Over the years, you have seen these treasured keys in various scenes at our old vineyard and here, in the window seat at Mas des Brun. Today, I am giving away a precious third key! Reader Gus Ellison won the first in 2012, and shared these touching photos. It's time to share one more cherished antique French key… in today's post. (Notice Jackie in the photo. She leaves tomorrow for her couture internship in Paris…)
TODAY'S WORD
la clé (klay)
: key
PRENDRE LA CLE DES CHAMPS = To make off with the goods.
AUDIO FILE: Who will run off with today's treasured antique? Follow these instructions and enter to win (you may listen to the instructions here in French, if you wish)
Une clé. Si vous souhaitez gagner une clé issue de ma collection antique, veuillez, s'il vous plaît, cliquez sur le lien suivant et visitez mon nouveau sponsor. Merci, également, de laisser un commentaire pour le tirage au sort.
A key. If you wish to win a key from my antique collection, please click on the following link and visit my new sponsor. Thanks also to leave a comment to enter the drawing.
COMMENTS
To enter today's drawing, click on the banner, above, and tell us what you saw at the FluentU website that appealed to the French learner inside of you! Click here to comment and bon chance!
A MORE NATURAL WAY TO LEARN A LANGUAGE
FluentU is a great new way to learn languages with music videos, movie trailers, news, and more. It's the perfect way to learn French with video context and cultural immersion. They have a terrific website (click here) and just launched their iPhone app today. Check it out!
Smokey says: Step right up! One of these antique French keys may soon be yours!
Simply click on my sponsor link, here, then come back and leave a message in this comments box telling us what you like about FluentU's approach to learning the French language.
Smokey will toss lucky stardust on your comment when you forward this post to a friend. Lucky star dust just might make the difference in winning today's very personal gift: an antique key to the French language. I promise to choose a wonderful key for you and to announce the winner in the next week… from Paris! Your key will then be posted, before June 20th, from The City of Light (La Ville de Lumière).
These treasured keys were spotted in a brocant in 2008 and are a real trouvaille! Read the story here.
Thank you so much for participating in this very special giveaway, made possible by FluentU. When you visit the FluentU site, you sprinkle Lucky Star dust on Kristi's French Language journal, still trucking in its 14th year online, and sharing the goal of FluentU: to make online language learning accessible to all who wish to speak a foreign language.
Click here to say something about FluentU's language approach and to be automatically entered in the drawing.
LEARN MORE THAN FRENCH!
FluentU is currently available for Chinese, Spanish, French, English, German and Japanese. Check it out.
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Bonjour/soir, Kristin!
FluentU looks fabulous … fun … engaging. I signed up.
Now, about “la clé” … 😀
Des grosses bises,
Jennifer
Interesting giveaway…keys and a new language. One key to understanding different cultures is learning their language. Thank you for introducing me to this language site.
excellent program – better than just watching
the tele, French films or French news where I just miss a lot of what is said. I read & write
French well enough but it is difficult for a
visual learner to understand the spoken language & speak well without a lot of practice. merci pour l’information
FluentU is the key to the future.
FluentU seems like a great way to hear native French language in an easily accessible, non-threatening environment. The variety of topics is large and different voices provide a good overall exposure to the spoken language.
I saw that “le cle'” to my success would be tres’ beneficial with “FluentU.” When in France I just adore all the commercials and movies so watching this on FluentU brings back wonderful souvenirs of l’hexagon ! Also, I love musique a la francaise !
The “key” to FluentU’s success is in the diverse range of subjects presented by every day people through videos. I think FluentU has a real “lock” on getting people to comfortably assimilate the information presented by offering different learning levels. Another key ingredient is the quality of the videos and the ease in presentations.
I would love to have one of your antique keys as it will be a tangible object from France and at the same time a metaphor for opening my heart to France, its people, landscapes and culture.
P.S. “Le cle'” francais reminds me that a french key opens up my heart to all things french ! It is afterall where my heart is !
It looks like FluentU will be a hit. I wish I had been able to use it before I visited France in 2010. (Fevrier). I can’t wait until the Android version is available!
John S
I love how the website gave Chinese examples for learning French!
But a great help as my oral comprehension is very weak.
I looked at FluentU and liked the idea of the video lessons with French subtitles. Sometimes what I hear isn’t what was said and I can imagine the advantage of hearing and seeing the word simultaneously. The symbolism of the key connected to a language acquisition app is marvelous! They both open doors, don’t they? I would be delighted to win the antique key, thank you for making the offer.
