Latest / The Learn French With Alexa Podcast / EP 8| Pourquoi est-ce que j'aime enseigner ? (Why do I love to teach?)

Transcript

EP 8| Pourquoi est-ce que j'aime enseigner ? (Why do I love to teach?) · The Learn French With Alexa Podcast

• 0:00
  Bonjour et bienvenue à notre podcast, Learn French with
• 0:03
  Alexa. This is episode number 8,
• 0:05
  épisode numéro 8, where I will read a short passage in French
• 0:11
  based on a fun fact about me, Alexa Polidoro.
• 0:15
  You might be bored with me by now and think "Well, I don't
• 0:20
  want to know about you." It's fair enough, to be fair,
• 0:22
  but I needed content. You know what they say: write
• 0:25
  what you know. And I know me quite well, though
• 0:30
  sometimes I have doubts. Anyways, we are going to read a
• 0:35
  passage. This is a slightly higher level,
• 0:37
  I would say A1/A2, more A2. We're going to focus on
• 0:42
  negations here, but also on infinitive verbs.
• 0:45
  So you may say: "Well, I don't know what infinitive verbs are,
• 0:49
  Alexa." That's okay, because I'm about
• 0:51
  to teach you. And again, this is based on
• 0:55
  lessons 10 and 12 of my complete French course.
• 0:58
  If you're not aware of what it is, it's a certified course that
• 1:03
  I created a few years ago, bought by hundreds of thousands
• 1:07
  of people already, and teaching you French from A1 to C2 level.
• 1:13
  Here we go. Let's listen to the first
• 1:17
  reading. Écoutez attentivement.
• 1:20
  And I'll give you a question in a minute.
• 1:24
  It's all about "mon travail", my job.
• 1:28
  "Mon travail". Listen very carefully.
• 1:33
  Dans ma famille, croyez-le ou non, il y a beaucoup de
• 1:38
  coiffeurs, surtout du côté de ma mère.
• 1:40
  Mes tantes, mes cousines, mes nièces sont coiffeuses.
• 1:45
  Moi, je déteste aller au salon de coiffure et je ne sais pas
• 1:50
  couper les cheveux des gens non plus.
• 1:54
  En fait, je me coupe les cheveux moi-même.
• 1:58
  C'est en Angleterre, où je suis arrivée il y a 34 ans, que j'ai
• 2:03
  trouvé ma vraie passion : enseigner.
• 2:06
  J'adore pouvoir partager ma langue avec les gens et leur
• 2:11
  faire découvrir mon pays. J'aime aussi aider mes étudiants
• 2:15
  à explorer leur potentiel. Échanger avec eux me donne des
• 2:21
  opportunités uniques de rencontrer de nouvelles
• 2:24
  personnes. OK, so this text was slightly
• 2:28
  longer than usual, but I think it's a very good text in terms
• 2:33
  of negations, in terms of infinitive verbs, and structure.
• 2:40
  I'm going to ask you a question now.
• 2:45
  Did you manage to hear this? Quel est le métier de mes
• 2:53
  tantes, cousines et nièces ? So that's the first question.
• 2:58
  Quel est le métier de mes tantes, cousines et nièces ?
• 3:04
  Now, with "métier", we could have said: Quel est le travail,
• 3:09
  la profession de mes tantes, cousines et nièces ?
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  Now, can you answer this question ?
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  So what is "le métier"? What is "la profession"?
• 3:18
  What is "le travail"? It's a job, isn't it ?
• 3:21
  So what is it I'm asking you ? Quel est le métier de mes
• 3:26
  tantes, cousines et nièces ? That's right.
• 3:30
  I'm asking you, what is the job of my aunties, cousins, and
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  nieces? Weird, you may think, it's
• 3:38
  obviously the same job, but what is it?
• 3:42
  Listen carefully for the second time and answer this question:
• 3:48
  Quel est le métier de mes tantes, cousines et nièces ?
