I have been writing blog posts for almost four years now and posting on Instagram for almost two years. I will keep doing both, but this is obviously quite time-consuming. I always prioritize my students (who all pay for my work) and I’m less active on the blog when I have lots of classes, but I still try to post regularly. I occasionally get lovely messages from people telling me they enjoy my blog and find it really useful, which really pleases me, but part of me is sometimes wondering why I do all this free work, when there’s such a long list of books I want to read, and when I struggle to find the time to do my Japanese homework and should really spend more time studying Thai. There are so many French teachers out there who offer free resources, would it matter if I stopped?
I do it because I hope it is useful to some people who might not be able to afford classes, and the sweet messages I get on Instagram quite regularly and via email sometimes are enough to make me want to keep going. There are indeed many French teachers online who offer resources of varied quality. Some of them (although I am not always sure they really are teachers) have tens of thousands of followers on Instagram although their posts are full of inaccuracies. I try to offer quality content. I research concepts when I have doubts. I think of how to explain concepts in the best possible way. I put a lot of time and effort into it all.
I wouldn’t mind getting some support for the free work I provide from time to time. 🙂 If you donate, feel free to email me to make a suggestion for a blog post about the French language. I’ll do my best to write about it.