French Language Course

Lesson 1 • The French Alphabet and Sound System

Introduces the 26-letter alphabet and its phonetic values distinct from English. Establishes accurate letter-to-sound mapping essential for reading aloud.

Lesson 2 • Stress, Rhythm, and Intonation

Explains syllable-timed rhythm and phrase-final stress unique to French. Proper intonation signals questions, statements, and emphasis.

Lesson 3 • Liaison, Elision, and Enchaînement

Covers the three linking phenomena that shape connected French speech. Correct application prevents unnatural pauses and mispronunciation.

Lesson 4 • The International Phonetic Alphabet for French

Introduces IPA symbols used in French dictionaries and textbooks. Students decode pronunciation guides independently after this section.

Lesson 1 • Present Tense of Regular Verbs

Conjugates -er, -ir, and -re verbs in the present tense across all six persons. Regular patterns provide the template for irregular verb study.

Lesson 2 • Articles: Definite, Indefinite, and Partitive

Covers le, la, les, un, une, des, and du/de la in context. Correct article choice reflects meaning and grammatical agreement.

Lesson 3 • Nouns, Gender, and Number

Explains grammatical gender assignment and plural formation rules for French nouns. Gender agreement underpins all subsequent grammar topics.

Lesson 4 • High-Frequency Irregular Verbs

Focuses on être, avoir, aller, faire, and vouloir in the present tense. These verbs appear in nearly every communicative context.

Lesson 1 • Food, Shopping, and Daily Transactions

Covers vocabulary and phrases for ordering food, buying goods, and asking prices. Practical scripts prepare students for real-world interactions.

Lesson 2 • Travel and Transportation Vocabulary

Introduces vocabulary for airports, trains, hotels, and urban navigation. Students manage travel logistics independently after this section.

Lesson 3 • Family, People, and Descriptions

Builds vocabulary for family relationships, physical appearance, and personality traits. Enables students to describe people accurately in conversation.

Lesson 4 • Greetings, Introductions, and Farewells

Covers formal and informal registers for meeting and parting in French. Register awareness prevents social missteps in professional and casual settings.

Lesson 1 • The Future and Conditional Tenses

Covers the simple future and present conditional for plans, predictions, and polite requests. Both tenses share the same stem, simplifying acquisition.

Lesson 2 • Pronouns: Direct, Indirect, and Reflexive

Introduces object pronouns and reflexive constructions that replace noun phrases. Correct pronoun placement is essential for fluent sentence production.

Lesson 3 • Negation, Questions, and Complex Sentences

Extends negation beyond ne…pas and introduces subordinate clauses with que and si. Students form nuanced questions and compound statements.

Lesson 4 • The Passé Composé

Teaches formation with avoir and être auxiliaries and past participle agreement rules. This tense is the primary vehicle for narrating completed past events.

Lesson 1 • Formal and Informal Written Registers

Distinguishes vocabulary, tone, and structure between formal letters and casual messages. Register matching is critical for professional and personal writing.

Lesson 2 • Reading Strategies for French Texts

Teaches skimming, scanning, and inferencing techniques adapted to French syntax. These strategies reduce over-reliance on word-for-word translation.

Lesson 3 • French Orthography and Accents

Covers the five accent marks and their effects on pronunciation and meaning. Accurate accent use is required for correct spelling and comprehension.

Lesson 4 • Reading Authentic French Documents

Applies reading strategies to menus, news articles, advertisements, and schedules. Exposure to authentic texts builds real-world reading fluency.

Lesson 1 • Listening Comprehension Strategies

Teaches top-down and bottom-up listening strategies for French audio input. Students extract meaning from natural speech despite unfamiliar vocabulary.

Lesson 2 • Conversation Management Techniques

Covers turn-taking, clarification requests, and repair strategies in French dialogue. These tools allow students to maintain conversations despite gaps in knowledge.

Lesson 3 • Structured Speaking Tasks and Role-Plays

Provides scripted and semi-scripted speaking scenarios for practical contexts. Repeated role-play builds automaticity in high-frequency exchanges.

Lesson 4 • Spoken French: Regional and Social Variation

Introduces major regional accents and informal spoken features such as dropped ne. Awareness of variation prevents comprehension breakdown with native speakers.

Lesson 1 • Participles, Gerunds, and Infinitive Constructions

Teaches the present participle, gérondif, and infinitive complement patterns. These structures add concision and stylistic variety to written French.

Lesson 2 • The Subjunctive Mood

Explains subjunctive formation and the triggers that require it, including doubt and emotion. The subjunctive is the key marker of advanced French proficiency.

Lesson 3 • Advanced Pronoun Combinations

Addresses double object pronouns, y, en, and their ordering rules. Mastery eliminates a major source of error in intermediate-to-advanced writing.

Lesson 4 • Reported Speech and Sequence of Tenses

Covers indirect speech transformations and tense backshifting rules. Accurate reported speech is essential for academic and professional writing.

Lesson 1 • Academic Writing in French

Introduces essay structure, argumentation, and citation conventions used in French academia. Academic writing skills transfer directly to university and research contexts.

Lesson 2 • Professional Correspondence and Business French

Covers vocabulary, tone, and conventions for business emails, reports, and proposals. Professional register distinguishes competent from advanced French users.

Lesson 3 • French in Specialized Professional Fields

Surveys domain-specific vocabulary in law, medicine, business, and technology. Field-specific lexis enables students to function in specialized French-speaking environments.

Lesson 4 • Critical Analysis of French Texts

Develops skills for analyzing argument, tone, and rhetorical strategy in French texts. Critical reading supports both academic study and professional decision-making.