French: Beginners - Part 1



Overview

This 10-week course is for complete beginners in the language and those who have acquired some expressions informally through travel or socialising. It is pitched at level A1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and completion of the course will help you meet some of the level requirements. To help develop your fluency in the language, the course will focus primarily on speaking and listening skills, but will also include practice in reading and writing. You will have plenty of opportunities to practise the target language through hands-on collaborative class activities such as conversations and role-plays.

Programme details

Course starts: 27 Sept 2023

Our public programme is open access, and most adult language classes are mixed ability. The weekly course schedule below is intended to give an overview of the main topics likely to be covered in each session. Please note that these may sometimes change according to the tutor’s discretion to reflect the interests of course participants.

Week 1: Greetings and leave taking. Introducing oneself. Basic social pleasantries. Numbers 1–31. The alphabet.

Week 2: Basic information about the self: where you live, where you come from, your nationality, what you do. 

Week 3: Talking about leisure activities. Numbers 32-69.

Week 4: Giving personal information. Discussing dreams and interests. Numbers 70-100.

Week 5: Locating and presenting places in a town. Asking for and giving directions.

Week 6: Discussing means of transport. Expressing likes and dislikes.

Week 7: Shopping for food: identifying food shops, discussing opening and closing times, expressing quantities.

Week 8: Ordering at a restaurant/cafe. Describing recipes and listing ingredients in a dish. 

Week 9: Talking about clothes and fashion. Describing what you wear and naming colours.

Week 10: Talking about the weather. Traditions and celebrations in France.

Key grammar points:

*   Subject pronouns

*   Stressed pronouns

*   Present tense of auxiliary verbs être and avoir

*   Present tense of -er verbs and verb s'appeler

*   Gender agreement of adjectives (nationalities)

*   Definite, indefinite and partitive articles

*   Prepositions with towns and countries

*   The negative form ne... pas

*   Present tense of irregular verbs aller, prendre and faire

*   Interrogative adjective quel

Key functions:

*  Understanding, asking for and giving simple personal information

*  Understanding, asking for and giving directions

*  Talking about likes and dislikes (leisure activities, interests, means of transport)

*  Shopping for food and ordering in a café, at a restaurant

*  Describing what one is wearing

*  Talking about the weather

Certification

Students who attend a minimum of 70% of classes will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee £251.00

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

Tutor

Mrs Danae Lemos-Theologis

Danae is a qualified linguist and experienced French teacher. She has taught French adult classes for many years including Advanced Conversation and Contemporary French literature as well as French courses for academic purposes.

Course aims

To enable participants to communicate at a very basic level with speakers of the target language in a limited range of practical, real-life settings.

Course objectives:

  • To help students develop the language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing for very basic routine communication in the target language.
  • To enable students to use a range of high frequency vocabulary and grammar structures for very basic routine interaction in the target language.
  • To equip students with an initial appreciation of the culture and civilisation of the country (or countries) in which the target language is spoken.

Teaching methods

You will learn through a communicative teaching approach with the emphasis on actively engaging in classroom activities in the target language. These are likely to include role-plays, pair- and small group-work, and conversational practice conducted in a supportive, friendly and informal learning environment.

The course has been structured to help you primarily to develop your speaking and listening skills and to gradually gain an insight into the culture and daily life of your target language. You will also learn and practise new grammatical structures in a communicative context and will be encouraged to develop your reading and writing skills in your own time.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

  • use very simple phrases and utterances to provide basic personal information, such as name, address, family members and nationality;
  • interact in a simple way using a very basic range of language in routine everyday contexts;
  • understand the gist of very short, simple written texts and audio/video excerpts containing the highest frequency vocabulary items and basic grammar structures;
  • produce simple phrases and very short texts using basic structures and vocabulary items.

Assessment methods

You will be set short, optional assignments to consolidate your learning and to allow you to progress at your own pace.

Application

Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form (Word) or enrolment form (Pdf).

Level and demands

Find your language level

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support