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Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

ACA

Are you learning a second (or third!) language? Are you passionate about languages? Join us on Les Bons Mots to talk about language learning! Our hosts are language teachers who are here to help you and answer your questions. Each week, we will discuss a different aspect of learning a language and give you some tips for improvement. Whether you’re learning English or any other language, Les Bons Mots is for you! Les Bons Mots is produced by ACA, a language training school based in Quebec, Canada. Your host, Britta has been working with ACA since 2018. She holds a Master’s degree in Adult Education from UBC and a TESL Canada Teacher Training Certificate. Her business background and education helps her to deliver relevant and engaging language classes to a diverse group of professional clients using a curriculum that is appropriate to their context.
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Top 10 Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning - Français Québécois

Français Québécois

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

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12/17/21 • 33 min

Are you learning French in a Canadian context? Do you work with clients or colleagues in Quebec? In this episode, Roxane and Britta talk about how the French language is used in Quebec, including topics like politeness and formality, what to expect at a 5 à 7, and some unique Quebec vocabulary. Join us, and practice your French listening skills, because this episode is in French!

This week, the guest host is Roxane St-Hilaire. Roxane is pedagogical advisor at ACA, and she is also a French as a second language instructor. Roxane. She is finishing her masters degree in second language didactics and she’s interested in the use of technology in class, the development of intercultural competence and intergenerational relationships.

In this episode, Britta and Roxane discuss an expression in French, se faire passer un sapin. Do you know what it means and how to use it? Listen to find out!

Visit us at lesbonsmots.ca to check out our blog and language learning videos, or reach out to us at ACA to discuss your language learning needs.

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Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning - Connect the Dots: Connected Speech for Pronunciation

Connect the Dots: Connected Speech for Pronunciation

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

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11/19/21 • 35 min

Are you working on making your English pronunciation sound more natural? When you listen to people speaking English, does it seem like they are speaking too quickly? If you answered yes to either of these questions, this episode is for you. Learn about how words in spoken English are connected. In this episode, Britta and Clémence discuss how some sounds change, appear, or even disappear when people speak English. They also share practical tips on how to understand spoken English, and how to use connected speech to improve your English pronunciation.

This episode’s guest host is Clémence Grison. Clémence is part of the teaching team at ACA, and has a bachelor’s degree in English literature along with a master's degree in English studies, and a master's degree in journalism. She’s taught ESL in France and Quebec, and has a deep understanding of the difficulties of mastering pronunciation in a second language.

Our expression this week is to speak out of turn. Listen to find out what this expression means, and some of the situations where you can use it.

Do you want to read more about connected speech? Here are a few articles for further information:

Visit us at lesbonsmots.ca to check out our blog and language learning videos, or reach out to us at ACA to discuss your language learning needs.

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Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning - Work it! Job Interviews in English

Work it! Job Interviews in English

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

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10/22/21 • 30 min

Are you looking for a new position? Are you going to be interviewed either fully or partially in English? This week Jenni and Britta talk about what kind of questions you can expect to hear in an English-language job interview, and how to answer them. They share advice about answering wildcard questions, which verb tenses to use, key vocabulary to highlight your skills, and how to prepare for success before the interview even starts. This episode is essential listening for job seekers!

This week’s guest host is Jenni Campbell. Jenni has a Human Ecology degree from the University of Manitoba and a language certificate from the University of Laval. She has been with ACA for ten years, and has extensive experience doing curriculum development. She also does hiring and recruiting for ACA here in Quebec and across Canada.

Our phrasal verb of the week is take on - do you know how to use this phrasal verb to talk about employment? Listen and find out!

Visit us at lesbonsmots.ca to check out our blog and language learning videos, or reach out to us at ACA to discuss your language learning needs.

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Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning - Pronunciation - HOW do you say it?

Pronunciation - HOW do you say it?

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

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04/02/21 • 33 min

Is it there, their or they’re? Why is the verb tear pronounced differently than the tears we cry? Do I have to pronounce the ‘b’ in doubt? English and French are full of words that sound the same, but have different meanings, words that are written the same, but have different pronunciations, and silent letters! In this week’s episode, Britta and Clémence help you to understand some of the homophones, heteronyms and silent letters that can be challenging for language learners.