This is fantastic! I have dreamed of something like this for my sudents, but FleuntU has exceeded my dreams and fantasies! In the next five minutes I’m forwarding this link to half a dozen friends who are Francophiles like me! I especially like the miniatures which repeat on such words as moi, and intersperse dialog with song. Learning–or acquisition as my professors preferred to call it–is truly painless! We can always count on you, Kristin, to scout out the very best paths to treasures and share them with us. Merci Mille!
J’aime Zaz. C’est très agréable d’être apprendre les paroles de une de ses chansons!
FluentU has many very useful features; stopping and restarting the video, turning on and off the subtitles in French and/or English. The get the meaning and pronunciations of words by mousing over them.
Mon Dieu! Could there truly be a way to teach this “old” chien a new trick, to master la langue française?! I like the immersion factor using different modes to interact with real-life language situations. I love your clé collection. When we moved into our 1920s era maison in Roanoke, VA, I found a skeleton above the door frame upstairs. I use it as a pull on the kitchen fan. Have a marvelous time in Paris and bon chance, Jackie!
Very engaging and suitable for various types of learners. I NEED to improve my French for next year’s month in Provence and this may be the answer! Have bookmarked FluentU. Thanks for your wonderful site>
Losing keys is no fun, i.e., house keys, car keys or the key to someone’s heart. I am fortunate enough to be able to afford to add TV5MONDE to my Tv package. URL is supposed to be automatically linked, but my comment is often rejected because I don’t know my URL. I want to tell the local locksmith about your antique key collection, Kristin. He will be interested. Found a key the other day and I don’t know why I have it. Bon Weekend! Anne
Signed up for Fluent U. I like the idea of doing it on my own time and at my own pace rather than in a class setting. An immersion class at Alliance Francaise de Seattle and 4 trips to France have not improved the French I learned in high school and college. Hoping this might do the trick for my visit in October.
I love that FluentU uses real life media. It makes such a difference hearing native French speakers! I can’t wait to give it a try.
O la la la. I can’t wait to see if I can become Frenchified.
Learning by watching video of natural French speakers is a great idea. Thanks for telling us about this website.
I love learning French by watching movies….super fun!!!!! ❤️
I love that the app is on the phone and you can practice French anywhere!
I visited Fluent U and discovered they have a German program. I speak French and Spanish and want to learn some German. I have started genealogy searches and I have a German ancestry. I love your blog and I hope Smokey will be okay. I have 3 dogs and had a dog that looked like a smaller version of your Smokey. I now have a cat Smokey.
I like the fact that there are so many short videos available. It looks like a great resource for my teaching as well as my own continual language learning. I’m looking forward to exploring the app, too.
I would have to try it to be sure but better yet let my children. My 12 yr old Sofia is taking French in middle school. I still think the best way is to just be in France – now if only I could make that happen !
Thanks Kristin for all you do. FluentU seems to offer a way
of French immersion at home. Looks very interesting.
The videos are very good.
I would love to win a key from France.
I’ve always learned languages best from watching videos or television (with some supplemental grammar study). Thank you for bringing FluentU to our attention; I’m looking forward to working with the site. Hello to all the Espinasses, two- or four-footed, Leslie
I love the photo. Could I have Smokey instead of a key ??? 🙂 I guess not – he’d be too big to stuff in the mailbox. Hélas, I guess a key will have to do! 🙂 Bises, Augusta
I will definitely give FluentU a try! Maybe next time I can leave my comment in French. Thank you for the tip on this option for learning a most beautiful language – one I have been wanting to learn for a long time.
Kristin, sounds like a great site, but what does it cost. “Sign up for free” does not say what it may cost over time or if there is a fee for this. Can’t imagine that it is absolutely free. I would love to try it but do wish to know the bottom line.
Love the videos on the fluent-u site. Definitely a great way to learn. Et le clé? Goodness that would be a treat!
Congratulations on your new sponsor – I stopped at their website and downloaded the ap. It seems to be very easy to use and I like the fact that the study materials includes videos
Fluent U is a delight to use. I now have it on my IPad so it’s easy to access and part of my routine. Love the picture of Jackie and the sewing machine. Bon Chance à Paris! She will learn so much and such a golden opportunity to live there! I guess Max is ready to leave for the U.S.A. Bon chance à tous les deux. The keys are great fun!
