Created with
This weekend Rita shared a few thoughts after watching the latest Il faut Tutos.
Nothing dramatic.
Just a few observations about what she'd noticed and the connections she was beginning to make.
As I read them, I found myself scrolling back through some of her earlier posts.
That was interesting.
Not because of any one post in particular, but because I could see a journey unfolding.
One week she's reflecting on an expression she's just heard.
Another week she's making a connection between French and English.
A little later she's sharing an idea for the Listening Library.
Then she notices something in a live class that sends her back to her Cahier.
Individually they're just little thoughts.
Read together, they become much more than comments.
They're the story of someone learning French.
Since introducing Le Cahier at the beginning of this year, I've encouraged everyone to use it as a place to think.
It's where ideas begin.
It's where you scribble down a phrase before you forget it, draw little arrows between grammar points, write questions in the margin and occasionally discover that something which made no sense a few weeks ago suddenly seems perfectly obvious.
Your Cahier is your thinking on paper.
Cahier Words has gradually become something slightly different.
It's somewhere those thoughts can carry on.
Sometimes they're just a sentence or two.
Sometimes a question.
Sometimes a photo of a Cahier page.
Sometimes a discovery that makes somebody else stop and think, "I'd never noticed that before."
One of my favourite things is reading through those conversations.
Not because I'm checking up on anyone.
Quite the opposite.
I'm fascinated by where your thinking takes you.
Every now and then someone notices a connection I hadn't thought of.
Sometimes a question reminds me that something needs explaining differently.
Occasionally a conversation has influenced a Rendez-Vous Tuto.
Once, it even helped shape my choice of Word of the Month.
That's one of the things I love most about teaching adults.
The learning doesn't just flow in one direction.
It becomes a conversation.
Looking back through Rita's posts, I realised I wasn't really reading comments.
I was reading a learning journey.
One thought leading naturally to the next.
Not perfectly.
Not in a straight line.
Just honestly.
If you've never shared anything in Cahier Words before, perhaps give it a try.
It doesn't have to be polished.
It doesn't even have to be written in perfect French.
Just share what you're noticing.
A question.
A connection.
A thought from your Cahier.
You never know where it might lead.
And if you're using the iPhone app, it's now much easier to add those thoughts quickly on your phone while they're still fresh.
