Tag Archives: songs

The Easiest Songs in French

7 December, 2025Resourcescomprehensible input, comptines, extensive listening, French, French language, French songs, language, language acquisition, language learning, songs, vocabularySandra Bogerd

Someone recently asked whether there were any A0 songs in French for improving listening skills. There may be some learner songs. I wrote a few to go with my comic books but they are optimised for reading, not listening.

So what would be the criteria for easy songs? I think that the easiest would have a very small set of words and be repetitive. Where two songs equate in vocabulary and repetition, perhaps the one with the easiest grammar or the most standard expressions would be ranked easier.

I cannot comment on whether there are any easy popular songs. Most have extensive lyrics, with only the chorus being repetitive. However, in the collection of children’s songs (comptines) and folk songs, several can be found. Some were printed in my old Horan and Wheeler textbooks. Others I have found elsewhere. Given the above criteria, here is my list and a rough sequence of difficulty based on vocabulary size; type-token ratio, which captures repetitiveness; and a grammar scale. Beginners will probably want to read the lyrics for the first few listens.

Song	Vocabulary Size	Lyrics Length	Type Token Ratio	Grammar Level	Measure
Bonsoir mes amis	3	21	0.143	0	0.06
Savez-vous planter les choux ?	19	118	0.161	1	0.23
Frère Jacques	7	14	0.500	1	0.25
Sur le pont d’Avignon	23	130	0.177	1	0.27
Alouette	13	96	0.135	3	0.28
Quand trois poules	14	29	0.483	1	0.29
Dansons la capucine (or more seriously)	26	91	0.286	1	0.32
Didi et Dada	32	72	0.444	1	0.41
J’ai du bon tabac	34	111	0.306	3	0.48
La mission	33	48	0.688	1	0.49
Au clair de la lune	70	133	0.526	4	0.86

Gnomeville eBook is Finally Here!

27 December, 2016My Comic Bookscomic books, comics, easy readers, extensive reading, fantasy, foreign languages, French, French graded reader, French language, graded readers, language, language acquisition, language learning, languages, readability, songs, stories, vocabularySandra Bogerd

After many years in development, and release in physical form in 2014, my comic is finally available as an eBook.

Gnomeville comic book cover containing head of dragon with smoke billowing out of its mouth and the title "DRAGON!" in large red letters — Cover of Gnomeville Dragon! Episode 1.

This is the first episode in what is arguably the easiest book in French for native English speakers. Designed to introduce one or two new words or concepts per page, and to exploit the over 1,000 words that are the same in French and English, you learn the most frequently occurring words in French, while being entertained with a story about gnomes, mages and dragons. While the series is optimised for language learning, by using sight gags and visual humour it still manages to be entertaining from the first few pages. Follow the story of Jacques, Magnifica the mage, the gnomes Didi and Dada, and the griffon as they commence a quest to capture a rogue dragon.

The book includes further stories to reinforce the vocabulary learnt so far, as well as a crossword and songs. The mp3 file of the narration by a native French speaker of the Gnomeville Episode 1 story is available from the author on email of the receipt as proof of purchase (first 500 buyers). The first 10 customers will receive all audio tracks of Episode 1 (3 stories, 2 songs), while the first 100 customers will receive the narration and one song.

The comic book has been checked by three native/near-native speakers of French to ensure authenticity. It exploits several principles of language acquisition:

language can be acquired by reading extensively at a comfortable level of difficulty;
images increase retention of language;
glosses increase vocabulary retention;
repeated occurrences of new vocabulary increase vocabulary retention;
comprehension-based activities (eg. crossword) related to the reading improves retention of language;
once ~95% vocabulary coverage is achieved (episode 2), then it is possible to guess the meaning of new words, and confirm by checking the gloss after guessing, which further increases vocabulary retention.

In summary, this is a well-researched, well-edited, entertaining introduction to reading French via an extremely easy to read comic book. Read it before you read anything else in French. Read it now!

Pronunciation songs

5 April, 2014Personal, Resourcesforeign language, French, French language, language learning, music, pronunciation, rounds, songsSandra Bogerd

While preparing my choir for a concert of French music I have been inspired to write some rounds and short songs in French to help choristers to produce the correct vowel sounds, and to have a bit of an idea about how to pronounce French. I’ve written one round for each vowel so far, and am now writing songs for various consonants. Today I finished a song for the letter G. I’ll probably publish these as a booklet for choirs and classes.