Interview en français de Léna | Interviewing a fellow French teacher

Bonjour à toutes et à tous et bienvenue dans une nouvelle vidéo sur Learn to French. Je m'appelle Eden et j'enseigne le français. Hello and welcome to another video on Learn to French. If you are new here, my name is Eden and I teach French. In today's video, I wanted to introduce you to my dear friend Lena who also is teaching French. So I will be interviewing her and just because we'd love to know more about her, how she teaches French and basically how she got here. Donc aujourd'hui, je vais vous présenter mon amie Lena qui enseigne le français et on va lui poser quelques questions. Je voulais aussi vous annoncer que Lena et moi, on prépare depuis quelque temps des So we have been preparing some French workshops, online workshops. For those who want to join, I will let you know the dates and how you can book a seat. They're not fully ready yet but Lena and I are going to be animating those French online workshops. Parce que c'est vrai que c'est un projet qu'on a travaillé depuis un bon petit bout de temps et ouais, j'ai hâte qu'on fasse ça toutes les deux. Est-ce que tu es prête ? C'est bon pour moi. Comment ça va Lena ? Ça va très bien, merci et toi ? Bah moi ça va, super. Tu est contente d'être avec nous aujourd'hui ? Très contente. Mouais, et bah c'est super ! On va commencer l'interview, on va poser des questions à Léna, about her life, but also about French, how she teaches French, but also what she likes about the French language. So Léna, first of all, could you tell us where you come from? So I come from Normandy, so it's in the north of France, rather in front of England, and then I arrived here in the south. Where exactly do you live in the south? I live next to the Spanish border in Perpignan. It's about five minutes by car, so it's okay. What do you like about the city in which you live, Perpignan? So something that I really like about this city is really the diversity that we will have, both culturally speaking and in terms of landscapes, since we will have both the city, the view of the mountains and the sea right next to it. And then there is also a river, the canal, which passes through Perpignan, so in terms of landscape, it's quite nice. In the city, the houses are very colorful. And then diversity also at the level of the people, in general, since in Perpignan, we have a very high rate of immigration, which means that in fact most of the people are foreigners, so we will have several small communities that will live together, which really allows you to almost be a little out of place and travel within a single city. Since you don't live far from Perpignan, do you speak Spanish? Exactly, like most people who live in Perpignan or near the border. It is true that we have this exchange with Spain, which is very facilitated. And we also have a lot of Spanish or Latin American populations who come here, so the Spanish language is also very spoken within the city of Perpignan. Yes, it's true, I confirm. Besides, when we are at school here, we usually tend to choose Spanish in addition to English as a living language. In fact, I would like to know, what do you do in your free time? Do you have any hobbies? So I have a lot of hobbies, a lot of things, mainly manual. I am more on the moments that come to life, so it will be more painting, reading, for a little bit of the intellectual side, let's say. And then, otherwise, it's a lot of travel and going to meet new people. Tell us a little bit about your last trip. So yes, last month I traveled for six months, where I was in a backpack all over South Latin America. So I was able to go from Central Latin America to Argentina. I was able to work, do volunteering there, so it's the same. We created other links with the people on site. Yes. And that's it. What did you do in particular? So I did several volunteers. I did a volunteer where I built a shark statue by the sea. In this hotel, in fact, the principle was the same, it was equivalent to the working time to do the work we chose to do. It just had to be done by the owner of the hotel. Okay. And then we had the working time that was offered in the hotel. Then I did volunteering too, where I did a lot of welcoming at the hotels. Then I also did professorate with a friend. So there I taught French to a friend of a former Spanish teacher to me. Okay. But in Argentina. So there it was a bit of the opposite effect. I also worked with this same friend in a cooperative where we were more concerned with the sale of all local products in Argentina that were organic. And they had a small truck that was going to distribute them in slightly more disadvantaged areas. We also did a lot of popular action in the street to give food to people. Because when I arrived, it was the crisis. Okay. So with the installation of the new government, etc., the country fell into an economic crisis. And then I also did a promoter. Promoter. That's it, promoter. So the very principle is to organize parties, find people to go to. Yes. And that was it, actually. My job was to have fun. Do you have