Speaking: five minutes a day, out loud
Fluency over accuracy. The aim is to keep talking, not to be right — and the words that buy you thinking time are the ones that make that possible.
Colours live this week
10 of 10 in playA thing, a person or a place.
An action or a state — what is happening.
Describes a noun.
Modifies a verb or an adjective.
the / a / some — and possessives like mon, ma.
Stands in for a noun — I, you, he, it.
Links words together — to, in, of, for.
Joins two parts of a sentence.
Opens a question — where, when, how, why.
Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.
The only new items are discourse markers. Everything else this week is recycled from Phases 1 and 2 — on purpose.
The one rule: do not correct yourself mid-sentence
If you make a mistake, keep going and finish the sentence. Stopping to fix errors breaks the flow and drains confidence, and confidence is the thing you are actually building here. Accuracy improves on its own through the daily reviews. The monologue is for training speech to run without stalling.
The five-part scaffold
Words that buy you a second to think
Sprinkle these between clauses. They make you sound fluent while your brain catches up — which is exactly what native speakers use them for.
- alorsso, well then
To start a sentence.
- doncso, therefore
To draw a conclusion.
- ensuitethen, next
To put ideas in order.
- brefin short
To wrap up when you have run out of road.
- [en fait]actually, in fact
To correct yourself gently, without stopping.
- [je veux dire]I mean
To clarify, or to buy another whole second.
A worked five-part monologue
Roughly what you are aiming for. Notice how much of it is Weeks 1 to 9 reassembled, and how much work the gold and teal markers do.
Alors, aujourd'hui je vais rester à la maison.
Hier, je suis allé au parc et j'ai lu un livre.
Ensuite, j'ai pris un café.
Demain, je vais voir mon fils.
J'aime lire et j'adore la musique.
[À mon avis,] [c'est] une bonne journée.
Bref, je suis content.
So, today I'm going to stay home. Yesterday I went to the park and read a book. Then I had a coffee. Tomorrow I'm going to see my son. I like reading and I love music. In my opinion, it's a good day. In short, I'm happy.
Content or contente
Content agrees with whoever is speaking — content if you are male, contente if you are female. The monologue above is in the masculine. The same applies to fatigué and fatiguée from Week 9, and to every participle after être.
Daily mini-tasks
Listening this week
InnerFrench or Easy French — but listening for something else
Podcast apps and YouTube
This week, ignore the content and listen to how speakers stall. Count how often they say alors, donc, en fait. That hesitation is not a flaw in their French — it is what fluency actually sounds like.