• 3:53
  Écoutez attentivement. Dans ma famille, croyez-le ou
• 3:56
  non, il y a beaucoup de coiffeurs, surtout du côté de ma
• 4:01
  mère. Mes tantes, mes cousines, mes
• 4:04
  nièces sont coiffeuses. Moi, je déteste aller au salon
• 4:09
  de coiffure et je ne sais pas couper les cheveux des gens non
• 4:13
  plus. En fait, je me coupe les cheveux
• 4:17
  moi-même. C'est en Angleterre, où je suis
• 4:20
  arrivée il y a 34 ans, que j'ai trouvé ma vraie passion :
• 4:25
  enseigner. J'adore pouvoir partager ma
• 4:29
  langue avec les gens et leur faire découvrir mon pays.
• 4:33
  J'aime aussi aider mes étudiants à explorer leur potentiel.
• 4:39
  Échanger avec eux me donne des opportunités uniques de
• 4:43
  rencontrer de nouvelles personnes.
• 4:47
  Can you answer this question: Quel est le métier de mes
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  tantes, cousines et nièces ? Do you hear the word?
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  That's right. It's "coiffeur".
• 5:02
  That means hairdresser. Now, "coiffeur" ou "coiffeuse",
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  you may have heard. So I use the word "coiffeuse" to
• 5:14
  refer to the job of "mes tantes, mes cousines, and mes nièces",
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  and not "coiffeur", because "coiffeuse" is the feminine form
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  of hairdresser. "Coiffeur" is the masculine
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  form. Now, listen to the beginning of
• 5:28
  this text. Dans ma famille, croyez-le ou
• 5:31
  non, il y a beaucoup de coiffeurs, surtout du côté de ma
• 5:37
  mère. Mes tantes, mes cousines, mes
• 5:40
  nièces sont coiffeuses. So we've got here : Dans ma
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  famille, in my family, croyez-le ou non, believe it or not.
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  Croyez-le ou non. Believe it or not.
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  Il y a beaucoup de coiffeurs. There is a lot of hairdressers.
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  Il y a beaucoup de coiffeurs. I should have said: Il y a
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  beaucoup de coiffeuses, because they're all females.
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  Okay? Feminine.
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  Now, we've read the text twice. I want to read it a third time,
• 6:14
  then a fourth time with translation.
• 6:16
  Now, the third time, can you answer this question?
• 6:20
  Pourquoi est-ce que j'aime enseigner ?
• 6:24
  "Enseigner" is really hard to write and to pronounce even.
• 6:29
  Now, "enseigner" means to teach. Why is it that I like, or why do
• 6:35
  I like teaching? Pourquoi est-ce que j'aime
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  enseigner ? So that's the second question.
• 6:42
  Now, while you're reading with me this article, or listening to
• 6:48
  this article, try to spot the answer to the first question?
• 6:54
  What do my aunties and cousins and nieces do as a job?
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  Quel est le métier de mes tantes, cousines et nièces ?
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  You'll hear it again, and that will be so much clearer.
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  Listen for "coiffeurs" and "coiffeuses" and "coiffure",
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  which means the hairdressing in general, like "le salon de
• 7:17
  coiffure" is a hair salon. Now, listen to the text and
• 7:23
  answer: Pourquoi est-ce que j'aime enseigner ?
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  Why do I like to teach? Dans ma famille, croyez-le ou
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  non, il y a beaucoup de coiffeurs, surtout du côté de ma
• 7:38
  mère. Mes tantes, mes cousines, mes
• 7:41
  nièces sont coiffeuses. Moi, je déteste aller au salon
• 7:45
  de coiffure et je ne sais pas couper les cheveux des gens non
• 7:50
  plus. En fait, je me coupe les cheveux
• 7:54
  moi-même. C'est en Angleterre, où je suis
• 7:56
  arrivée il y a 34 ans, que j'ai trouvé ma vraie passion :
• 8:01
  enseigner. J'adore pouvoir partager ma
• 8:04
  langue avec les gens et leur faire découvrir mon pays.
• 8:08
  J'aime aussi aider mes étudiants à explorer leur potentiel.
• 8:13
  Échanger avec eux me donne des opportunités uniques de
• 8:18
  rencontrer de nouvelles personnes.
• 8:21
  So that should give you the answer to the second question:
• 8:24
  Pourquoi est-ce que j'aime enseigner ?
