A 30-day French reading plan

How does the 30-day French plan work?

The plan uses real series from the Contos French library, named by their English titles. Each day you read one chapter with the 15-minute routine: review, read twice, save the words that stopped you, write one sentence. Three rules hold the month together:

1. One chapter a day is enough. The A1 chapters on this route run from 145 to 228 words.
2. Every seventh day, look back. Rereading brings recent words round again before they fade, which is the repetition Paul Nation says learning from reading depends on.
3. Step up on day 22, with a story you know. By then you will have read 18 A1 chapters, and the first A2 chapters retell the series you started with.

Everything below is free, because it uses chapters 1 and 2 of each series. Every chapter ends on a cliffhanger, so if one story grabs you, the Premium version at the end of the page lets you stay with it.

Days 1–14: which A1 French stories do you start with?

The first fortnight samples six A1 series across mystery, romance, comedy, sci-fi and family stories, set in Paris, Lyon and Burgundy. Sampling early shows you which genres you will actually want to finish.

Day 1 opens the flagship mystery: Camille arrives at an old Paris building above a café with one suitcase, and the concierge goes white when she sees it. The Bench of the Two Muzzles is a dog-park romance with a disappearing bag of croissants; Engaged by Mistake starts with a joke proposal sent to the wrong Marc; Grandma Odette's Secrets is a surprise party in a Burgundy village that keeps going wrong.

Days 15–30: how do you step up to A2?

The third week adds three more A1 series, including a romance across a courtyard in Margot's Signal. On day 21 you reread the first two chapters of The Building at No. 14, because on day 22 you meet the same story again, written at A2.

Meeting familiar characters is the gentlest way up a level. Here is the concierge, Madame Lefèvre, in chapter 1 at each level:

The A2 line adds a contrast with mais pas and a new verb, connaît (knows a person). The A2 chapters on this route average about 240 words against 183 for the A1 ones, but you already know Camille, Théo and the suitcase, which leaves your attention free for the language. On days 24–29, Platform 6 is a commuter romance on a Paris train, The Choir of the Old Wash-House a village comedy and The Baker's Notebook Mystery a puzzle about who keeps improving a young baker's croissant recipe overnight.

What if you want to finish a whole series?

Chapter 3 onwards of every series needs Contos Premium. With it, swap any pair of days for the rest of the story you liked best. A Premium month might look like this:

• Days 1–8: all 8 A1 chapters of The Building at No. 14.
• Days 9–14: one complete six-chapter A1 series of your choice.
• Days 15–21: a second complete A1 series, rereading on day 21.
• Days 22–29: all 8 A2 chapters of The Building at No. 14, with a review on day 30.

Free or Premium, check your known words at the end. Contos moves you to A2 at 500 known words; if you are not there yet, another A1 series is better practice than forcing the step. What comes next is in how to learn French by reading and what each French CEFR level means.