a good memory of your last trip? Yes, very good memory because, once again, many people and very good people with a big heart who taught me a lot about life as well as their lives in general. It was also very interesting because it was my study program. And suddenly it allowed me to really see what I had studied before with my teachers. Once you have done your studies, or during your studies, it is also important to see how things apply in life. It's like languages, by the way. Completely. I think you shouldn't just study, but really live what you want to learn. To really immerse yourself in it. It makes things easier. It makes it more fun, let's say. You also teach French. Do you want to share a little bit what you do online, your website and all that? Yes, well, first of all, I wanted to say thank you for inviting me. And then, yes, as you said, I opened my website online, Hacia Nuevos Horizontes. So I offer French and Spanish courses. So mainly in English or Spanish for Spanish speakers and in French for Spanish courses for French speakers. What is your target audience? Do you have a particular audience? So, as a rule, I offer for all levels. Depending on the needs of the people, I will adapt to their level of language or the level they would like to reach. But it is true that I have a preference for the advanced level. Because it is a level that will allow me a lot more freedom in terms of the documents that I will be able to choose. And suddenly, it will make teaching much more interesting, in my opinion, in the sense that I said first, we will really live it a lot more. You are more on the learners who might be intermediate or even advanced. From B2 to C2. Exactly. So, what aspect of the French language do you find most interesting to teach? Me, in general, and there, for once, it will not necessarily go only to advanced, since that is also, and especially in the base, I would say, something that I love is really working on the pronunciation. Ah yes. Because it is something that is extremely complex and that we find almost only in French. There are a lot of sounds that are difficult to reproduce precisely because they only exist in French. And suddenly, it is something that I like to do a lot. Because it also connects with other aspects that I like a lot in the language, these are the homonyms. Because in French, you can hear something and in reality it is quite the opposite. It will be completely different. It will have nothing to do. Because between what we hear and what is really written, there can be many different types of writing. And that's fascinating. And suddenly, what joins the third part that I love in the French language, it is really finding, sometimes, similarities with other languages. Why? Because sometimes it will be a word that will not necessarily have much to do in the other language. But in fact, by looking for the why of the how, we realize that it has a common base. And suddenly, we discover the real meaning at the beginning of the word. And for me, it is each time a rediscovery of my own language. I never get tired of it. Do you have any advice to give to people who learn French? So, if I have a piece of advice to give, it is really to practice. Because even if you will not always use all the words in French and that you mix with your original language or in English, since most French people now still understand English, by always trying to create sentences like that, even if it will be half sentences, little by little, already in your brain, it will start to think in French. And little by little, less translate in your language. And I think that really, it is when we jump this barrier of mental translation, that there, really, we can start to learn a language. Because we start to think in the language. I think that really practice, even when we know almost nothing, and that it's going to be hello and thank you, well, say hello, thank you, and in the middle, a little bit of English. A second advice, books for children. Yes, too. There are images, it's not complicated to understand. Often there are also audio CDs, so we can check the pronunciation of what we read. The fact that it is books for children, it also allows us to really associate the sound with a concrete example of letter assembly. Indeed, it is very complicated, often, to recognize a sound in French, since, as we said just before, they are very complex, very numerous. There are a lot of combinations of letters that will make a lot of different sounds. So, since these are quite simple words, since it is a book for children, they will be easier to understand and to know well, and then play, and assimilate to his writing. It's a very good advice. Besides, this is also what we use for a French child to learn the French language. Exactly. Well, he lives every day in the French language, everything we do is in French, but it is true that for a child to be able to advance in his language, precisely in this skill of understanding, of speaking, we use books a lot, and besides, we recommend books a lot, I know that my children, when they were very young, they did