CoPC French for Beginners - Autumn 2026
This is the blog page for the French beginners' evening class at the City of Portsmouth College - Highbury Campus. Tuesday evenings, 6:00 to 7:30 pm.
A shortened link to this page is: ajstarr.short.gy/cpcfrb QR Code
Classes are timetabled from 6 to 7:30 pm on:
Tuesday, September 22nd & 29th; October 6th, 13th and 20th; November 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th. October 27th is during half-term.
Outside of class
To improve your listening and speaking skills in a social setting, why not come to the evening or afternoon events I organise in the city?
We have a twin city in Caen. I am the Chair of the Twinning Association for France and Germany. To find out more about our twin cities, visit this website.
Tips for tuning your ear to French
Listen to French music.
Watch French TV series and films (or at least videos/news in French).
There is a lot of stuff online for learning French (not all of it, correct!).
You can find some resources online to help you study French by yourself on a Padlet here.
Find some Francophone music you like – there's an extraordinary amount out there, and all can be seen on YouTube whenever you like. I have written much more about French music here.
I will use some materials from the course book Entre Nous 1, aimed at the European Language Standards A1 (beginners). You may find it helpful to get a copy for home use and self-study.
This blog page will help you learn how to get all those accents on your various devices.
We will likely have a visit from Caen in December.
En1Ch1ppt VO Livre pp25-31
On this link are beginners' videos from the 1990s BBC—Quinze Minutes Plus First 4—covering much of what we have and will cover in this 10-week course.
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mardi, 22 septembre
Today, we will begin learning to speak, read, and write in French and to listen to French being spoken.
In the first class, we will introduce ourselves and find our reasons for learning French, as we do not all know each other yet.
- Comment vous appelez-vous?
- Quel âge avez-vous?
- Où habitez-vous? / Vous êtes d'où?
Je m'appelle... (Je suis...)
J'ai ... ans
J'habite à ... en Angleterre/ en Grande-Bretagne/ au Royaume-Uni
Je suis de...
Tonight, we will answer the French questions for:
Who are you? Why are you learning French? What does France mean for you?
Qui êtes-vous? Pourquoi apprenez-vous le français? Que signifie la France pour vous?
By the end of this session, you should be able to:
Introduce yourselves and spell your name (possibly the name of your street, city, or place of birth).
Can you give me your age? Your nationality? What about your occupation (i.e., student)?
What else?
What can you tell someone a little about French grammar?
Gender, adjectives...?
Feuilles à télécharger
An earworm which will teach you the alphabet.
Another earworm for the months of the year... Quelle est la date de ton anniversaire?
This guy does a lot of beginner's videos... Now there's enthusiasm, and then there's ~Thomas!
He can, at least, serve as a reminder of the correct pronunciation, should you need one...
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