La grande aventure de Thomas dans le monde des francophones.

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tomgosse
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26 octobre 2015 : Mon aventure fantastique français !

Postby tomgosse » Mon Oct 26, 2015 2:39 pm

Bonjour mes amis,

Last two weeks were kind of slow as far as studying went. Still, I was able to make some progress. Here is where things stand:

Dual Reading and Listening : Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours. I finished chapter eighteen. I am reading about one chapter per day. I really enjoy this because I am a great fan of Jules Verne.

Pimsleur : I am up to lesson twenty-two. I have missed almost a full week, and that means I will most likely have to go back and review anywhere from two to four lessons.

Assimil : Finished lesson nineteen.

Duolingo : I am level at twelve. I increased my goals to fifty XP per day. Last weekend I really binged out and now I'm ready to start "communications".

As usual, I leave TV5Monde on all day long. It seems that France went of Daylight Savings Time this weekend, so that all the programs are starting an hour later than usual.
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tomgosse
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4 novembre 2015 : Mon aventure fantastique français !

Postby tomgosse » Wed Nov 04, 2015 2:08 pm

Bonjour à tous !

Cette semaine a été très lente. Je suis malade et je suis fatigue. Ma maladie rénale est agit vers le haut.

But, I keep on moving along.

Duolingo : I reduced my daily goal from 50 XP back to 20 XP per day. Too much stress to do more. I'm still at level twelve and have a thirty-two day streak.

Pimsleur : I am up to lesson twenty-two in Pimsleur French I. The lessons have dramatically changed and are more difficult for me. I find that I have to repeat the lessons more often. I'm also more prone to skip a day with Pimsleur.

Assimil : I have finished twenty-six lessons; half way through the first "wave". I'm still not sure if I'm doing it right. This is another one that I can't do every day.

Listen-Read : This is the one program that I can do every day. I'm half way through Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours. I have Voyage au centre de la Terre already lined up for next book. I also bought a copy of The Hobbit in French and the French reading from Audible. That will be more of a challenge for me.

After reading this post by sfuqua and the following one by garyb I feel that I am one of those learners who never move beyond the basics. I find that I'm having real trouble understanding, or I should say, remembering beginning lessons. Sometimes when I'm reading or listening to the news I will see or hear a word that I know I've learned and draw a complete blank. I don't know if I should pause and translate it to English, or just keep moving along. It feels as if I can't write anything more advanced than, "Je m'appelle Tom, et je habite au Massachusetts." Being ill isn't helping me.

One of the things I'm thinking of doing is signing up for a three month beginner's course at News In Slow French. It's a lot cheaper than the course at Alliance Française that I considered. Plus, the parking is a much easier. :)

All the best,
Tom
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tomgosse
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15 novembre 2015 : Mon aventure fantastique français !

Postby tomgosse » Sun Nov 15, 2015 3:00 pm

Bonjour mes amis,


Encore une fois, je suis fatigué et triste. Je souhaite les choses allaient changer. On Thursday I had another lithotripsy and when I came home from the hospital I felt like I was hit by a truck. The pain medication the doctor gave me was worthless. I had to call him and threaten to go to the emergency room if he would not write a stronger prescription for me.

Then the attacks in Paris happened. I am saddened to the point of tears. Because of our rule about not discussing politics I can't say more here. But, if you want to know more about how I feel, you can go to my Facebook page and "friend" me. Just let me know that you are from this forum.

French : Before operation I was keeping up with my studies. I reached level 13 on Duolingo. Yippee! I finished lesson 24 on Pimsleur French. I find that I now need to listen twice to each Pimsleur lesson. Assimil is at lesson 30, and I finished chapter 28 of Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours. As I said, since the operation things have really slowed down.

I did sign up for the beginner's course on News In Slow French. It's $60 for three months. I find it a pretty good course, and it has explained a few things that I couldn't grasp in other courses. Such as using "avoir" as a helping verb with idiomatic expressions. It certainly is a better bargain than signing up for the one day intensive course at Alliance Française. I can make it as intensive as I want by shutting of the television and blocking Facebook.

I'm also considering starting a TAC or study group for French. There is a very long discussion on The end of TAC post.

À bientôt mes amis. Soyez fort et avoir du courage !
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Re: 15 novembre 2015 : Mon aventure fantastique français !

Postby PeterMollenburg » Sun Nov 15, 2015 9:51 pm

tomgosse wrote:Bonjour mes amis,


Encore une fois, je suis fatigué et triste. Je souhaite les choses allaient changer. On Thursday I had another lithotripsy and when I came home from the hospital I felt like I was hit by a truck. The pain medication the doctor gave me was worthless. I had to call him and threaten to go to the emergency room if he would not write a stronger prescription for me.

Then the attacks in Paris happened. I am saddened to the point of tears. Because of our rule about not discussing politics I can't say more here. But, if you want to know more about how I feel, you can go to my Facebook page and "friend" me. Just let me know that you are from this forum.

French : Before operation I was keeping up with my studies. I reached level 13 on Duolingo. Yippee! I finished lesson 24 on Pimsleur French. I find that I now need to listen twice to each Pimsleur lesson. Assimil is at lesson 30, and I finished chapter 28 of Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours. As I said, since the operation things have really slowed down.

