David is a brilliant student, and he loves to reach new levels of self development.

He contacted me to help him prepare for his oral TEFaQ exam, and he has 13 days to attempt this transformation.

This is not an easy task, it flirts with the impossible, but he came to me with the right attitude: “I’m here to stretch.”

And, while the vocabulary and verb conjugation are on his plate, I’m helping him with conversation, crush learning techniques and principles for French conversation that help him across the language.

We started with the J’Ouellette® pronunciation course (2 hours), which helped him enormously, because now he can correct himself while speaking. By getting into the habit of pronouncing the words correctly, he can now get a hint of the words that are similar in English and French, and understand the teacher who will test him, during their conversation.

For vocabulary, he created a deck of flash cards (no translation, just images and audio for pronunciation) with words that he practices every day. For verbs, I gave him the top 20 irregular (and most commonly used verbs), and every time he makes a mistake or is not sure, he runs the conjugation of that verb quickly. We focus on making very short sentences so that the phrase construction is easy to manage.

And, we make conversation (formal and informal) 2 hours every day, when he applies and reinforces all this knowledge.

What amazes me is that he already has a good handle on his presentation, he slows down the right amount to be able to manage self correction during the conversation, he’s enriched his vocabulary and verb conjugation… we are planning to hold our sessions STRICTLY IN FRENCH… and we’ve only been practicing for 6 days!

Would this work for you?

Depending on many factors, of course, but the main element that guarantees success is your willingness to stretch. This is what David has that most people are afraid of.

And, whether he is going to pass this exam or not, he will have succeeded in bettering himself, and learning how to learn and how to perform in another language, to a level he would never have reached otherwise.

Kudos, David, for your open mind, for your desire to better yourself, for your efforts and for stretching yourself to find out what are your limits.

Regardless of the result of this exam (which I believe is in your reach), you will have a great success story for your next TEDx presentation.

Now it is your turn!

Write in the comments below, when is your next stretch going to happen?

Make French conversation confidently, even if you are a beginner!

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