• 8:26
  Now, the answer is here. J'adore pouvoir partager ma
• 8:34
  langue avec les gens et leur faire découvrir mon pays.
• 8:39
  J'aime aussi aider mes étudiants à explorer leur potentiel.
• 8:44
  Échanger avec eux me donne des opportunités uniques de
• 8:48
  rencontrer de nouvelles personnes.
• 8:50
  So we've got different answers to that question.
• 8:54
  It could be, for example: J'adore partager ma langue.
• 8:58
  I love to share my language. It could be: j'aime aussi aider
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  mes étudiants à explorer leur potentiel.
• 9:09
  I love to help people, my students, to explore their
• 9:13
  potential. Échanger, an exchange with them,
• 9:17
  avec eux, me donne des opportunités uniques de
• 9:23
  rencontrer de nouvelles personnes.
• 9:24
  So the fact that I'm exchanging with my students gives me unique
• 9:30
  opportunities to meet new people.
• 9:35
  So that's the answer. It could be any of these, for
• 9:39
  example. And here's my question to you
• 9:42
  guys. Quel est votre métier ?
• 9:45
  What is your job? Quel est votre métier ?
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  Et pourquoi vous aimez ce métier ?
• 9:51
  And why do you like this job? Et pourquoi vous le détestez ?
• 9:55
  And why you don't like it? As I said, we are covering
• 9:59
  lessons 10 and 12 of the Complete French Course.
• 10:03
  We're focusing on negation, And we are going to read through the
• 10:09
  text to spot the negation. As a matter of fact, let's hear
• 10:13
  it from our sponsor. If you're enjoying learning
• 10:16
  French with me and would like to go even further, my certified
• 10:20
  Complete French Course brings everything together in one
• 10:24
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• 10:27
  and support guides to help you reach your goals.
• 10:31
  And it's all taught by me. Use code ALEXAPOD for 15% off.
• 10:37
  So you've noticed that my sponsor is me, myself, and I.
• 10:44
  It always amuses me that I sponsor my own podcast, which is
• 10:49
  very funny. If you wish to sponsor Learn
• 10:51
  French with Alexa podcast, please contact us at
• 10:55
  support@learnfrenchwithalexa.com. Anyways, here we go.
• 10:59
  Let's have a look at the full text translation and focus on
• 11:04
  negations. Dans ma famille, croyez-le ou
• 11:08
  non. So that's a funny one here.
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  Believe it or not. In my family, believe it or not.
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  See how we say "not"? We say "non".
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  Dans ma famille, croyez-le ou non.
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  Believe it or not. Croyez-le ou non.
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  Il y a beaucoup de coiffeurs. There is a lot of hairdressers.
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  And we don't say "Il y a beaucoup coiffeurs" nor do we
• 11:35
  say "Il y a beaucoup des coiffeurs" but "beaucoup de".
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  There is a lot of hairdressers. Surtout du côté de ma mère.
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  Especially on my mother's side. Mes tantes, my aunties.
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  Mes cousines, my cousins, and that's lady cousin because we
• 11:53
  are adding an -E at the end here.
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  Mes nièces, that's my nieces. Not nephews, which is "neveux".
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  Sont coiffeuses. They are hairdressers.
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  And we say "coiffeuses", S-E-S, because we're referring not only
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  to the fact that they are all feminine but also plural.
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  We are talking about the plural, so we've added an -S to
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  "coiffeuses". Moi, je déteste aller au salon.
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  So here, me, I detest to go. Okay.
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  I detest, I hate going. Okay.
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  But in French, we use the infinitive "aller", to go.
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  I touched on the infinitive earlier on.
• 12:33
  What is an infinitive verb? Well, it is a verb that has not
• 12:37
  been touched yet or conjugated. For example, "marcher", to walk,
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  or "aller", to go. However, when conjugated, and
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  let's take "aller" as an example because it's a highly irregular
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  verb, though it's an -ER verb, it's highly irregular.
• 12:55
  When you're going to conjugate it in English, it's easy.
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  To go becomes I go, you go, he goes.