I did sign up for the beginner's course on News In Slow French. It's $60 for three months. I find it a pretty good course, and it has explained a few things that I couldn't grasp in other courses. Such as using "avoir" as a helping verb with idiomatic expressions. It certainly is a better bargain than signing up for the one day intensive course at Alliance Française. I can make it as intensive as I want by shutting of the television and blocking Facebook.

I'm also considering starting a TAC or study group for French. There is a very long discussion on The end of TAC post.

À bientôt mes amis. Soyez fort et avoir du courage !


Hey Tom,

I really hope your pain settles down soon. Pain is a very subjective thing and a lot of Doctors either measure their patients' pain levels in comparison with other patients' pain with can and cannot be a poor reference. There is also the fear of abuse of analgesia, which certainly does happen. Anyway, I hope you have it sorted and under control now!

Yes, the Paris situation is very sad. I don't want to emotionally 'buy into it' myself as I think that's the aim of terrorism- to spread fear, terror, heartbreak, shock and so on, and media really plays on that to capture an audience. I can only hope that the world changes sooner rather than later for the better as more and more people wake up. It truly is devastating for those involved, but I also take into perspective that whole other countries/populations are being devastated including many thousands of children, all for what? And many terrible things are happening to humanity which are clandestine and insidious to human health. And wars, why? To destroy a 'threat'? Our leaders have a lot to answer for. They should learn how to love one another, not seek revenge and spread fear, but of course they are trying to justify their intentions. This kind of terror is happening every day in places like Syria and the media gives it much less dramatic attention. All human lives are valuable- those in Paris I absolutely agree and those elsewhere just as much.
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tomgosse
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17 Nov 2015 My French Group 2016 - Les Voyageurs Log

Postby tomgosse » Tue Nov 17, 2015 4:35 pm

This is the first post of my 2016 Les Voyageurs log.

So, today I am starting a French study group. It is here: Les Voyageurs 2016 Sign up and join us.
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tomgosse
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Re: My French Group 2016 - Les Voyageurs Log

Postby tomgosse » Wed Nov 18, 2015 7:36 pm

Bonjour à tous,

I spent the last two days beginning to set up the French Study group, Les Voyageurs. Now, I'm tired.

I found this web site for a company that produces easy to read French books with audio CD's. Lire en Français Facile. They don't appear to sell directly from the site, but I was able to us an ISBN number to order a book from Amazon. Les Aventures D'arsene Lupin. It's a level B1 book, so it is going to be a bit of challenge for me.
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Re: My French Group 2016 - Les Voyageurs Log

Postby Arnaud » Wed Nov 18, 2015 8:39 pm

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tomgosse
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23 novembre 2015 : Tom 2016 - Les Voyageurs Journal

Postby tomgosse » Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:00 pm

Bonjour à tous,

I'm still recovering from surgery, but making progress. I'm trying to come up with a study plan for myself. I have a lot of books and courses and I'm not sure what to do next. I seem to be a perpetual faux debutant ! Among my books I have these books in the "... Progressive du Français" series :
* Grammaire
* Conjugasion
* Vocabulaire
* Phonétique
* Orthographe
* Communication
* Civilsation

I also have Assimil New French With Ease, and French In Action. I'm about to finish the Duolingo French tree, and reading Jules Verne's Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours. I have Verne's Voyage au centre de la Terre in the queue. I've ordered Les Miserables, Les Aventures D'arsene Lupin, and Les Trois Mousquetaires in book form with CD readings.

But, for the next month I might slow down the pace. I am quite tired, and find the holiday season stressful. My tenative plan for 2016 is to use Assimil, Duolingo in reverse, and read-listen to one book.

I also have some spiritual reading that I want to do for the holidays.

À bientôt,
Tom
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Re: 23 novembre 2015 : Tom 2016 - Les Voyageurs Journal

Postby arthaey » Mon Nov 23, 2015 7:40 pm

tomgosse wrote:Among my books I have these books in the "... Progressive du Français" series :
* Grammaire
* Conjugasion
* Vocabulaire
* Phonétique
* Orthographe
* Communication
* Civilsation

I've ordered the intermediate* Grammaire book. Do the other books seem worthwhile? They seem very specific to me, and I wonder if their material isn't covered in the Grammaire book implicitly? Or covered by Assimil or other workbooks?

* I chose intermediate over beginner based on others' comments that there is significant overlap, and a false beginner could "easily" start with their intermediate level.
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tomgosse
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Re: 23 novembre 2015 : Tom 2016 - Les Voyageurs Journal

Postby tomgosse » Mon Nov 23, 2015 8:59 pm

arthaey wrote:
tomgosse wrote:Among my books I have these books in the "... Progressive du Français" series :
* Grammaire
* Conjugasion
* Vocabulaire
* Phonétique
* Orthographe
* Communication
* Civilsation

I've ordered the intermediate* Grammaire book. Do the other books seem worthwhile? They seem very specific to me, and I wonder if their material isn't covered in the Grammaire book implicitly? Or covered by Assimil or other workbooks?

* I chose intermediate over beginner based on others' comments that there is significant overlap, and a false beginner could "easily" start with their intermediate level.

There is quite a bit of overlap in the first five books listed. The last two are mostly essays that you read and are quizzed on. I went on a spending spree last winter.

I also have the niveau Intermédiaire grammar book. It is a good place to start.
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