I recently published a Planet French episode involving the police forcefully arresting a teenage girl dressed as a Star Wars Storm Trooper in Lethbridge, Alberta. I hesitated before publishing this piece. I thought no one would want to watch it. I thought everyone would steer clear of it because at the heart of it was…

There’s a place deep in a Canadian forest where time has stopped. So has my jeep: I’ve arrived. In this strange land people wear clothes from another time, cook food from another planet, and speak French. The giant smiling lumberjack welcomes me and our camera crew to La Sucrerie de la Montagne. Une érablière rustique,…

Polyglots use strategies to learn multiple languages. Each polyglot is different. Here are some strategies they use: 1. Meaning/Patterns/Context: Some polyglots learn the most useful word groups with the highest frequencies first. They learn phrases instead of individual words. 2. Repeated exposure to and repeated use of the language: They expose themselves to the language…

We’re releasing a new Booksmarts French kit: Le Moyen Äge. This kit covers the period starting at the fall of the Roman Empire all the way to the Renaissance. The level of French is perfect for immersion and extended French. It addresses the need for a compelling social studies resource that explains causal relationships rather…

Do you know what’s possibly the most insane winter competition in the world ?     Out in Quebec city they race canoes on the St-Lawrence River. In February.    It’s part of Le Carnaval de Quebec and let me tell you, it’s freeeezing. I know, I’m there every year.      Consider this: Teams of…

One of the best ways to learn French is through French culture. One of the least known but most interesting French cultural hotspots is Haiti. This video shares samples from the French resource Bienvenue en Haiti, from www.Booksmarts.biz, one of the leading French resources provider. 

Booksmarts Planet French have just released a new online course called LA TERRE ET L’ESPACE. It targets immersion students and helps students reach curriculum outcomes with short videos in levelled French. These short, concise lessons clearly explain science concepts in levelled French. Science courses include tectonic plates, volcanos, light, chemistry, the rock cycle, the water…

According to an article by Crawford Kilian, students from wealthy backgrounds scored better than students from less fortunate socio economic backgrounds. The results show girls significantly outscored boys in reading. Click here for the full article.  Using online learning platforms like planet French helps bridge the gap between rich/poor, girls/boys because students can instantly access…

Booksmarts Planet French have just released a new video in the course “Les cellules” called “Les différents types de cellules”. In this week’s release, we cover the components of animal and plant cells and photosynthesis. This lesson follows the lesson covering cell theory. We are producing science courses in levelled French covering the science curriculum.…

There has always been demand for easy texts in all media for second language students.

So you’re teaching French and today you’re looking for an article or video in levelled French to show your students. You want to engage them with a short 2 minute piece they can understand, drum up conversation and then explicitly teach a concept. Great. Say the piece you need has to explain Canada’s government, or…

Each kit contains one DVD video and 10 copies of the book. Grades 2 through 12. The video features: Description, Montreal Canadiens Hall of fame visit ! equipment, interviews, rules, history …and more, all in simple French with authentic speakers ! The video and the book go hand in hand. The video plays on PCs, Macs and on DVD players. Our videos offer several chapters for a total of between 35-60 minutes. The books are 28 pages full colour, beautiful photographs. The books has a variety of texts and genres including descriptive texts, narrations, dialogues, and more! Click on slide for more information.

CLICK THE VIDEO TO PREVIEW Here is a preview of our amazing kit LES FRANCO-ONTARIENS. The kit has everything you need to cover the theme. The book has stunning photographs and the DVDs come with tons of videos. We went everywhere in Ontario and met great people. Take a look. MASSIVE, COMPREHENSIVE and FUN FRENCH KIT:…

Dans cet épisode vidéo de 8 minutes: Les nouvelles- on va à quebec – on installe des pneus d’hiver, on rencontre des profs de français- on rencontre des soldats français et britanniques de la période entre 1700/1812. Puis on raconte une légende de fantômes de Québec et on discute de certains points. En plus, le…

Experts tell us many jobs will be done by robots instead of by humans. When? Very soon. It’s already begun. Bank tellers have been replaced to a large degree by ATMs and soon even financial analysts will see their jobs go to artificial intelligence. Most finance firms already use AI to make stock predictions at…

It’s Remembrance Day. Here are videos and articles your French students might enjoy today. You can show these in class with a free guest 5 day trial account by filling the check-in form on www.planetfrench.com. We’re featuring 4 videos and one article about “Le Jour du Souvenir” and about the armed forces on Planet French,…

Thank you for all the amazing positive feedback regarding Halloween videos on Planet French. Coming up to Remembrance Day on Nov. 11th, Planet French is releasing content about this and about the Canadian armed forces. Let’s talk a husband and wife team of Canadian military spies. They met during the War and subscribers can read…

There were over 500,000 people marching in the climate change protest and student strike on Friday in Montreal. Planet French was there. Here is the new episode #159. It’s available to watch for Planet French subscribers and for guests (for the next day). Planet French subscribers (www.planetfrench.com) can watch weekly Canadian news videos in levelled…