
Let me tell you, I LOVE dictées because THEY WORK. And clearly you realize this too and that is smart of you. So now let’s see how something as simple as a dictée can truly help you become a little bit French! Your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.
Become a monthly member!
My goal is to transform your French language learning experience. This is why I’ve decided to offer you a new way to learn French online and gain access to the French Truly Online School! Actually, more than 1 new way, you’ll have 3 plans to choose from so come and learn French online with me!
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