See below for descriptions of our language classes for the Spring 2023 semester.
For a description of the Literary Book Club, click here. For a description of the French Cinema Class, click here. For a description of Culinary/Cooking class, click here. For a description of the Pastry/Pâtisserie class, click here.
A1 Beginner French
Time: Wednesday 6:00 p.m. – In Person
I have always enjoyed teaching beginners, and have done it for more than 20 years at Union Francaise; it is a pleasure to see them progressing. The book used is Learn French the Fast and Fun Way. I have used it for quite a while with excellent results, and the beginners love it. Of course, emphasis will be put on comprehensive learning by reading, speaking and practicing lots of exercises.
Book: Learn French the Fast and Fun Way by Elizabeth Bourquin Leete, 3rd edition.
Teacher: Roger
Time: Thursday 4 p.m. – In Person
A complete beginners’ class of French will be focused on acquiring the basic conversational phrases. Introduction, description, naming objects around ourselves. We will learn to use the most frequent verbs in the present tense and we will use them in simple sentences. The class is divided in several sections: a dictation, conversation, grammar and music.
Book: Vis-à-vis French for Beginners, 4th edition.
Teacher: Vendula
Time: Saturday 9:30 a.m. – In Person
A complete beginners’ class of French will be focused on acquiring the basic conversational phrases. Introduction, description, naming objects around ourselves. We will learn to use the most frequent verbs in the present tense and we will use them in simple sentences. The class is divided in several sections: a dictation, conversation, grammar and music.
Book: Vis-à-vis French for Beginners, 4th edition.
Teacher: Vendula
A1.5 Medium Beginner French
Time: Tuesday 6:30 p.m. – Zoom
French for beginners who are not absolute beginners.
This Zoom class is ideal for someone who has either recently learned some beginning French or who has forgotten all but some beginning French. People who take this class are expected to know how to conjugate the verbs “to be” and “to have” (être and avoir) in French in the present tense and to have some very basic vocabulary (example: Can you translate this sentence: “Il y a un chien ici”?).
We will begin this class with a review (or a first-time lesson in) the present tense of the three groups of regular verbs in French (verbs ending in -er, -ir, and -re). We will be using the textbook Voilà for our work together, and there will be many videos as well. This class offers practice in conversation, the opportunity to write sentences, and the opportunity to gain proficiency in reading.
Book: Voilà
Teacher: Anne
Time: Wednesday 6:00 p.m. – In Person
This is the continuation of the beginner class from last semester.
We will work with verbs in the present tense, adjectives. We will try to develop more complex sentences. The class is divided in several sections: a dictation, conversation, grammar and music.
Book: Learn French the Fast and Fun Way by Elizabeth Bourquin Leete, 3rd edition.
Teacher: Vendula
Time: Thursday 2:00 p.m. – In Person
The A 1.5 class is a continuation of the beginner class from Fall 2022. We will work with verbs in the present tense, adjectives. We will try to develop more complex sentences. The class is divided in several sections: a dictation, conversation, grammar and music.
Book: Vis-à-vis French for Beginners, 4th edition.
Teacher: Vendula
A2 Upper Beginner French
Time: Wednesday 4:00 p.m. – In Person
The class is a natural continuation of the beginners’ class. We will continue using French in the fast way. The class will be divided in several steps: a dictation, conversation, grammar, culture and history. More complex grammar structures will be approached like: combining the passé compose and the imparfait, the future simple and the combination of direct and indirect pronouns.
Book: Learn French the Fast and Fun Way by Elizabeth Bourquin Leete, 3rd edition.
Teacher: Vendula
Time: Thursday 6:00 p.m. – In Person
The class is a natural continuation of the previous semester. The class will be divided in several steps: a dictation, conversation, grammar, culture and history. More complex grammar structures will be approached like: combining the passe compose and the imparfait, the future simple and the combination of direct and indirect pronouns.
Book: Vis-à-vis French for Beginners, 4th edition.
