Eleven short skills. Each one teaches you something you'll need before we start Unit 1, Situation 1 in class. Do them in any order within each lane — the lanes themselves go from most fundamental to most advanced.
The words you'll fumble through on day one.
When to be formal — and when to relax. Two words for "you". Every introduction is a small decision.
02Je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles — needed for any verb.
03Moi, toi, lui, elle… — used in Moi, c'est Marie and Et toi? The "Moi, je suis..." emphasis game.
Once foundations land, these slot in next.
Vocabulary banks — pick whichever you need first.
7 days, plus matin / après-midi / soir / nuit.
0812 colour words. Match the swatch to the name.
09Six conjugated forms — for saying anyone's name. What you'll use the moment someone asks.
10Saying hello, asking and answering "what's your name?". The first real conversation.
The orientation quiz that clears you to start classes.
11Say your own name. Spell it aloud. Hear other names. Ask and answer "What's your name?". Pulls together the alphabet, s'appeler, and the tu/vous distinction.
The XP and streak system isn't here for its own sake. Each mechanic is designed to reinforce a specific learning principle the preface refers to: retrieval before exposure, spaced practice, and consolidation through retakes. Here's what each one is doing.
XP for every attempt — including wrong ones
You earn +10 XP per item, whether you get it right or wrong. This is deliberate. The pretesting research (Pan & Chua, NUS 2026) shows that the act of attempting an answer — even an unsuccessful one — strengthens later memory. Rewarding correctness only would push you toward avoiding hard items; rewarding the attempt encourages you to engage with everything, which is what produces the memory benefit.
+50 XP for completing a skill
A small bonus for finishing all items in a skill. The structure of finishing matters: it's the moment your brain commits the corrective feedback, after several attempts, into a more durable form.
+20 XP per improvement point on retake
This is the most important XP source for your learning. When you retake a skill and beat your previous best, you earn extra XP per point improved. Retaking a skill spaces out your encounters with the material — and spaced retrieval is one of the best-evidenced memory consolidation strategies we have. The improvement bonus is the system's way of saying "this is the work that counts."
Streak multiplier — for showing up regularly
Submit at least one item on consecutive days to build a streak. Your daily XP is multiplied:
×1.0×1.1×1.25×1.5×2.0Daily contact, even brief, is more effective than long sessions clustered together. The multiplier rewards the rhythm, not the volume.
Freeze tokens — for the days life happens
Earn ❄️ one freeze token at every 7-day milestone (max 3 stockpiled). If you miss a single day, a freeze is automatically used to keep your streak alive. The freeze exists because the goal is sustained engagement over six weeks, not punishment for missing a day. Streak anxiety undermines the very thing the streak is designed to encourage.
The leaderboard (coming later in the semester)
Will rank by long-term engagement and retake-improvement, not first-try perfection. The students who do best aren't the ones who got everything right immediately — they're the ones who kept coming back and improving. That's the trajectory this system is built to reward.
In short: XP rewards attempts, streaks reward spacing, and improvement bonuses reward consolidation. Each one is a piece of the cognitive science the preface points to.