• 13:02
  That's the slight difficulty. However, in French, the
• 13:07
  infinitive is conjugated and changes a lot.
• 13:10
  So "aller" becomes "je vais", I go.
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  Here, we've conjugated the infinitive "aller", to go.
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  You see what we've done? Tu vas, il va, nous allons, vous
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  allez, ils vont, elles vont, and so on.
• 13:22
  So bear in mind the use of the infinitive because there is
• 13:26
  plenty in this text. Je déteste aller, I hate going
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  or to go. Au salon de coiffure, to the
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  hair salon. But that's personal to me.
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  That's another fun fact about me.
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  Et je ne sais pas couper les cheveux, and I do not know.
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  So here is an example of a negation: Je ne sais pas.
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  "Je sais" means I know, but add "ne" before the verb and "pas"
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  afterwards, it becomes not. So I do not know.
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  Je ne sais pas. Okay?
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  Je ne sais pas couper. Here's an infinitive.
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  I do not know how to cut hair. "Couper", ending in ER.
• 14:07
  The fact that "couper" has an ER ending means that it is in its
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  infinitive form. This means that it has not been
• 14:20
  conjugated. "Couper" in the present tense
• 14:22
  becomes "je coupe" and then "nous coupons, vous coupez".
• 14:26
  So that's quite different. Je ne sais pas couper les
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  cheveux. I don't know how to cut hair.
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  Des gens, of people. Non plus, neither.
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  Okay, so here's another negation.
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  Je ne sais pas couper les cheveux des gens non plus.
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  Neither. Non plus.
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  Okay. Now "plus" as we noticed in
• 14:45
  episode 7 is a very versatile little word which can be used
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  for superlatives, for negations, for comparatives.
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  So bear in mind of how to use "plus".
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  "It's a funny little thing that", she says.
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  En fait, je me coupe les cheveux moi-même.
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  I cut my own hair. Je me coupe, so "se couper" is a
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  reflexive. Les cheveux, my hair, or the
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  hair. Myself, moi-même.
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  So here we've got two pronominal reflection is not only do I say:
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  je me coupe. What?
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  Les cheveux moi-même. Myself.
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  Okay. And it's a fact, by the way.
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  So once in a while, every four weeks, I will look at myself in
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  the mirror and I will think: "It is time.
• 15:41
  Alexa, it's time." Get the pair of scissors, which
• 15:46
  I cut the cat's hair with as well, by the way.
• 15:49
  So, the pair of scissors serves two purposes, my own hair and
• 15:53
  the cat's hair, who just happens to have long hair.
• 15:59
  Of course, I wash my pair of scissors in between, because of
• 16:03
  hygiene and everything. But it's a good pair of
• 16:07
  scissors. Anyway, so I go, I lift my hair
• 16:10
  up, and in front of the mirror - have you ever tried to cut your
• 16:13
  hair in front of the mirror? Well, it's odd because, of
• 16:17
  course, the angle is wrong. So it takes my brain a while to
• 16:21
  get used to it. So the first time I cut, it's
• 16:24
  completely wrong, and then I get used to it.
• 16:27
  And so I cut it properly. Anyway, I'm sure you wanted to
• 16:31
  hear the story of me cutting my own hair.
• 16:33
  It's so fascinating. Not.
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  Anyways, so I carry on: C'est en Angleterre.
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  So I start about talking about "mon travail", my job.
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  It is in England. Où je suis arrivée.
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  Where I arrived. That's not the main focus of the
• 16:51
  lesson, but we say "je suis arrivée", not "j'ai arrivé",
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  because "arriver" is a verb that is conjugated with the auxiliary
• 16:59
  to be in the passé composé. So I arrived.
• 17:03
  I know that technically I said "I am arrived", but it is "In am
• 17:07
  arrived". It's a movement verb, and we
• 17:10
  need to use it with to be. Il y a 34 ans.
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  Now, when you say "il y a", it means there is or there are 34
• 17:20
  years, which means 34 years ago. And that's the way you say ago.