This week’s guest host is Clémence Grison. Clémence is part of the teaching team at ACA, and has a bachelor’s degree in english literature along with a master's degree in English studies, and a master's degree in journalism. She’s taught ESL in France and Quebec, and has a deep understanding of the difficulties of mastering pronunciation in a second language.

In this episode:

Clémence recommends a podcast called Word Bomb, which is a deep exploration of a different English word in each episode. The words they choose are important and timely, and they go beyond the dictionary to contextual them.

Britta recommends the highly entertaining book about the English language, The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way, by Bill Bryson. If you are curious about how English became the language it is today, a lot of the answers may be found in the history of the language, and this book is anything but dry.

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Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning - Pronunciation: Don't Stress about It!

Pronunciation: Don't Stress about It!

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

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03/05/21 • 38 min

Did you know there are three ways to pronounce the -ed ending in English? Does thinking about syllable stress and word stress make you feel...stressed? This week, Britta and Clémence demystify some of the mysteries of English and French pronunciation, and help you to make yourself understood when speaking these languages. This episode is essential listening for language learners!

This week’s guest host is Clémence Grison. Clémence is part of the teaching team at ACA, and has a bachelor’s degree in english literature along with a master's degree in English studies, and a master's degree in journalism. She’s taught ESL in France and Quebec, and has a deep understanding of the difficulties of mastering pronunciation in a second language.

In this week’s episode:

Clémence suggests searching out video of Steve Ballmer’s “Developers!” chant for a fun way to remember the syllable stress on that word! Also, Season 10, episode 13 of Friends features Joey "learning" to speak French, with comic results. For another fun example of syllable and word stress, check out the scene from My Fair Lady, where Eliza Dolittle masters the phrase, “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.”

This week, Clémence recommends The History of Swear Words, though only for adult listeners! It’s an interesting and well-researched program about the history of swear words in English.

Britta recommends two great language resources for people learning French in Canada. The Banque de dépannage linguistique and the Grand dictionnaire terminologique provide excellent definitions, explanations, and usage examples focused on how French is used in Quebec.

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Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning - True Friends, False Friends

True Friends, False Friends

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

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01/22/21 • 34 min

English and French have thousands of words in common - how can you tell which words have the same meaning in both languages, and which ones are false friends, words which look or sound the same, but have different meanings? Join Britta and Kimberly as they explore some of the similarities, and deceptive differences, between English and French. This week’s episode tackles verb tenses, parts of speech, and some essential business vocabulary!

This week’s guest host is Kimberly Lamontagne. Kimberly studied psychology at Bishop’s University, and is originally from Baie-Comeau. She’s been part of the ACA team for the past three years. Her bilingual background has made her passionate about the topic of false friends.

You can find visuals for this episode on Facebook, linked here.

In this episode:

Kimberly recommends the Great British Baking Show (also called the Great British Bake Off) in order to learn some of the cooking terms which come into English from French.

Britta recommends using the long winter nights to pursue your language learning, either with an evening class, or by pursuing one of your hobbies in the language you’re learning. If you’re interested in taking evening classes with ACA, you can find out more here.

Come check out our website, at lesbonsmots.ca. You can see our language learning videos, and read our blog posts on news, culture and language learning. We will also have our episode transcript available there. We’d love to hear from you at [email protected].

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Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning - The Business of Language Learning

The Business of Language Learning

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

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01/15/21 • 46 min

Welcome to Season Two of Les Bons Mots! Join Britta and Taylor for a discussion of the business of language learning. How do successful organizations approach language training? Why does ACA invest in our instructors and our own made-in-Quebec curriculum? How has language training changed in the last decade, and what is next for language education and for ACA?

This week’s guest host, Taylor ireland, is the president of ACA. Before he became president of ACA in 2009, Taylor travelled the world, worked as a second language instructor and studied finance. Find out how his experiences have shaped how ACA operates today.

