You want to learn French differently because you’re sick of traditional and school-like methods? You struggle with keeping the motivation, you easily get bored when you try to learn French with grammar books and vocabulary lists? Your brain just doesn’t like it, and that’s OK! and that's OK. !
there are other ways of making progress! il y a d’autres manières de progresser. In this article, I’m going to show you how to use your hobbies and interests to learn French at your own pace. Because yes, you can improve your French while having fun and without a super rigid routine!
Why traditional methods to learn French aren’t for everyone
We often hear the same advice to learn French: things like “Learn 5 minutes a day evbery day”, find a learning buddy, learn the grammar…I’m sure you’ve tried all the school-like methods with books, conjugation tables and fill in the blanks exercises. But the thing is, it doesn’t work for everyone! !
And when it doesn’t work, it’s counter productive and frustratingAt first, sure you’re motivated, but quickly you lose interestyou start thinking about other stuff, you procrastinate. And of course you feel guilty, because you truly want to learn French but you just can’t stay focused.
Thing is, those methods are pretty normative and come from the idea that all brains can handle them. It’s just not true. Some people might absolutely make huge progress that way, but it’s far from working for most. And if you’re neurodivergent, out of the box in your thinking, super creative or just very selective about what retains your attention, then it likely won’t work.
Repeating random sentences and learning in a very mechanical way just isn’t very interesting to you. It’s too far from your reality, you can’t get into it. And so your brain starts resisting and boom, procrastination appears! !
That’s what happened to me when I was learning English. I didn’t learn with grammar books. When I’m really into something, sure I can spend hours working on it, no problem. But if I’m not…Then I lose my focus so fast. And as much as I’m a linguistics nerd, I find grammar books super boring. So at uni, I had awful grades in English grammar. We had to write essays on the use of the word ‘and’, and let’s just say it was everything but fun.
However, Doing research on the exact word I needed to use in a fic... That I could spend hours on without issue. Because I was really into it I wanted to write that fic and I wanted it to be good.
If you’re like me, if you can’t stay focused on your French learning - that’s OK. It’s because your brain isn’t made for this kind of learning,and that’s fine. There are other ways!
Improving your French can be a true pleasure and something you really love. You just need to find the right way of doing it. It’s exactly what I do for my students.And now I’ll show youhow to use your interests to finally learn French with no frustrations.
Use your hobbies and niche interests to learn French differently!
Like we’ve seen, traditional learning methods aren’t right for everyone, and that's OK.But then, how can we learn French differently when we’re eurodivergent, creative or selective? ?
The most important thing is: don't force it. Swallowing up conjugation tables is really not gonna help. Like we say in French, “when it doesn’t want, it does’t want”.
What you really need is to go from what you already enjoy! Your passions, your weird obsessions, things you often do or often want to do. In a word, your niche interests !
Take a few moments to really think.You need to go find those interests, and be honest while you’re at it! You might have a tendency to make up dialogues in your mind while doing the dishes. Or maybe you love watching video game streams. Or maybe you like diving into queer forums.
Then make a list. Yep, a real one. Put in bullet points all the stuff you enjoy doing, reading, creating, listening to… No matter in what language you usually do it. To give you even more examples, it can be journaling, making to-do lists for absolutely everything, ranting about your favourite show, reading romances, drawing…
Now look at your list. Are there things you could do in French? Actually, the question is : How can you do these things in French?
You’ll see the possibilities are endless. You might think that drawing for instance can’t help you improve your French. Well, it can! You could grab a notebook (or a google doc, whatever), and write down drawing ideas. Or name them. Or write the story behind the drawing in a few words.
Your level in French doesn’t matter - and neither does how good you are in the activity. The true purpose is to have fun. By associating a hobby and learning French, you’ll keep your motivation in the long run!
For instance, take this student from my book club . He was saying how he found himself really enjoying criticizing tropes he doesn’t like. To him, discovering a French book and criticizing it (good and bad) during our club sessions has become a way to learn French differently! And it works, because he's having fun !
And if you’re lost on how to get started, no worries! I’m going to give you some ideas to turn French into your personal hobby!
Turn learning French into a real hobby!
Now that you’ve found some niche interests, let’s move on to the next step: turning French into a true hobby. Not something to get off the to-do, not a daily chore, but something you do for yourself, because you love it, not because you have to do it.
I’m sure you’ve heard from lots of teachers that you need to “work on it 5 minutes per day”. And sure enough, it works for some people. But if you’re neurodivergent or just don’t do well with strict routines, it makes you feel guilty rather than motivated. And if all it does is make you feel terrible every time you skip your ‘duty’, it's worthless.
My advice is to instead learn French regularly but on your own schedule and pace.Once again, it all comes from you! If you’re down the rabbit hole about some podcast for a few days, and then need a few days to recover, then fine. What matters is to be consistent in the long run and in the big picture, not to have a perfectly balanced agenda.
And more than anything, do things you like, but do them actively! Playing a game in French is nice, but you can also have a little game progress diary! Same thing for TV shows. Watch them in French, yeah, but then you can take a moment to sum up what you thought of the episode. It doesn’t even have to be in written form, you can just make the sentences in your mind! No pressure at all, thinking in French in your head is already active learning! !
And if you’re aware that you have a huge procrastination problem, or that you really need structure to stay into it, be smart. You can get a coach/teacher to have some external pressure and a structure. You can also join a bookclub, or any kind of club. Or even join a Discord on whatever topic you like
The mere fact of telling other people and owning the fact that you’re learning French is going to create a frame and force you a bit to keep moving.
You can learn French differently without a strict frame, it can absolutely be a safe space, full of fun, creativity and pleasure.And I’m here to help you build your perfect frame, the one that truly fits you ✨
Learning French differently is possible, and you don’t have to do it alone
If you made it here, then you know deep down that you truly want to learn French… Just not like you used to. Not with grammar books, vocabulary lists and rules to learn by heart. Not in a way that bores you.
You need a way that fits your needs, your vibe, your brain.You want to talk about your passions, understand things, speak with nuance - but in a way that animates you.
And you’re so right.
Whether you’re queer, a nerd, neurodivergent or simply not into traditional methods, it is possible to learn French differently.
And if you’re struggling on your own, if you need someone to frame things, motivate you or even just someone to talk French with,I can help you.
I do 1-1 online classes for people like you. My goal is to create a safe space, full of motivation and fun - where you can improve while talking about stories, games, sport, astronomy, identities, whatever you like. Whatever animates you deep down.
You’d like to know more? Check out my French coursesor just write to me so we can talk about your needs. I’d be delighted to help you, in a way that fits you.