Teacher: Vendula
B1 Intermediate French
Time: Tuesday 5:00 pm – Zoom
Learn French the Way it’s Really Spoken! How to Sound More Like a French Native Speaker This class offers the opportunity to improve your French through cultural and daily life around text, audio and Video. Helping you to Improve your vocabulary, comprehension of text and your ability to dialogue in groups about various subjects. Each class will introduce the students to street french, by learning expressions used in spoken French that you are not used to hear. Or that you will only hear in the French street.
Book: 198 Phrases and expressions to understand spoken French Hugo Cotton Innerfrench (PDF) & « Do you speak the real french »? By Frederic Bibard
Teacher: Manon
Time: Thursday 6:30 pm – Zoom
This class is for those who have reached a low intermediate level in French. We will begin with a review of past, tenses, as well as future and conditional tenses — but it won’t be all grammar, not by a long shot! We are going to be reading contemporary short articles in French and learning French poems and songs. There will be plenty of opportunity to practice speaking, writing sentences, and reading.
For those who enter this level in French, the rigorous work of mastery continues, but the real fun of using the language to express ourselves and to consider French culture and ideas begins.
Book: None
Teacher: Anne
Time: Saturday 9:30 am – In-person
This class will include conversation, grammar from the textbook, articles from Readings in Slow French and videos.
Book: None
Teacher: Josiane
B2 Upper Intermediate French
Time: Tuesday 6:00 pm – In Person
This class is for students who are intermediate-level speakers of French. It is mainly a conversation class, with some review of grammar and an introduction to common French expressions. Students should be able to speak about their personal experiences and ask questions and respond to each other.
Book: None
Teacher: Josiane
Time: Tuesday 5:30 pm – Zoom
This course is for students who are above the lower Intermediate (B1) level but not quite ready for advanced instruction. The purpose of the course is to transition students to Advanced French. The course includes conversation, including how to communicate personal experiences. Articles and stories selected by the instructor will be read and discussed. Dictation will be given, grammar will be studied and various exercises conducted.
Book: None
Teacher: Roger
Time: Wednesday 9:30 am – In Person
Learn French the Way it’s Really Spoken! How to Sound More Like a French Native Speaker This class offers the opportunity to improve your French through cultural and daily life around text, audio and Video. Helping you to Improve your vocabulary, comprehension of text and your ability to dialogue in groups about various subjects. Each class will introduce the students to street french, by learning expressions used in spoken French that you are not used to hear. Or that you will only hear in the French street.
Book: Informal speaking French ielanguages.com & « Do you speak the real french »? By Frederic Bibard
Teacher: Manon
Time: Saturday 9:30 am – In Person
This course is for students who are above the lower Intermediate (B1) level but not quite ready for advanced instruction. The purpose of the course is to transition students to Advanced French. The course includes conversation, including how to communicate personal experiences. Articles and stories selected by the instructor will be read and discussed. Dictation will be given, grammar will be studied and various exercises conducted.
Book: None
Teacher: Roger
C1 Advanced French
Time: Monday 5:30 pm – Zoom
This course is dedicated to students who are already proficient in French. They must be and will be encouraged to discuss any topic in French. All activities will be presented by a native French speaker: 1) intense conversation, sharing personal experiences, 2) articles and stories chosen by the teacher, 3) dictation, grammar, and various exercises. We will also experiment with a flight over French literature from the Middle Ages to modern times through carefully chosen authors and poets representative of each century.
Book: None
Teacher: Roger
We also suggest taking French Literary Book Club
C2 Near Native French
Time: Wednesday 2:00 pm – In Person
This class is for conversation only. I will ask students what they did during the week, and stimulate conversation using intermediate and advanced articles from Readings in Slow French and videos.
Book: None
Teacher: Josiane
Time: Thursday 3:00 pm – Zoom
This class is for conversation only. I will ask students what they did during the week, and stimulate conversation using intermediate and advanced articles from Readings in Slow French and videos.
Book: None
Teacher: Josiane