In this week’s episode, Taylor recommends the following resources for accessing business news in English:

Business Insider

Inc. Magazine

CBC News | The National - CBC.ca

For those who would like to practice their English with a good comedy, Britta recommends the series Kim’s convenience, about a Korean-Canadian family living in Toronto. Taylor is planning to binge another great CBC series, Schitt’s Creek

Kim's Convenience - CBC.ca

Schitt's Creek - CBC.ca

Come check out our website, at lesbonsmots.ca. You can see our language learning videos, and read our blog posts on news, culture and language learning. We will also have our episode transcript available there. We’d love to hear from you at [email protected].

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Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning - Language Teaching with the Les Bons Mots Team

Language Teaching with the Les Bons Mots Team

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

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12/18/20 • 54 min

Explore language teaching with the Les Bons Mots Team, and get to know the creative team behind this project! What are some of the classroom activities we love to use? What challenges do our students face? What is our best language-learning advice, and what has teaching languages taught us?

This week’s guest hosts are Lauren McIntosh and Nathan Elliott. Lauren has been teaching since 2014 and has taught English as a Second Language for the last three years. She has a Master's degree in Linguistics from UWO and has recently finished her Ph.D. on communicative disorders in Alzheimer's Disease. Nathan has a Ph.D. in English Literature and has worked as a professor in Georgia in the US, on the island of Newfoundland, and in Montreal. Nathan has published creative non-fiction, fiction, research, and performed with the Montréal storytelling group Confabulation. Both Lauren and Nathan are part of the teaching team at ACA.

In this episode:

Lauren recommends The Good Place, a charming comedy that she and her students use for present perfect practice.

Nathan recommends the book Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, and if you are in the mood to hear colloquial English, the classic animated series The Simpsons.

Come check out our website, at lesbonsmots.ca. You can see our language learning videos, and read our blog posts on news, culture and language learning. We will also have our episode transcript available there. We’d love to hear from you at [email protected].

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Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning - Minisode 5: Phrases for Business Meetings in French

Minisode 5: Phrases for Business Meetings in French

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

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12/11/20 • 11 min

Do you attend meetings in French, or do you hope to attend them soon? Our French instructors and guest hosts Zoé Moamadi and Nicole Wirtz are here to help you, with some useful phrases to help you people who are learning French to participate in meetings. This week’s minisode is in French!

Our guest hosts this week are Zoé Moamadi and Nicole Wirtz. Zoé has a master’s degree in visual arts from University Mark Bloch in Strasbourg, France, and has taught French to adults and teens. Nicole is from Belgium, and she has master’s degrees in sociology and adult education. She has taught French in private, university, and government contexts. Both Zoé and Nicole are French teachers at ACA.

In our weekly vocabulary section, we look at a false friend, the verb rester/rest. Learn the difference between these words in English and French!

Come check out our website, at lesbonsmots.ca. You can see our language learning videos, and read our blog posts on news, culture and language learning. We’d love to hear from you at [email protected].

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Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning - Minisode 1: Pronunciation - Tips and Tricks

Minisode 1: Pronunciation - Tips and Tricks

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning

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10/09/20 • 12 min

Join Britta and Clémence as they answer some common questions about pronunciation and discuss strategies for improving pronunciation, no matter what language you are learning! They talk about learning how to produce new sounds, how to practice them, what minimal pairs are, and more!
This week's guest is Clémence Grison. Clémence is part of the teaching team at ACA, and has a bachelor’s degree in english literature along with a master's degree in English studies, and a master's degree in journalism. She’s taught ESL in France and Quebec, and has a deep understanding of the difficulties of mastering pronunciation in a second language.

You can find our blogs, videos and episode transcripts at lesbonsmots.ca. Do you have questions or ideas for future episodes? We’d love to hear from you! You can reach us by email at [email protected].

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FAQ

How many episodes does Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning have?

Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning currently has 24 episodes available.

What topics does Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning cover?

The podcast is about Language, Linguistics, Esl, Language Learning, Learning English, Podcasts, English, Education, Business English and Business.

What is the most popular episode on Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning?

The episode title 'Staying the Course: Persistence in Language Learning' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning?

The average episode length on Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning is 33 minutes.

How often are episodes of Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning released?

Episodes of Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning are typically released every 13 days, 23 hours.

When was the first episode of Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning?

The first episode of Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning was released on Oct 2, 2020.

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