Beginning Conversational French

Prepare for your next trip to France by mastering the basics of conversational French. This course will provide you with proper pronunciation of French words that you'll use in your travels as well as cultural tips including appropriate gestures and body language.

6 Weeks Access / 24 Course Hrs

Details
Syllabus
Requirements
Instructor
Reviews

Enrollment Options

Details

Proper pronunciation is important to good communication. Beginning Conversational French will help you master the best pronunciations. Simply click on each word to hear it spoken. Every word and sentence is also written out phonetically.

This course has been carefully crafted to ensure you will have no trouble pronouncing French words correctly. The first three lessons introduce the basics needed for most conversations in French, such as "please" and "thank you." You will also learn numbers, days of the week, months of the year, and telling time.

The entire course is structured in this logical, systematic method. After the introduction and basic conversation lessons, you will learn what to say at the airport. From the airport, you need to get to your hotel, so you will learn how to talk about transportation. The following lesson shows you how to talk to hotel employees. After you have settled into your hotel, you will probably be hungry, so the course also covers how to communicate in restaurants.

Each lesson also includes cultural tips. Hand and body gestures mean different things in different cultures. For example, do you know the proper way to point to avoid offending people in France? This course will tell you. You will be pleased with your quick progress, and you will be prepared for your next trip!

Enrollment Options:

Instructor-Led

6 Weeks Access Course Code: bcf

Start Dates*May 12 | Jun 16 | Jul 14 | Aug 18

*Choose start date in cart

$129.00 USD

Add to Cart

Self-Paced

3 Months Access Course Code: T9241

No Instructor, Start Anytime

$115.00 USD

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Syllabus

Lesson 1 - Introduction and Pronunciation

In this first lesson, you will learn the basics of pronunciation. Good pronunciation will help you communicate with native speakers. First, you will learn how to pronounce vowels. French uses the same alphabet as English, and the vowels are the same. This lesson wraps up with consonants, stressing syllables, and linking words together.

Lesson 2 - Conversation Basics

In your second lesson, you will use all that pronunciation in real sentences. You will start with some basic information and a few rules. This lesson will move to common words and some easy sentences. Finally, you will try out these new skills to talk about weather and basic numbers.

Lesson 3 - Numbers

Time is important to travelers, so this lesson focuses on numbers. Prior to diving in, you will review reviewing what you learned. After, you will learn how to pronoun the teens, twenties, then hundreds, thousands, and beyond. You will also learn the days and months. Calendars are a little different in France, and you will need to read them.

Lesson 4 - Airport

Welcome to France! In this lesson, you will learn all about transportation. You will start out at the airport. Then you will learn words about taxis, buses, trains, and the subway.

Lesson 5 - Hotel

This lesson discusses hotel language.

Lesson 6 - Restaurants

This lesson covers food. First, you will learn about different types of French restaurants. Then you will learn general vocabulary about food and eating out. You will also learn words for various beverages.

Lesson 7 - Currency and Communications

In the seventh lesson, you will learn about currency and different types of communication. First, you will learn about money in France. Then you will move on to telephones, the mail, and technology.

Lesson 8 - Shopping

This lesson will teach you how to talk about shopping in French. First, you will learn words that are used in all stores and about souvenirs. Next, you will learn words for clothing, including names for colors and different types of stores.

Lesson 9 - Entertainment

In Lesson 9, you're going to learn French for different forms of entertainment starting with the radio. This lesson will also teach you how to talk about television and movies, sports and beaches, and circus and fairs. Finally, you will learn about zoos and amusement parks.

Lesson 10 - Culture

This lesson continues the conversation about entertainment. You will learn about cultural spots like museums, castles, and cathedrals. France is famous for its castles. Next, you will learn how to talk about the theater. You will learn words for plays, musicals, operas, and concerts.

Lesson 11 - In Case of Emergency

This lesson is about communicating during emergencies. Hopefully, you won't need to use this lesson, but life is unpredictable. It's helpful to familiarize yourself with these words and French phrases. You will learn exclamations, as well as a few French proverbs and idioms.

Lesson 12 - Putting It All Together

The final lesson is a review. First, you will review a few key points, such as pronunciation and linking words. Then, you will practice making your own simple sentences. All you will need to do is plug in the word you need. Next, you will learn how to ask questions, and simple sentence structure. Finally, you will learn some fun slang.

Requirements

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC or Mac.
You must have working speakers or headphones.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or newer.
Mac: OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Instructor

Sara Hardin is an educator with a focus on special education and language studies. She has taught special education at the elementary level for over a decade. Sara holds a BA in French, and lived in France to study at the university level. In 2000, she earned her master's degree in special education.

Reviews

Amy is an amazing and understanding instructor. It was great to feel that no question was a stupid one in this class. I would recommend it to anyone who has ever considered learning the language!

I enjoyed taking this French conversational course and I would highly recommend it to anyone. It covered all the important basics and more! Ce cours de francais est excellent!

I feel empowered to speak my level of French on my trip to France this year, despite 35 years passing since my high school French classes, and all because of these wonderful lessons, discussions, and links! Thank you.

I had mixed feelings about the course at the beginning because I felt it was a lot of material at one time, but then I came to appreciate all of the information that was given to me. I never thought I would learn so much French in so little time. Amy has a great sense of humor. I like her teaching style. She responded to the discussion area with "lightning speed". I knew I would not have to wait long for a response. I really felt like she was giving me a one-on-one. She did a terrific job. Chouette!

I have learned an incredible amount of French from this beginning class. I think that is mostly due to the class format and teaching style of the instructor. Merci beaucoup!

I truly enjoyed Amy's friendly conversational teaching style. This was my first on-line classroom experience, and I found it a delight. The audio for French pronunciation is extremely useful and worked well for me. I can see that a lot of thought and preparation went into providing this excellent on-line course.

I was surprised and appreciative at how in-depth the lessons were. Much more information than I expected. This is my first time taking an online class.

The course covered all pertinent topics. I liked the structure of the course. The instructor clearly is an expert in teaching as well as in the French language and it's instruction.

This is my first online course and I am very impressed. I know a lot of effort was put into this course in a very systematic way and I appreciated it. Thank you.