French keys remind me of my trip to Paris in 2003 – we had those to get into our rooms. Would love to acquire one. Love the idea of FluentU – they don’t have the ability to access through androids yet. I guess I’ll have to rely on the home computer for now. I agree, the site quickly gets confusing.
I already get emails and notifications from Fluent and even only from that I cam learn a lot from the free stuff😊😊
Salut, Kristin et famille!
Et merci!
I am anxious to try FluentU. I have used several different approaches.
I would love a French key to use in my bead art! I went to to FluentU website. 75 of 75 users gave it 5 Stars! Plan to put it on my phone today in preparation for a trip to France this fall.
I enjoyed visiting the site. I like having a place where content in french is easily available and can be tailored to where I am in my learning.
Smokey, merci pour la chance!
I signed up for FluentU and just spent a bit of time exploring. I love the videos and think it will be quite helpful being able to listen and pause as needed. But, I do find the site a little bit difficult to navigate. I am on a Macbook pro and sometimes really have to hunt to figure out out to go back or exit a page I got to. But, as far as learning the language, I think it will be great! Looking forward to the Italian when it becomes available!
Bonjour. The poetics of keys, locks and unlocking fascinate me on both a metaphorical and a physical level. It expresses trust and distrust at the same time, it expresses freedom and being locked (in, away, up).
FluentU seems to be a good addition to the arsenal of ways to improve one’s language skills. And I love your key collection. I have a couple of old clocks and like using their “keys” to wind them. As our house dates to 1886, fairly old in Utah since the settlers really only came over the hill in 1847, we have old style keys for room doors. They’re charming.
I love that there are different levels and you can watch the videos again and catch different things each time-Love the antique keys. I have a 110 year old house and these look like the ones that fit my locks! Love the Blog and the dogs-I have two goldens! You have such a gift for writing and reaching out to your readers!
Dear Kristen – started to read your blogs again and find myself speaking to myself and the cats again at home here in Turkey (complete with shoulder shrugs and music conductor hands). The reason: I am leaving Turkey and moving to France in November – either to Aquitaine or Poitou-Charente where I have had a 3-month stay before. Your talk of ‘keys’ reminded me of the place in Charente – when I arrived the patron told me – “By the way, there is no key to the door, but you will be quite safe as the crime rate in rural France is very low. Having returned from Spain where I was attacked and robbed by ‘banditos’, I should have been very nervous about a home that I could not lock up when I left it, but I grew up in rural Wales where no-one locked their doors so I shrugged my shoulders and said ‘Eh bien!’ I look forward to returning to France whether I have a key to my front door or not this time and am especially looking forward to being able to visit Paris again by TGV, and especially Shakespeare and Co. Maybe sometime at long last we will be able to meet up. xx Hugs to Smokey Dokey xx
Visited the FluentU and signed up. Loved the video – both reading and hearing the language. The English translation was helpful (ahem, reinforcing) as well. Looking forward to using it. Thanks for posting!
i have always wanted a ‘key’ to learning french and it seems as though fluent u could be a huge help. i love the fact the i can (and will) download the app and study wherever i am in the world…much easier
than having to be in a classroom!
kristin your ‘cle’ collection is wonderful and i would like to start my own with one from your very special trove! every time i see it would inspire me to learn more french! it could be the ‘key’ to my success !!!
also i love the photo of jackie at the sewing machine…a very special moment in time as she embarks on her adventure in the fashion world. bon chance!!
I visited the FluentU site and like the idea of using videos and common phrases to learn a language. I would love to own one of your antique keys. I think I would put it on a garden post next to where I have a rain catcher, which catches a nice sound as well as water. It’s a lovely spot!
Good luck to Jackie!
I think it sounds like an interesting way to learn. I like the fact that you can click on a word for a definition or use in a sentence. Also, handy as an app.
FluentU looks like an effective way to expand my French!! I think the more senses involved, the more retention. The videos allow for visual and auditory learning plus the addition of subtitles. Anything that will help me improve my French is welcomed. FluentU just could be “le clé” to success for me!! Lots of love and positive energy to sweet Smokey ( and mama Breihz). 😀
I love the concept of FluentU. Every little bit that helps unlock the French language is a good thing. Hope your antique key will unlock new French adventures for me. Bonne chance!