not understand everything they sang, but they began to reproduce the sounds they heard thanks to music. This is what we also like to do when we sing maybe a song in another language, we may not understand everything, but we manage to imitate the sounds we hear. And the day you read the lyrics, suddenly it is the revelation because in addition you manage to reproduce the text well and to really assimilate the meaning of the text. Yes, that's true. What is your favorite French word? Do you have a favorite word in French or not at all? You have the right to say no too. Yes, for once I have a favorite word in French because it is a word that I used a lot when I was little and that no one uses. So when I tell you the word, you will have the impression that everyone uses it since it is war. So you hear like war, combat. But it's not war, combat, but war, G-U-E, grave accent, R-E, which is a negation. It's really a word that I love a lot because it reminds me when I was little and I had a lot of love for this word and a lot of pride to say it, especially because it is part of the supported language and suddenly I felt someone elegant. It's true because we don't use this word at all in everyday life, in spoken French. It is especially, as you say, in the supported language and a lot in writing. That's it. I really discovered it in the books because I love to read a lot and that's when it was a revelation. So I'm not war, end, I'm not war, everything you want, But be careful if we use this in everyday French, it's too formal, too supported and we can look at you weirdly. So now we're going to talk about serious things. Cooking. Do you have a favorite French dish? So yes, I have a favorite French dish, it's bourguignon. For those who don't know, bourguignon is a lot of red wine, a lot of meat, potatoes, carrots, bay leaves, small onions and a square of chocolate always to thicken the sauce. There are 10 grams of chocolate to thicken the sauce. I guess it's dark chocolate. Exactly. Because milk chocolate may be a little too sweet. It's true that I don't put potatoes in it, but I eat maybe either the potatoes next door or I make a puree or just pasta because it goes so well with the sauce. I make a lot of rice with the bourguignon because it absorbs a lot the sauce too. The problem is that I am also Asian I can't eat Asian rice with bourguignon beef for me there is a problem. I understand the problem. And for dessert, what do you like to eat? For dessert, it's really the meringue lemon pie but because I would say that it is one of the rare desserts that is not too sweet so it can please people who do not like sugar in general and at the same time it is very fresh and you still have this gluttony with the cream so I think that's why. It satisfies a little bit all palates. You live in the south of France there is a lot of sun, we live in the most sunny region of France. What is your favorite season? My favorite season is really spring because it is the symbol of renewal everything is in bloom and I really feel I don't know if it's as a woman but I really feel that nature expresses what we feel inside we feel this renewal, this change of air this peps that pushes us to do new things and to undertake new things we start to have a little nice weather without it being too hot because it can be very hot here in our region we have the beach to cool down a little bit but it's true that in spring we have this side where we can start eating outside the only drawback I would say of spring is sometimes the flowers and here there are a lot of allergies you are allergic to pollen I am allergic to pollen I think it's just the drawback of spring so if you could visit any francophone region which one would you choose? I would choose Madagascar an island next to Africa and why Madagascar? because my dad lived there and he told me a lot about it so it's really to try to reconnect a little bit with him and see all these beautiful landscapes that I was told about and it's also an opportunity to say that we can still speak French so far from home when we are so far geographically from France the fact of being able to speak French in a place that doesn't look like France at all doesn't look like the landscape of France it can actually maybe do good they make a lot of peppers there but also vanilla Madagascar vanilla they produce beautiful vanilla in Madagascar very famous and consumed everywhere which is expensive when you buy it here I know that I have my mother who has a friend from Malagasy that she sees very often and when she goes to Madagascar she brings her a lot of vanilla by the way she still has some at home so much that she has some but yeah those are very beautiful vanilla peels thank you very much for all these answers Lena I hope that you liked getting to know Lena today thank you very much Lena for coming and making the trip I put all the links in the description of this video to access Lena's website if you want to book classes with her individually thank you very much for staying with me today and I'll see you very soon for a new video on Learn to French Goodbye