French helping teacher Sandra Turbide recommends by No茅 Carlain and Nicolas Duffaut to celebrate Semaine de la Francophonie (Francophonie Week).
I absolutely love this book! It鈥檚 a humorous parody filled with clever wordplay. The illustrations are incredibly creative and immediately capture your attention. What’s great is that you don鈥檛 need to understand every pun to enjoy it. The story revolves around what different animals read before bed. Each page features just one sentence, following a consistent structure鈥攁n important aspect of learning a new language. This repetition creates a mental pathway, helping you internalize the pattern without even realizing it. In neurolinguistics, this is referred to as implicit grammar.
Humour is woven throughout the book, making it even easier to retain new words and structures. One of my favourite examples is the wolf, who only reads cookbooks鈥攐ne picture shows the wolf stirring a marmite (cooking pot) with little pigs inside. Another amusing moment is when the kangaroo only reads 鈥減ocketbooks,鈥� with a picture of the kangaroo holding a book in his (literal) pocket. These clever puns not only bring the story to life but also make learning fun!聽
Learning French can be challenging, but it should also be enjoyable. When the process is fun, it becomes easier to stay motivated and engaged, allowing you to absorb the language more naturally. By incorporating humour, creativity, and interactive experiences, language learning can feel like an adventure rather than a task. Joyeuse Semaine de la Francophonie!聽
Semaine de la Francophonie is an annual week-long celebration of the French language and culture around the world that takes place between March 15 to March 23, 2025.
Ce que lisent les animaux avant de dormir is available in .
