This blog post is for the French Improvers' Evening Class at the City of Portsmouth College, Highbury Campus. RG
A shortened link to this blog page is rebrand.ly/cfri25
The classes are due to run on Tuesday evenings from 7:30 to 9 pm on:
January 14th
January 21st
January 28th
February 4th
February 11th
February 18th - Half Term - no class
February 25th
March 4th
March 11th
March 18th
March 25th
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 the French language (not all of it, correct!)
You can find some resources online to help you study French by yourselves 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.
To check verb conjugation - particularly while you are learning all those irregular verbs - this tool could be of use to you.
During this course, we shall also be looking at grammar, particularly verb formation.
I have a blog here that will take you step by step through verb formation.
If you are serious about mastering French Grammar a good place to start is the verb formation and this book will certainly help. (see here for an older version)
This improvers' class runs from 7:30 to 9 pm again in April on Tuesdays for 8 weeks only. The classes are due to run on:
Tuesday: 29th April, 6th, 13th, 20th May, 3rd, 10th, 17, & 24th June.
(provided the minimum number of attendees is reached).
Some grammar will likely be covered again; however, the themes and topics will differ.
You can register your interest in classes in April by emailing Jennifer Parr, the Adult Ed courses administrator. Alternatively, use the links above to register via the college website.
mardi, 21 janvier
Tonight, we will embark on looking at how to master the tenses.
We will begin by looking at the formation of the Present Tense. If this is not too daunting, we will also begin the 'Perfect Tense' or « le passé composé » as it is known in French.
This blog post made during COVID-19 - will be helpful for all verb-related grammar.
We will begin with the regular formation of the present tense; I will point you to where you can find out all about the irregular verbs (which are numerous!)
Can you answer these questions?
What are the French verb families?
What is the regular verb conjugation pattern for each family?
If you really do want to get to grips with the French verbs and their various foibles, this book is an excellent (if somewhat dull) way of doing so.
You can tell if a French verb is regular or irregular by looking at whether it follows a pattern in its conjugation. Regular verbs follow a set pattern, while irregular verbs do not.
Regular verbs in English
Follow a set pattern in all tenses
Form the simple past and past participle by adding the suffix "-ed". How about in French?
Irregular verbs
Do not follow a pattern in their conjugation
Form the simple past and past participle in some other way
You must memorize each irregular verb
Examples of irregular verbs in French
Être: To be
Aller: To go
Avoir: To have
Dire: To say or tell
Lire: To read
Écrire: To write
Naître: To be born
Mourir: To die
Faire: To do or make
Venir: To come
Some of you will have done 'La routine journalière' with me. This text is in the present tense and uses many reflexive verbs.
Revision for those who have done it before and a model starting point to try and practise verb conjugation for those who have not.
Could you rewrite the text as if it was about you? What do you need to do... Elle se - Je me - does the verb also need to change? What else?
Model - Can you see what has changed? - Could you adapt the text to be more about your daily routine?
Possible further Homework for you...
Further practice - In this exercise using the song below, you can go through the verbs in the present tense, both regular and irregular, and pick out patterns and practise the irregular verb formations used in the lyrics.
Doing this in written texts is a good idea as well. It helps you remember the regular patterns and those irregular verb forms.
Regarding the Perfect Tense: (We may need to postpone this until next week)
There are some complications in French, German, Italian and Spanish that English does not have.
We will look at this complication and the idea behind it.
This is a free course from the Open University about this tense. It also tries to cover irregular verbs.
Devoirs (printed for issue)
PPT of Perfect Tense including some irregular pp
A full video on the French Perfect Tense.
Revision - A daily routine for those who have not covered such themes before. These videos will help you.
Slow French - morning routines
A general overview of the whole day's routine
mardi, 15 janvier
Tonight is the first lesson. We will look at what motivates you to improve your French, why you have signed up, and what you want to get from the class (so I can best prepare for the next nine weeks). It is also how we can get to know each other (for any people who were not in this class before).
Voici quelques questions pour vous faire parler aujourd'hui:
Qui êtes vous?
Pourquoi voulez-vous améliorer votre français?
Parlez-nous d'une visite en France ou dans un pays francophone... (see below for information )
Que faites-vous dans la vie?
Quels sont vos passe-temps préférés?
Parlez nous de votre famille...
Parlez nous de votre ville...
... et vos passe-temps qu'est-ce que vous aimez faire dans votre temps libre?
So, tonight is for me to gauge whereabouts to pitch the level of the class. If there are specific themes you would like to cover, do not hesitate to mention them, and if they are in my skill set, I can certainly cover them.
For tonight ...
Culture française
A video in English from France 24 (You could watch this outside of class)
La prononciation... What do you know about these words...
La Francophonie - What do you know about La Francophonie?
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