Duolingo podcasts are free, short stories that can be incorporated into your French learning to improve your French listening and comprehension skills.
Now, just listening to the podcast by itself, while entertaining (the stories themselves are fascinating), isn’t going to magically boost your French comprehension and conversational skills.
You need specific strategies and a plan to ensure you gain the most benefit, so I put together a 7-Day Challenge to Improve Your French with Duolingo Podcasts.
Find them here: https://podcast.duolingo.com/french
Duolingo French Podcast: One step for each day
To complete the challenge all you need to do is complete the tasks listed below for each day and at the end of the 7 days you’ll be amazed at how much your French has improved in such a short time.
DAY 1
Choose a podcast episode and listen to it without reading the transcript
DAY 2
Re-listen to the same episode as yesterday but read along with the transcript
DAY 3
Get curious about the French phrases and vocabulary being used. Referring to the transcript and audio, make a list of any interesting phrases or vocabulary. Then either working with your French teacher (if you have one) or using online resources (such as WordReference – my personal favourite) break the list down to better understand the syntax and pronunciation used
DAY 4
Translation time. Have a look at the English sections of the episode. What are the key sentences that help summarise the story being told? Highlight those sections and then it’s time to find the French equivalent. *Bonus Challenge – Express a few sections of the episode in French
DAY 5
Review your list of French words and phrases along with your translation from yesterday. Read them out loud to yourself for more French listening and reinforcement
DAY 6
Listen to the episode again but without the transcript. How much more of the story are you able to understand? *Tip – Use the speed controls on the podcast app for the areas that are a little more tricky to understand. Try to not go any slower than 0.75 speed though as the voices will be too distorted.
DAY 7
The final day’s task is to use your notes and the full transcript to answer the below questions:
De quoi s’agit dans cet épisode ?
Qu’est ce qu’on apprend au sujet du personnage principal ?
Quelle était votre partie préférée de l’épisode et pourquoi ?
Writing short answers for these questions helps you to showcase your new vocabulary and also helps to start to cement them in your long term memory.
Enjoy the 7-day challenge with Duolingo French Podcast:
For a more in-depth overview of my challenge, check out the video below and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel for more tips and lessons to improve your French.
If you decide to take on my 7-Day Challenge, I’d love to hear from you. Let me know which episode you chose and which was your most challenging day.
Duolingo French Podcast challenge:
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