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Bonjour les Francophiles sans loi !
Two years ago, I gave up my 15-year position teaching virtual French with a dotcom in order to continue teaching virtual French on my own site. Extremely daunted at the thought of the 6,000+ pages I’d created (and edited countless times), I briefly entertained the idea of doing something completely different, but found that I couldn’t. The fact is that I feel compelled to write about French – I love it and I’m good at it, so what else could I possibly do?
The task is just as daunting as I’d feared, not only the actual re-creation of all my lessons for Lawless French, but also the uphill battle to knock the old versions from their long-time perches at the top of search engines. I’ve had some success and I hope that in a few more years, the higher quality lessons (not to mention far less ad-ridden format) will help Lawless French win out. (You can help by linking to and sharing the new versions of lessons rather than the old ones. If a lesson you’re interested in isn’t here yet, please let me know and I’ll move it to the top of my redo list.)
A year ago, I posted a breakdown of the 1,100 pages I’d written or recreated since launching Lawless French. In the last year, I’ve add another 400 or so, including
- 11 subjunctivisor responses
- 13 pronunciation guides
- 24 vocabulary lessons
- 33 reading comprehension texts
- 42 listening comprehension exercises
- 61 expression explanations
- 71 grammar lessons
- 152 verb conjugation tables
As you can see, I’ve slowed down a lot (though the average is still well over a page a day). Part of the reason is simply that my previous pace was unsustainable: I was working like mad to get essential content up as soon as possible, but there are only so many 10-hour days I can put in before getting burned out, no matter how passionately I feel about the content.
But more importantly, virtual French teaching is no longer my full-time job, because, to be perfectly honest, it just doesn’t pay a living wage. I was extremely fortunate to be able to make a good living from my previous site for so many years, but that ended when I went out on my own. Happily, I’m now working with a brilliant startup (whence my co-branded site Progress with Lawless French) as Language and Marketing Coordinator, a sort of catch-all title that includes strategizing, blogging, translating, proofreading, and newslettering. It’s interesting and exciting and truly the best job I could ever have hoped for.
Anyway, enough about me – I want to hear about you! Thank you so much for your support – I couldn’t do this without you. Bon anniversaire à nous et bonne continuation !
– LKL
P.S. Please subscribe to my twice-weekly newsletter and follow me on social media to find out about new lessons and features.
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I’m just starting out. I’ve been living in France for five years and (according to your test) only have A2 level and I’m really disappointed by that. I thought I was doing better. Feel the need to focus and get on and I think the information you provide will help me. I think your site is excellent and I wish I had found it earlier. Please keep up the great work you are doing.