Resources for online French tutors: real-media lessons, ready
If you teach French one-to-one online, preparation is the part nobody pays you for. Every student wants something different: one is preparing for an exam, one wants to follow French TV, one just wants to talk. Finding a good document, checking its level, writing questions and a vocabulary list can take longer than the lesson itself.
This guide shows a weekly routine for online tutors built on real French media, and how Parisly for teachers cuts the preparation to a few minutes.
What students of online tutors actually need
- French they will hear in real life. Radio, TV, films, songs — not dialogues recorded for a textbook.
- The right level. Too easy and they are bored; too hard and they stop after one lesson.
- Something to do between lessons. A tutor sees a student one or two hours a week. Progress happens in the other days.
- A sense of continuity. One place where their lessons, their homework and their progress live.
A weekly routine that works
| When | What | Time for you |
|---|---|---|
| Before the lesson | Pick one lesson at the student's level and send it | 5 min |
| Lesson, first 10 min | Student retells what they heard or watched | — |
| Lesson, middle | Grammar point of the document, then free conversation on its topic | — |
| Lesson, last 5 min | Agree on the next document together | — |
| Between lessons | Student does the lesson's questions and homework alone | — |
The key move is the first one: the student meets the document before the lesson, so your hour goes to speaking, not to listening together in silence.
Choosing the document: by level and by interest
Real news is the easiest place to start with adult students, because they already know the story from their own news and follow more than their level suggests. On the Parisly news shelf you will find:
- Radio reports at B1, each with one grammar point: why diesel is so expensive (cause and consequence), the pesticides report (the passive), guaranteed income and AI (telling a story in the past, free on Parisly).
- Radio at B2, with dense, fast speech: the US debt bulletin, the international press review, the morning news after the 17 October protests.
- TV news, including the France 3 report « Le mystère des 11 chats disparus » (B1, free) and archive reports from the INA about France in the 1960s and 1990s.
- A press article, The Conversation's piece on Morocco and data centers (B2, free), for students who prefer reading.
For students who want something lighter, the films shelf has short scenes from animated films and French series, and the songs shelf has current French songs, each with a grammar point.
Giving each student their own space
On Parisly, each student gets a personal code. They type it on parisly.app with their first name and find the lessons you chose for them, in a space that shows your name and your photo. Their homework, their progress and their messages live there too.
For a tutor, this solves continuity: the student always knows where their French is, and so do you.
Sending a lesson with its homework
From the library, you open a lesson and send it to a student in one click, with its homework. The student gets the real media, the transcript or subtitles beside it, the words worth knowing picked out, questions after each block and one grammar point explained step by step. Any French word can be hovered for its English.
When nothing on the shelf fits
Some students want a precise topic: their job, a trip, an exam theme. Parisly for teachers also prepares a lesson from today's news on the grammar point and level you choose, in about 30 seconds. Use it for the student who arrives with "can we talk about…?".
A first month with a new B1 student
- Week 1 — a free lesson to test the level: the Raiponce tavern scene or the « 11 chats » TV report. Watch which questions they miss.
- Week 2 — a B1 radio report on a topic they chose, retold at the start of the lesson.
- Week 3 — a song or a film scene for a lighter week, with its grammar point as homework.
- Week 4 — a B2 document as a stretch, prepared at home with the transcript.
By the end of the month, the student has four real documents behind them and a habit of preparing before the lesson.
More for teachers
- French lesson plan from the news — a full lesson built on one radio report.
- French listening activities for the classroom — eight activities that also work one-to-one.
- Teaching French with movie scenes — a ready A2 lesson plan.
- All shelves, by level: teaching French with real media.
Questions tutors ask
Do my students see Parisly's brand?
Your students see your name and your photo in their space. Lessons you send open from there.
Can I try it before using it with students?
Yes. Every shelf has free lessons, no account needed, and you can open the library to look around first.
Is it only for adults?
The documents are real French media for teenagers and adults, from A1 stories to B2 radio. It is not designed for young children.