French: Lower Intermediate - Part 1



Overview

Improve your language skills and understanding of the culture, society and daily life in the French-speaking countries. We will be covering listening, speaking and cultural awareness at lower intermediate level.

This 10-week course is pitched at level A2 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 class activities such as discussions and role-plays.

Programme details

Course starts: 30 Sept 2024

The weekly course schedule below is intended to give an overview of the main topic(s) likely to be covered in each session. Please note that these may sometimes change at the tutor’s discretion to reflect the interests of course participants.

Week 1: Introductions. Saying who we are and what we do. Talking about our language learning experiences. Discussing our hobbies and tastes.

Week 2: Establishing chronologies and composing short biographies.

Week 3: Suggesting an outing and discussing cultural activities. Accepting or refusing social invitations. 

Week 4: Recounting memories. Narrating past routines and experiences. 

Week 5: Talking about holiday experiences. Describing the landscape and the weather.

Week 6: Choosing and describing different types of accommodation. Talking about interiors.

Week 7: Comparing lifestyles, places and living conditions. Describing one's neighbourhood.

Week 8: Physical descriptions

Week 9: Talking about character and personality traits. 

Week 10: Discovering and discussing past and present French and Francophone figures. 

Key grammar points:

  • Perfect tense + agreement
  • Time structures depuis, il y a, pendant
  • Imperfect tense
  • Relative pronouns qui, que, où
  • Comparatives
  • Complex negative forms

Key functions:

  • Narrating past events and experiences
  • Using key phrases to suggest an outing, accept or refuse an invitation
  • Describing and comparing locations 
  • Presenting one's accommodation
  • Describing people physically and talking about their character 

Digital Certification

Digital badge

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be issued with an official digital badge from the Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford. After the course, you will receive an email with a link and instructions on how to download your digital badge. You will be able to add your badge to your email signature and share it on social media if you choose to do so. In order to be issued with your badge, you will need to have attended at least 80% of the course.

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee £275.00

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 help students to practise their interactive skills in the target language in a range of simple and routine everyday situations requiring straightforward descriptions and direct exchange of information on family and other people, living conditions, educational background and work. 

Course objectives:

  • To develop the language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing at level A2 of the CEFR.
  • To consolidate listening and speaking skills to enable students to communicate in a range of simple everyday work and leisure settings and matters in areas of most immediate relevance.
  • To equip students with the vocabulary items and grammatical structures required to read and write short, simple texts on familiar topics.
  • To develop an insight into the cultural practices relating to simple everyday work, study and leisure settings.

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 improve your speaking and listening skills and to deepen your awareness of cultural nuances and customs in 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, students will be able to:

  • communicate in a range of simple everyday situations requiring direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters;
  • understand and respond appropriately to a range of simple spoken language in everyday situations provided speech is slowly and clearly articulated;
  • read and demonstrate comprehension of a range of short simple texts on familiar matters of concrete type and consisting of everyday language;
  • write short, simple notes, messages, descriptions and/or personal letters;
  • demonstrate intercultural awareness in everyday social situations and language use generally.

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