Language coach and French teacher, Carine Lemaire, shares about her experience growing up trilingual, being a language learner with ADHD, watching 300 hours of TV, and the pitfalls of language apps.

Carine’s approach to teaching is very student-led, and she has a great understanding of how important it is to learn in a way that suits you and your personality. She talks about how her ADHD impacts her study routine, and ways to manage “type A” students’ expectations.

Featured Resources

• italki
• LingQ

Mentioned in this Episode

• Carine’s website
• French Chatter podcast
• Carine’s italki profile

Episode Overview

Some of the topics brought up during the interview are:

• Growing up trilingual (French, Italian and Swahili), and losing a language when you stop practising it
• David Bowie and other British music as a motivation to learn English
• Pros and cons of teaching groups and one-to-one
• How to solve language learning “emergencies”
• Watching 300 hours of TV to improve listening skills
• The importance of trust between teacher and student
• How to learn languages as a “type A” person
• Benny’s daily language learning routine (or lack thereof)
• Working with, and around, ADHD
• The pitfalls of gamified learning apps
• Becoming a writer in a non-native language, and learning by making mistakes
• Differences between French in France and Belgium
• Carine’s French Chatter podcast, and learning from intermediate French speakers
• Persistence, variety, and being fearless in your language practise

Podcast theme: “A New Beginning” by Shannon Kennedy