You’ve heard the French word “alors” before but what does it mean and how do you use it?
Alors means so, then, well and in that case. Alors has many usages and can cause confusion for beginners. French speakers place alors in different parts of the sentence (Alors, qu’est-ce que tu fais? So, what are you doing?) and use it multiple expressions (Ça alors! You don’t say!). This post also teachers alors vs. donc, which means therefore.
The the French “est-ce que” can seem quite foreign and mysterious to a beginner student who’s just starting to learn French. Simply put, est-ce que is used in asking informal questions. It’s literal translation is, “is this that”. A loose translation for est-ce que is, is, are, do and does for questions. You put it directly in front of any statement to make a question. In this short lesson you’ll learn how to ask a question with est-ce que and find lots of useful examples. Keep reading!
Bonjour! My name is David Issokson and I’m a fulltime online French teacher. Many of my students have mentioned using Rosetta Stone French prior to taking lessons with me. I thought I’d review the course and share my findings. My conclusion is that while Rosetta Stone French is an excellent resource for somebody starting out in French, it does has some limitations. Keep reading to find out more.
[Read more…]My name is David Issokson. I am a fluent French speaker and have been teaching students one-on-one French lessons since the end of 2013. I decided have a look at Pimsleur French in order to determine whether or not I’d recommend the product to my students.
Pimsleur has always been famous for its scientific approach to language teaching call the Pimsleur Method. Overall, I definitely feel this course would be a good tool for somebody who’s just starting out in their adventure learning French. Keep reading to find out my personal thoughts and detailed review of the Pimsleur French Premium course.
[Read more…]My name is David Issokson. I have been teaching French online since the beginning of 2014 and have helped hundreds of students of all levels to improve their French.
Many of my students have asked me about supplementary study material so I decided to have a look at FrenchPod101.
Would I recommend the product to my students?
Yes, if they’re looking for a resource with dialogues, extensive vocabulary lists and audio. No, if they’re looking for a clear and comprehensive introduction and lesson plan covering the basics of French grammar.
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Learning how to read and pronounce the French accents marks correctly can be a big challenge for a beginner French student. The names of the French accents are: the l’accent aigu (é), l’accent grave (è), le circonflexe (ê), l’accent tréma (ë) and la cédille (ç). Our goal is to completely demystify the French accents and explain the pronunciation so you can start to incorporate them into your reading and speaking. Getting French pronunciation down is tricky. Here you can master the reading rules and alphabet and -r sounds. I can also help you with your reading on my private online lessons.
One of the best ways to learning language is through using music. The advantage is that somehow using a melody helps to make the learning process of new words much faster.
My name is David and I’ve been teaching French online since the beginning of 2014. I’ve helped hundreds of students to reach their goals in learning French. The following is a collection of ten songs which I have hand picked, reviewed and found to be very helpful for my beginner students over the past seven years.
A lot of the songs are by the French singer, Alain Le Lait. I’ve included French lyrics with translations for videos which don’t include English subtitles.
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On this you’ll find five French Christmas songs with French lyrics and English translations. The song list includes: Petit Papa Noël, Vive Le Vent (Jingle Bells), Douce Nuit (Silent Night), Mon Beau Sapin (O Christmas Tree) and Ce N’est Qu’un Au Revoir (Auld Lang Syne).
My name is David Issokson. Since the beginning of 2014 I’ve helped hundreds of students to learn French through my online lessons.
Over the years I’ve noticed a trend that we all seem to make the same mistakes.
Indeed, these mistakes are universal. One of the single most imporant things that we can do is French learners is try to nip these errors in the bud early on during our learning.
I’ve actually made a list of over 100 beginner mistakes. In this article I’m going to list out the most common mistakes and show you how you can correct them.
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On this page you will find a list of the most common French slang (argot) words you can use in everyday conversation. I have handpicked these words based on a lifelong experience speaking French. Knowing French slang has lots of advantages including:
Bonjour! My name is David Issokson. I'm based in Victor, Idaho and have helped hundreds of students to learn French via Skype or Zoom since 2014. 