• 17:26
  So you say, I arrived two weeks ago: Je suis arrivée il y a deux
• 17:33
  semaines, for example. He contacted me 48 hours ago: Il
• 17:41
  m'a contactée il y a 48 heures. See what we've done?
• 17:44
  Don't try to translate ago at the end of the sentence.
• 17:47
  It doesn't work in French. Donc... il y a 34 ans que j'ai
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  trouvé ma vraie passion. That I have found my true
• 17:56
  passion. To be fair, I didn't know that I
• 17:58
  would become who I am. "Enseigner", to teach, was my
• 18:04
  real passion. Though I was a waitress in Pizza
• 18:10
  Hut, to start with, in 1992, if you are interested in my life
• 18:15
  story. And then I started teaching
• 18:19
  children as well, but I also helped elderly people with their
• 18:23
  food and their shopping. So I was working for Meals on
• 18:29
  Wheels for two years. So that was all of that before I
• 18:34
  realised that I could teach and I could make a business out of
• 18:38
  it. Now, fun fact!
• 18:42
  J'adore pouvoir partager ma langue.
• 18:43
  So one of the reasons I teach is because I love to be able to
• 18:49
  share. Now, here we've got two
• 18:51
  infinitives, "pouvoir" and "partager."
• 18:54
  Okay? So "pouvoir" is to be able to.
• 18:56
  Of course, when you conjugate it, when it's no longer in its
• 19:00
  infinitive form, it becomes "je peux, tu peux, il peut, nous
• 19:02
  pouvons" and so on. "Partager," to share, is an ER
• 19:06
  verb, which means that it's a regular verb.
• 19:09
  The only -ER verb which is irregular is "aller," to go.
• 19:13
  So bear that in mind. So if you see a verb with -ER at
• 19:17
  the end, it's a regular verb, which means that it's going to
• 19:20
  be quite easy to conjugate. And again, I teach you how to
• 19:23
  conjugate in great detail in my complete French course at
• 19:27
  learnfrenchwithexa.com. So here's the publicity.
• 19:33
  J'adore pouvoir partager ma langue.
• 19:36
  I love to be able to share my language avec les gens, with
• 19:42
  people. Et leur faire découvrir mon
• 19:44
  pays. And to make them, "leur" is
• 19:47
  them, leur faire découvrir mon pays, and to help them discover
• 19:52
  my country, mon pays. J'aime aussi aider.
• 19:57
  So here's another infinitive: aider.
• 20:00
  I like to help. To help is an infinitive.
• 20:03
  J'aime aussi aider, "aussi" is as well.
• 20:07
  I like to help as well. Mes étudiants à explorer leur
• 20:10
  potentiel, My students explore their full potential.
• 20:15
  Échanger avec eux, to exchange with them.
• 20:19
  Me donne des opportunités uniques, gives me unique
• 20:27
  opportunities. De rencontrer, to meet.
• 20:30
  Again, here's another infinitive.
• 20:33
  De nouvelles personnes, new people.
• 20:35
  Okay? So here you've noticed that we
• 20:39
  have "leur", which means them, but "eux" means them as well.
• 20:43
  So to answer quickly the two questions: "Le métier de mes
• 20:47
  tantes et cousines : elles sont - they are, elles sont
• 20:52
  coiffeuses." And why do I love teaching?
• 20:55
  It could be anything from "partager la beauté de ma
• 21:01
  langue," for example, to "Échanger avec les étudiants, et
• 21:06
  aussi les aider à explorer leur potentiel".
• 21:09
  That could be the answer to the second question.
• 21:12
  So here's my question to you. I've asked earlier: What is your
• 21:16
  job? Quel est votre métier ?
• 21:18
  Et pourquoi vous aimez ce métier ?
• 21:20
  Why do you love it? Et pourquoi vous le détestez ?
• 21:23
  And why do you hate it? Not everybody likes their job.
• 21:30
  Leave a comment, I would love to hear about and read what you
• 21:33
  have to say. And any suggestions for this
• 21:37
  podcast, the way you would like to see it as well, drop us a
• 21:44
  line at support@learnfrenchwithexa.com.
• 21:47
  That's it for me. Au revoir, à bientôt, bisou
• 21:49
  bisou.