My 75-Fluent French Challenge: How I’m Prepping for Fall Semester
On September 25th, I’m starting a 75-Fluent French challenge for the fall semester. Have you heard of this? I love a good personal curriculum and Logan Jaynes has created a fantastic one called the 75-Fluent Challenge. This is a way to build a language learning habit that was inspired by the fitness habit challenge called 75-Hard.
I found Logan on TikTok (@logan.e.jaynes) and she has set out clear, actionable steps with a lot of great tips to build a consistent language learning practice. I’m a basic user of French and I’ve recently discovered I have French-Canadian ancestry, so I’m undertaking this challenge in French. I can’t wait!
What is 75-Fluent?
Logan has created a language learning habit tracker that helps you follow her seven tasks that you do every day, for 75 days, to develop the habit of language learning.
The 7 Rules are
- 60 minutes of language study in some form
- Read 5 pages of a book written in your target language
- Track your study, by logging what you did, with any notes and resources included
- 5 minutes of speaking practice
- Watch or listen to one episode of content in your target language
- Write a daily journal entry in your target language
- Immerse yourself in your target language as much as possible.
You can start your 75-Fluent Challenge for autumn here: https://75fluent.com/
My 75-Fluent French Planning
Logan’s 5 prep tasks are:
- Make a study vision board
- Set semester goals
- Assess your study resources
- Make a supplies list
- Pack a study bag
Logan’s video on prep for the fall semester goes into more detail so be sure to check that out.
I’m using my commonplace book and my planner to help prepare and plan for the Challenge. I’ve written down the tasks, prep tasks, goals, supplies, and everything I need to consider before beginning.
My Study Vision Board
I started by making a study vision board in Canva, I went for comfy, cozy early autumn in Québec vibes. I looked for images near or related to places where my ancestors lived.
This is to help me remember why I’m doing this and why I care. I know that Parisian French and Québec French are not the same, but standard French is taught in both places. I plan to use some French Canadian resources, especially for listening and reading.
My 75-Fluent French Semester Goals
I’ve never taken formal French. I took Spanish in high school and college but I needed to learn to read French and Italian while studying art history. I can read far more than I can write, and I really struggle with listening and speaking. This is my main motivation: better speaking and listening.
Most of my formal language learning was heavily focused on learning vocabulary and grammar, which is important. But I wasn’t speaking nor listening nearly enough. And I wasn’t engaging with real materials like books or articles. Language learning comes in many forms, and I’d like to focus this time on more comprehensive input and guided reading along with intensive listening, looping short audio clips until I have 100% comprehensive. Logan has a good video here on how to choose your reading goals.
My Available Study Resources
I learned I don’t need to acquire many things or spend a ton of money, thankfully.
My commonplace book is where I’ll do any writing, annotating, and journaling. I’m not sure if I will want a workbook but I’m going to start without one.
I have access to YouTube and Spotify – I just use the free versions for both.
And as always, my local library is going to come in clutch in this endeavor. Because of this, I’m going to use my stash of annotation tabs in books rather than highlighting. I also have free access to Rosetta Stone’s app and a Great Courses series for French via Kanopy through my local library.
My 75-Fluent Supply List
I plan to get the following books from the library for learning and guided reading:
Reading
- Short Stories in French by Olly Richards
- Read & Think French, Third Edition
- Émigrés: French Words that Turned English by Richard Scholar
- Le News, In Easy French – Substack newsletter
Watching
On YouTube I plan to utilize:
- Wandering French – a French Canadian learning channel
- Extra French – episodes of a French language learning show styled a bit like Friends
- Piece of French – channel with videos in everyday, slow French
- Les Cahiers d’Esther – a French animation series
- The Fable Cottage – their French stories playlist for children
Listening
And on Spotify I plan to listen to a playlist of songs in French like “L’amour a la Plage by Niagara and “Dernière danse” by Indila. I also plan to listen to the podcasts Inner French and Coffee Break French.
My French Language Study Bag
I’m using a free library tote to store my books when they’re not in use on my desk. I’ll be adding in the planner I’m currently using, my commonplace book, those annotations tabs, a cute bookmark, and a few pens. This way I have things together, whether I’m just moving rooms in the house or sitting in a waiting room somewhere.
But as you can see, a lot of my resources are online. Those are now placed in a dedicated “French” folder prominently placed on my bookmarks bar.
And although I plan to manually track my progress in my planner, I’m also going to use the 75-Fluent tracker, which looks like it will be super satisfying.
Ready to Go
That’s my full prep for this fall’s 75-Fluent French Challenge!
I’m especially excited to lean into French-Canadian resources given my family history, and to finally focus on the listening and speaking skills. If you’ve done a 75-Fluent challenge before, or you’re starting your own this fall, I’d love to hear what you’re working on in the comments.
If you want to start your own language learning challenge, you can grab the tracker at 75fluent.com!
